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The young boy awoke abruptly from his sleep, face down on what seemed to be a beach. This was strange, considering he did not remember falling asleep in the first place. He attempted to call for his companions, but couldn’t, his mouth full of sand.

“Phhffft- bleeegh-” slowly getting to his feet, he spat out the sand and surveyed his surroundings. It was a beach, the ocean gently lapping at the shore a few metres from where he stood. There was a city a small distance inland, a shining white beacon amongst yellowing grass. The sight was beautiful, but unfamiliar. The wizard had been to two worlds, yet neither held a sight like this.
 
“Mr Drippy? Esther? Anyone?”

He began to yell. He was all alone, not a single friend in sight. It was strange - he had all of his items, Mornstar safely around his waist and the Wizard’s companion undamaged, yet the only missing thing were the people. The boy, Oliver, held back tears that were threatening to spill. What would Mr Drippy think, if Oliver cried so easily? He had to take things one step at a time. To start, he’d go to that city and figure out something from there, he resolved, and set off walking.
 
“And so, that’s the-”

“Evan!”

The young king, Evan, was seated on his throne, his friend and advisor Roland stood at his side, explaining the current situation. He was interrupted by the doors to the throne room being flung open, and Tani running in at full speed, out of breath.

“Tani? What’s wrong?” Evan asked, immediately worried.

“Lofty’s cathedral place! There was a big boom of magic or something!” Tani explained, catching her breath.

“What’d you mean a boom at my cathedral? Evan, mun, this is a disaster!” Lofty, their resident Kingmaker, started jumping impatiently up and down.

“Oh my- of course Lofty, let’s go see what happened!”
 
That’s what led to the four of them running through the streets of town. It was in uproar - did Doloran do something to try to hurt Lofty? If so, he had been watching them closely. Many of Evan’s closest companions were away from Evermore, as they were worried about the growing issue of people losing their souls. Only Evan, Roland and Tani had remained in Evermore: Batu went to the sky pirate base to make sure those who stayed there were fine; Leander had returned to Queen Nerea’s side temporarily, as it was clear he worried about her and their subjects; while Bracken had gone to Broadleaf to research something Evan wasn’t too entirely clear on. Evan shook his head to clear his thoughts. Whatever the wider picture was, the key thing was the problem in front of him.
 
As they approached the cathedral, Roland came to a stop, summoning his sword in one hand and holding out the other, signalling for Evan and Tani to remain behind him. Lofty perched on Evan’s shoulder for a clearer view. The four of them slowly crept up the stairs leading to the cathedral, only for Roland to freeze. Evan and Tani, unaware of the sudden stop, stumbled into his back, then followed his line of sight to a very strange thing indeed.
 
“Oi! Someone here’s better be telling me what’s going on!” The creature loudly yelled, staring down the group. It was… weird. It was a small, yellow blob, with barely defined legs or arms and a blue jumpsuit. By far the strangest thing of all was the lantern hanging at the end of its long nose!

“It speaks? It can’t be a Higgldy then…” Roland mused, making his sword disappear and crossing his arms. Tani boldly took a few steps closer.

“It’s a Kingmaker, right? It sure looks like Lofty!”

“I’m not a blooming Kingmaker, or Higgledy, or whatever you weirdos are on about! I’m Drippy, Lord High Lord O’ The Fairies, ain’t I!”
 
The four all looked at each other incredulously. Drippy seemed to pay them no mind, shaking his head and causing a jingling noise.

“Righto, it’s clear you lot don’t know anything, so I’ll be on my way.”

“Hey!” Evan exclaimed, frowning. “I know a lot more than you do! What are you even doing here?”

“I got flipping teleported, didn’t I! By the looks of it, I don’t recognise the blooming place.”

“Um.” Evan paused, the wind taken from his sails. Sure, it was an odd excuse, but he’d seen weirder. “This is Evermore! My Kingdom where everyone can live happily ever after!”

“Oh, knickers.” The fairy sighed, shaking his head once more. “So I’m stuck in a  new world, and worse, I’m flipping separated from the rest!”

“You lost your friends?” Evan asked, at the same time as Roland asked a question of his own.

“You’re from another world?”

“Yes and yes! Follow along, will you? Now, I’ve really got to start looking. The others will be fine, but Ollie-boy wouldn’t last a second without my advice!”

“We’ll help you find your friends!” Evan declared impulsively, barely thinking it through. Roland sighed.

“Evan, I really want to tell you to not trust a random stranger claiming to be from another world, but, considering my own circumstances, I don’t have a leg to stand on. Alright, Drippy, you describe your friends to us, and we’ll start looking.”
 
The city, Evermore was its name, Oliver had discovered, was a busting and cheery place, full of people of all species, some Oliver had never seen before, and some familiar, like humans and Grimalkin. What he also discovered, however, is that he was very good at getting lost in unfamiliar places. Every street twisted and turned, until he no longer knew where he was, or how to return to where he started. He had considered magic, but decided against it - travel or vacate could be dangerous in familiar territory, and he didn’t want to cast gateway until he had found the others, either. So continue to walk, he did.
 
After who knows how long, Oliver’s constant walking was interrupted. A girl, around his age, rapidly turned a corner and crashed straight into him.

“Ah- sorry!”

“Don’t apologise, that was all m-” the girl paused as she took in his appearance, looking him up and down. “Oliver!”

Oliver jolted at the mention of his name. “Um, do I know you?”

“Nope! But someone who does asked us to look for you! Come on!” Without another word, the girl quickly walked off the way she came. Oliver hesitated for a moment, then scampered after her.

“Um, who’s looking for me? And - who are you?” He asked, trying to keep her pace.

“I’m Tani! Nice to meet you!” she glanced at him with a grin. “And the guy looking for you was called… I forgot. But he’s tiny, and round, and has a lantern nose?”

Oliver gasped. Mr Drippy was safe, and close. That was a big relief, and apparently that was evident on his face, as Tani spoke some more.

“You seem pretty fond of one another, you know. So let’s hurry up and reunite you!”
 
The building Tani led Oliver to was a huge castle, made of shining white and jade that vaguely reminded him of some of the architecture in the world he had previously travelled. She proudly opened the door, yelling at the top of her lungs.

“Found him!”

Her words were met with voices that Oliver couldn’t make out. Tani, Oliver in tow, walked the long room up to the throne. Oliver marvelled at the strangeness of it all. A boy the same age as Oliver, with ears like a cat upon his head, sat on the throne, an unfamiliar fairy-like creature by his side. Before Oliver could remark on his, a familiar jingly noise ran towards him.

“Ollie-boy!”

“Mr Drippy!”

Oliver started to run towards Drippy, the two meeting in the middle. Drippy hopped into Oliver’s arms, and they shared a hug, Oliver holding back tears.

“Ollie-boy, you were right stressing me out you were! Pulling a disappearing act like that, what were you thinking?”

“Hey! You’re the one who disappeared! I was worried about you!” Oliver huffed. After a second, both of them laughed, happy to be together again. Drippy hopped out of Oliver’s arms, then turned to face the unfamiliar group by the throne.
 
“Righto Your Majesty, thanks a lot for reuniting my Ollie-boy and I.”

“Oh, it’s no problem!” The king, Oliver assumed, smiled warmly. “We can help find your other friends as well!”

“We can?” Asked Tani, who had wandered over to stand near Evan.

“You can?” Oliver asked, then bowed towards the throne. He had met an awful lot of royalty, but he still felt so awkward around them.

“Of course! If we can help people in any way, that’s what we have to do!”

“Thank you!” Oliver smiled. “I don’t know where they’ll be, though…”

“Don’t you worry, I reckon they can fend for themselves.” Drippy nodded, sounding quite proud of his little crew.

“Oh, definitely!” Oliver smiled, thinking of his friends. They were all very capable, but he couldn’t help worrying about them getting lost in this strange place.
 
“We’ll find them soon, I promise!” The king hopped off of his throne and approached Oliver with a smile. “Oh! I should introduce myself: I’m Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, King of Evermore. Over there,” he gestured towards a man in a blue coat, “is Roland Crane, he’s my chief consul. And that’s Lofty, my Kingmaker!” Evan then gestured to the fairy-like creature.

“And I’m Tani, but you should remember that.” Tani waved at Oliver with a grin.

“It’s an honour to meet you and have your help, everyone.” Oliver bowed again, then introduced himself. “My name’s Oliver, um, I’m a wizard, and if there’s anything I can do to thank you for searching for our friends, please let me help.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Oliver!” Evan and Oliver smiled at one another. Roland stepped forwards, a frown on his face.

“I’m going to be honest - I don’t entirely trust you. But Evan does, so I’ll trust you for now. If you really are a wizard, that means you can probably fight, right? With the appearance of the Horned One, monster attacks have been getting more frequent. Maybe Oliver can help out on that front?”

“I don’t mind, I’ve fought monsters before, so I’ll do what I can to help. But, um, what’s a Horned One?”
 
Evan, with the occasional interruption or correction from the others, explained a short version of his tale. How he had to flee his own kingdom, how he built Evermore from the group up, how he created a world at peace from war. In a horrifying twist, he then told of Doloran, a mysterious man from supposedly centuries ago, manipulating the world’s rulers and stealing their kingsbonds, only to summon an island, complete with a massive, demonic Kingmaker, the Horned One. Currently, people’s very sould were being snached from their bodies, and it was only thanks to Lofty’s influence that the population of Evermore were safe. When Evan had finished, Oliver paused to think. It was a lot to take in, yet the situation he faced was strangely familiar. Transported to a new world, the people closest to him in peril, he faced a man who took the hearts of others to further his own goals. Despite it all, he couldn’t help but smile. There was only one path that Oliver could choose to take.

“I promise, Your Majesty, I’ll do everything in my power to stop this Doloran.”
 
A young girl opened her eyes to find herself in a room of glistening white marble, seated in an ornate chair at an ornate table, a beautiful tea set sat upon it. Most unnervingly, she was being stared at by the boy seated across from her.

“I don’t think you’re meant to be here.” He stated, a faint curiosity lining his voice. The girl sighed, shaking her head.

“I’m not quite sure you’re meant to be here, either.” She admitted, and the two children shared a look. Neither of them had wished to be trapped in the world between dreams and reality, but that was the situation they had found themselves in. They’d just have to leave it to Oliver and Evan, those who they trusted to save their world.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Your Majesty-”

“You don’t need to call me that, it’s just Evan!” The aforementioned King huffed, it being the third time he said that today. The two boys were on a walk around Evermore, Evan proudly giving Oliver the grand tour.

“If you say so, Evan. As I was saying, thank you so much for everything you’re doing to help.” Oliver smiled warmly at him. After their conversation yesterday, Oliver and Drippy were given a spare room in the castle to use as they wished. Evan had written down detailed descriptions of Oliver’s missing friends, sending them to people far and wide across the world, including each nation’s leader - the resources and people he had access to were shocking to Oliver. All that time spent searching for sages in his world, and Evan could search the whole world from the seat of his throne.
 
“Thank me when your friends are safe and sound, okay?” Evan shook his head, then frowned. “If anything, I should be thanking you for agreeing to help with my problems.”

“Seriously, I don’t need thanks for that. It’s the right thing to do! If I have the power to help someone, I think I should help them.”

“Hey!” Evan exclaimed, “That’s my line!”

The two boys paused, looked at one another, then laughed. The tour of Evermore continued onwards, Evan explaining the basics of his world as they went.
 
The sun crested high in the sky, signalling that the citizens of Evermore were halfway through their day. Oliver had just about gotten the hang of traversing through Evermore’s streets, so the duo were resting their tired legs on some seating in the central square.

“You built this place from scratch, right? It’s amazing! Everyone looks so happy, and it’s such a pretty city…” Oliver trailed off, enjoying the sight of ornate buildings with the castle looming above it all. Evan looked proud of himself, looking at the bustling streets.

“Thank you! I promised Nella I would build a kingdom where people live happily ever after, and I’m so close to fulfilling that promise.” Evan stared wistfully into the distance, looking as if he was watching an old memory.

“Nella? Is she important to you?” Oliver questioned, curious.

“She… She was. This place - Aranella Square - is named after her, because without her, there’d be no evermore.” Evan’s voice sounded pretty distant, so Oliver chose not to prod further, instead ‘hmm’ing and looking up at the sky. It was such a strange situation, but Oliver couldn’t help but feel a friendship with the young King. He must have been sent to Evermore for a reason and, Oliver reasoned, that reason was probably to do with Evan’s plight. If he fixed that, he’d surely get to go home with the others.
 
The afternoon was spent helping the townsfolk with chores and such, and it wasn’t long until Oliver found himself once again asleep in one of the castle’s very fancy beds. His dreams were restless, and unusually so - he dreamed often, of cryptic messages and his mother, yet that night’s dreams were different. Images flashed by, of a monster, of black smoke, of shadowed figures around a table, and a faint voice he did not recognise calling out for him. He didn’t sleep much that night. Instead, he read a few books Evan had leant him on the geography of the world. Knowing his luck, he’d be travelling all over the place, so may as well prepare now.
 
Evan had seen Oliver to his room, then was off to do more administrative work. The life of a King sure was a busy one, and he barely did half of the work in the castle. He was extremely grateful for Roland’s, and everyone else's, assistance. Between finalising the Declaration, dealing with Doloran, and the appearance of Oliver, Evan had a lot of work set out for him. On the topic of Oliver, he was quite a strange person. Although he was a pretty meek and friendly boy, Evan felt a certain weight behind his words, almost as if Oliver had been in worse situations before. He was excited to see Oliver in combat, actually! He seemed as if he knew his way around a battlefield. It was odd, though - his companion seemed so similar to Lofty, yet wasn’t a Kingmaker by any means. He also couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he was missing a glaringly obvious piece of the whole picture.
 
“..Evan.”

Evan jumped, his ears flattening against his head, as the sudden noise started him. Roland stepped out of a side passage, with a fond smile on his face as he watched the cat King’s antics.

“Gosh!” Evan made a strangled noise, patting down his clothes in an attempt to compose himself. “Ahem - is something wrong?”

“Sorry, Evan.” Roland chuckled. “I just wanted to talk over something, if you have the time?”

“Huh? Of course I do! What is it you wanted to talk about?” Evan tilted his head in questioning, then slowly started to walk again. Roland fell into step beside him, his voice hushed as he spoke.

“To be entirely honest, I feel uneasy over our newcomers.” he sighed, “I know you’ve taken a shine to them, but there’s something about them that worries me. The timing, it’s suspicious, this could be linked to Dolran somehow, and he’s given me enough headaches.”

Evan nodded in agreement. Although he did like Oliver, there was no denying the possibility he was working with Doloran, or even came from Allegoria. Countless souls across the world had already been stolen, not to mention that something was clearly wrong with Roland, whether he admitted it or not, so an attack from the inside would almost certainly spell their end.
 
“So,” Roland continued, “I wanted to ask you to be careful around him. Also, if you know any more about him, make sure to tell us.”

“Of course! I’d never let my guard down, this is all far too important. I have to say, though… Oliver’s not been acting strange at all, but I have a feeling he’s not just a normal boy, I think that when he says he’s a wizard, he means it. My theory is that he’s really strong! Maybe? I’d definitely like to see him fight, soon.”

“Hmm, you don’t say…” Roland looked deep in though, tapping his hand to his chin. “I’ve heard rumours of unrest in Greenglade Cave, where those Grimchillas live. I was going to put it at the bottom of things to do, but perhaps we should head there tomorrow, and take Oliver with us?”

“Oh, that’s genius!” Evan agreed, nodding his head as he thought about it. “We can solve two problems at once, especially since we have spare time until everyone else returns.”

“Which won’t be for a while yet, because they’re all searching for these supposed ‘companions’ of Oliver’s.”

“Think on the positive side - if he’s telling the truth, we’ll have a lot more help!”
 
Evan and Roland’s conversation continued late into the night, as the two made their way through the mountains of work set out for them. Hours passed, then hours more, filled with companionable silence. As the first rays of sunlight fell through the window, they illuminated a peaceful scene. Evan had fallen asleep at his desk, and at some point during the night Roland had placed his coat on top of the young boy as a makeshift blanket. Roland himself was fast asleep at his own desk, something which happened more often than not, both in this world and in his own.
 
Oliver had barely been awake for twenty minutes, but was already being bossed around by Drippy, who had seemingly grown bored of sitting around already.

“Righto Ollie-boy, today’s the day we’re going to have ourselves a look around the place!”

“Uh, but haven’t we already seen all of Evermore..?”

“You’re thinking too small! We’ve got to go out there and experience the local beasties, see the lay of the land, make a day of it, we will!”

Oliver sighed. Drippy was bouncing up and down as he talked, and Oliver had to admit he had a point - they couldn’t just sit around all day when there were things to do.
 
“Then today is your lucky day!” Tani cheered, walking into their room and looking at them, hands on her hips. “You’re coming with us to investigate a- a thing!”

“A… thing?” Oliver questioned. He was a little shocked at her sudden appearance, but decided to roll with it.

“Well, yeah, Roland told me to come grab you, but the explanation was long and I kinda gave up on paying attention.” She shrugged, without a hint of guilt or embarrassment. She was certainly unique, Oliver would give her that. “Anyway, prepare anything you need and meet us downstairs in five minutes!”

With that, she rushed back out of the room and was gone.
 
Drippy and Oliver stared at each other in stunned silence.

“Um, Mr Drippy,” Oliver shook off the shock, “I think that means we’re going out like you wanted?”

“It does indeed! Make sure that wand of yours is in tip top shape, and let’s get going!”

Carefully rummaging around in his bag, Oliver found Astra and took it out. He felt a little bad using the wand Gallus had entrusted to him when he didn’t even know how long it would be until he could save Cassiopeia, yet he still chose to use it. He would help people here as fast as possible, then get right back on track! Oliver cleared his thoughts, sliding the wand into its little holster, then nodded.

“Let’s go see what we can do!”
 
“So, the four of us, plus Drippy and Lofty, are going to go investigate a rumour, it’ll only take the morning, and hopefully you’ll be familiar with more things around here afterwards!” Evan cheerfully explained to Oliver, who nodded.

“Sounds like a plan. Do you think we’ll have to fight?”

“Hopefully not, but it’s best to be prepared.” Roland replied. “Even if we do, the three of us are perfectly capable of defeating anything in our way.”

With his statement, Tani flashed a grin and gave Oliver a thumbs up.

“Neato. And I’ll do anything I can do as well, so don’t count me out!”

“Thank you, Oliver.” Evan smiled warmly at him. “Now, everyone gather close! Oliver, Drippy, this may be a little strange.”

“Huh? What wi-”

As everyone gathered around Evan, the boy raised his hand. A soft blue light emanated from his hand, which slowly grew until it surrounded them all. Oliver felt weightless for a split second, but it wasn’t long before his feet were once again on the ground, a light wind ruffling his clothes. The light faded to reveal they were standing a ways outside the entrance to a cave, Evermore nowhere in sight.
 
“Oh!” Oliver exclaimed, looking around. Drippy huffed angrily towards Evan, then took a good look around.

“Flipping heck mun! Give us some warning next time, will you? Bleeding wizard types and their travel magic…”

“You can use magic, Evan?” Oliver asked, eyes widening.

“Well, uh, I can! Although that wasn’t really proper magic, I was just using a trip door. That’s a spot of magic that remembers you, and as long as you know the right spell, you can return anytime.”

“Oh, that’s pretty useful.” Oliver thought about it, then nodded. “Could you teach me that, at some point?”

“Of course!”

“Hurry up, you two.” Roland called. Startled out of their conversation, the two realised the others had entered the cave without them. Roland stood at the entrance, arms crossed.

“Coming!” Evan yelled back, then ran into the cave, Oliver following behind.
 
Greenglade Cave was usually a fun place to visit, the Grimchilla’s strangely friendly and welcoming to others entering their little community. Evan considered them allies, if not friends, and he visited every so often to check on them. This time, however, the Grimchillas were clustered into a corner, talking in hushed voices. Evan approached, quickly casting the spell that would let him talk to them.

“Hello! Is something wrong? Can we help?”

“Squeak!” The leader of the Grimchilla’s marched to the front of the group, looking up at Evan. “Oh, it’s you! There is something wrong! Another monster with that stupid smoke is in our cave!”

“Again!? This seems to happen a lot… are you all okay?”

“We’re fine! Some other human, an unfamiliar one, has been staying with us for a while, and has gone to chase it out. Although, it’s been a while. You go find out what’s wrong!”
 
The others stood to the side, unable to understand the conversation of squeaks. After a long conversation, Evan returned to them with a small frown upon his face.

“Good news and bad news!” He declared, to which Roland sighed.

“Bad news first.”

“Well, there’s a tainted monster we have to go take care of.”

“So nothing too bad!” Tani smiled. “What’s the good news?”

“Oh, it’s that no-one was hurt because they had someone here staying with them! Whoever they are, they’re confident to go up against the monster on their own.”

“Umm… what’s a tainted monster?” Oliver interjected, confused. The Evermorian trio turned to him with the same deadpan look on all their faces.
 
As Tani and Evan led their way through the cave system, Roland was tasked with the job of hanging back and explaining tainted monsters to Oliver.

“So, basically, you remember the Horned One, right? It lets off this smoke that infects monsters, and monsters tainted by the smoke become more powerful but also much more vicious. Usually, trained individuals, like us, hunt them down before they can hurt anyone.”

Oliver nodded along to his explanation. “That makes sense. They sound pretty dangerous…”

“All the more reason for us to go face them!” Drippy declared, running along after them.

“Yeah, better for us to face them, although it gets pretty tiring sometimes.” Roland sighed, shaking his head.

“We’re getting close!” Tani called back to them in a hushed tone, her and Evan at the entrance to a large chamber. Smoke poured out of the opening, and as everyone fell silent, noises could be heard from inside the chamber.
 
“Stop attacking them! This is their home, and if only you were peaceful, they’d be happy to share!” A girl’s voice could be faintly heard. Her yelling was punctuated by pauses and sharp breaths, likely because she was engaged in combat. Evan summoned his sword, signalling for Roland and Tani to summon their weapons as well. Hopefully, they’d sneak up on the monster and defeat it with no problems. He crept towards the opening, where he laid sight upon the scene. A large variant of a fae creature was locked in combat with a single young girl holding nothing except a harp. Evan prepared to make a move, but before he could he was shoved out of the way.
 
He took one step forward. Two. He broke into a sprint. Oliver pushed past Evan and the others, not listening to their noises of protest. He ran as fast as he could go, pulling out his wand and sending a ball of fire at the monster. It reared backwards, screeching. The girl spun around to see where the fire had come from. She spotted Oliver, then smiled as brightly as the sun.

“Oliver! You made it!”

“Esther!”

Oliver grinned, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He ran towards her, coming to a stop where he was between her and the creature, wand raised to strike again.

“Now that’s more like it!” Drippy loudly declared, running up to join the two on the battlefield. “Proper getting the band back together, we are! Now… Charge!”
 
“A cup, miss..?” The young boy sat at his table, two empty cups prepared and a steaming teapot in his hands.

“Yes, thank you!” The girl happily responded, swinging her legs in the air, too short to reach the ground. “Oh, and call me Pea!”

“Pea, huh? That’s a nice name.” He mused, carefully pouring two equal cups of tea. “My name is… it’s Dina. It’s nice to meet you, Miss Pea.”

“Nice to meet you too, Dina!” Pea smiled as she took her cup into both her hands, looking down into the steam. Dina mirrored her actions, and the two sat in comfortable silence for some time to come.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As Drippy’s war cry rang in his ears, Oliver sprung into action, hopping left to dodge an exploding orb. He glanced back at Esther, nodded, then started to run. He dashed past the creature, getting a glancing hit of his wand crashing into its head. Before he even came to a stop he was already drawing a glyph. His foot stomped into the ground, then he immediately pivoted. His wand snapped towards the creature. A bullet of pure force emanated from it, sending the creature flying across the room.
 
“You’ve got this, Oliver!”

Esther cheered, her hands deftly strumming her harp. An uplifting melody echoed across the cavern walls. Her and Oliver were briefly surrounded by a bright light, which seemingly absorbed into their bodies. Energised by the help, taking advantage of the stunned enemy, Oliver drew another glyph into the air. The sheer force of the magic he was casting lifted him off the ground. With a twirl, he released the spell. The monster was enveloped by light, reminiscent of the sun, which exploded.
 
Evan shielded his eyes, stunned into inaction. Oliver had sprung into the fight without fear, without hesitation. The power of the magic that had been cast rivalled Leander, or even, as Evan was hesitant to admit, surpassed him. Oliver’s feet softly connected with the land again, and he turned to the girl. She pumped her fist as a sign of victory, then sprinted towards him and tackled him into a hug. Drippy soon joined, perched upon Oliver’s shoulder, looking content. This must be one of the missing friends, Evan thought, what a stroke of luck-
 
A loud crack resounded through the space.

Evan was startled out of his thoughts. Without a moment to think, he drew his blade and held it ready. Roland stood next to him, his slightly smoking gun pointed into the cavern. Carefully following Roland’s line of sight, Evan looked at where he had fired. The monster had clung to life, beginning to rise and attack again. It would never get to make that attack, however, as now two almost symmetrical holes went through its body. One was a bullet wound, but the other, Evan realised, was an arrow shot. With her fast thinking, Tani had rolled forwards and made a shot.
 
“Jeepers!” Oliver almost screeched, then took a deep breath. “Roland, Tani, thank you!”

“Phew!” Tani shifted into a relaxed position, dismissing her bow. “No problem!”

“Oliver, are you or your friend injured at all?” Roland approached the two. Oliver looked over himself, then shook his head. Esther took a good look at the other three, then nodded her head in a small bow.

“Just a few scrapes, nothing I can’t fix. Ahem, I’m Esther, and I thank you for the help here and also the help reuniting us.”

“Again, it’s no problem.” Tani laughs it off, taking in Esther’s appearance. “You know, you dress pretty odd, but you sure know your way around a fight! Oh, I’m Tani, by the way.”

“Um, thanks..?”

“I’m glad you’re both mostly unharmed.” Roland dismissed his gun and relaxed a little, but still remained on guard. “I’m Roland, and this is King Evan, of Evermore.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Esther. I’m so relieved we managed to reunite the two of you so soon.” Evan nodded in her direction.
 
The cogs in his head turned. There was something about the three newcomers, something in their appearance, that was vaguely familiar. He could ignore the nagging feeling earlier, but with the harpist’s arrival, he just couldn’t ignore it anymore. He’d seen them somewhere, he was sure of it, it was so close - ahah. That was it.
 
“I’m really sorry to interrupt things…” Evan spoke up, interrupting the conversation he hadn’t registered as occurring. “But Tani, can you take everyone back to Evermore, and explain everything to Esther? You see, an urgent task has just come to mind, and I want to take Roland and Lofty with me as soon as possible.”

“Well, alright! Be careful though, you hear me?” Tani put her hands on her hips, and Evan responded with a nod and a smile.

“Evan, what’s-” Before Roland could question anything, Evan basically dragged him and Lofty away from the group, using a trip door to quickly leave.
 
“...I wonder what’s gotten into him?” Tani huffed, shaking her head. “Must be important.”

“He did leave pretty quickly…” Oliver blinked, confused. “I hope everything’s alright.”

“Eh, don’t worry, Roland’s with him, so he’ll be fine.”

“Uh. Oliver, what’s going on?” Esther asked, looking around at everyone. Tani laughed gleefully.

“We’ll have plenty of time to explain, seeing as I don’t know the spell for trip doors!”
 
With a lot of grumbling on Drippy’s account, and a quick stop at the Grimchilla’s to explain the situation and bid farewell, their small group set out on what promised to be a long trek. As they reached the outside, Esther took in a deep breath and stretched out her arms.

“Ahh, it’s nice to be outside again.”

“How long were you in that cave, then?” Oliver asked, glancing at her.

“For. Uh. Well, I lost track of the days, but I entered it pretty soon after waking up, actually.”

“Three days!?” Tani exclaimed. “Also, you guys just.. Waking up, in different places, at a similar time, is really strange.”

“It really is… I just hope we can find the others soon…”

“You haven’t found them yet? Oh geez…” Esther sighed. “Anyway, mind filling me in on exactly what’s happening?”
 
Between the three of them, Tani, Oliver, and Drippy managed to paint a clear picture of both the events in this world, and Oliver’s experience over the past few days. Esther questioned a few things, but eventually her curiosity was satisfied.

“You know what, Oliver? This would be a shocking thing for anyone else, but for us, it’s just another Tuesday.” Esther sighed, Oliver hung his head.

“At this point, so many weird things have happened…”

“And this is still the weirdest of all! So heads up, and let's go find the others before Swaine does something stupid!” Drippy declared, making Ether stare at him with a frown.

“Oh god. Swaine’s been alone for days now. Who knows what could have happened.”

“Guys…” Oliver sighed and looked to Tani for help, who tilted her head with curiosity.

“Uh, aren’t there two more missing? Not just one?”

“Yeah, but Marcassin can handle himself just fine. Swaine, on the other hand…” Esther shuddered thatrically. It was clear, to Oliver anyway, that she was worried about him, extremely deep down. Anyway, if Marcassin was the pinnacle of self-sufficiency, Oliver worried about the overall state of the world.
 
Before long, the group had made their way to Evermore, passing the long trek with idle chatter. Oliver, for one, was very glad to see the castle towering over him - he was exhausted, and desired a very long sleep. Esther found the city fascinating, asking Tani a constant stream of questions, which she seemed to greatly enjoy answering. It had barely been a few days, but to Oliver, Evermore was now familiar, a place where he could relax.
 
Finally, they had reached the castle. Unfortunately, before they could go anywhere, they were stopped by a rather tall, muscular, and imposing man.

“Boss!” Tani cheered, patting the man on his arm. “I was beginning to worry you’d never make it back.”

“Aye girlie, those pirates had one problem after another.” He grumbled, crossing his arms. He then appeared to notice the others, taking an interest. “This that kid Roland’s message talked about? Two kids, and another blooming Lofty, if my eyes don’t deceive me.”

Oliver and Esther glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. Drippy leapt up, glaring at the man that was probably 100 times his height.

“Hmph! The cheek of it! ‘Another blooming Lofty’? I think not! I’m Drippy, Lord High Lord Of The Fairies, and don’t you forget it!”

“You don’t look anything like any fairy I’ve heard.” Was the man’s reply.
 
In order to escape Drippy getting even more annoyed, Tani spoke up. “Ahem! Boss, this is Oliver and Esther, they’re very nice and very good at fighting.”

The aforementioned duo smiled awkwardly, and the man nodded.

“Aye, I can respect strong fighters.”

“And you guys, this here is Batu! Boss of us sky pirates, the minister of defence, and also, my dad.”

Tani’s dad? While they didn’t look similar, Oliver did admit that their mannerisms and ways of speaking were very similar indeed.

“Oh! Nice to meet you, Batu!” Esther nodded, smiling. “And Tani, you didn’t tell me you were a sky pirate!”

“Well, it’s not something I go yelling around everywhere, you know.”

“Exactly, never know who’s listening and all that.”
 
The second that Evan was sure he was out of the trip door, he powered forwards, leaving Roland and Lofty in his wake. His old home, the castle of Ding Dong Dell, lay ahead of them, but it wasn’t time to dwell on that now. He remembered something. A dusty book, read in the dim light of a candle well past nightfall. A test, the story laid out among an abyss of clouds. A name, signed in faded ink. It was all there, why didn’t he realise it sooner-

“..van. Evan!” 
 
Evan froze. Oh. Roland looked like he was yelling his name for rather a while.

“Oh! Sorry! What is it?”

“I’m glad to see you invested in… whatever this is, but also can you tell us exactly what this is? What are we doing here, and what’s on your mind?”

“Well, to start… There’s this story book I had when I was younger, and we’re going to retrieve that.” Evan explained, barely slowing down as he entered the castle and weaved through its corridors. “You’re here because you’ll know what to do if I’m right, and Lofty, you know exactly why you’re here.”

“No, not really?” Lofty and Roland, hurrying to keep up with Evan, looked at one another, a little confused.

“I appreciate the vote of confidence, but that doesn’t explain much.”

“Soon.” Evan promised, his mind far away from the conversation as he sprinted up the staircase and burst into his old bedroom. Thank goodness Mausinger had left it as is, he’d have to thank him later. “Just, um, stand to the side for a minute?”
 
It took a bit of rummaging, but before long Evan had his evidence laid out on the table. His favourite children’s book, the strange tome the Conductor had entrusted him with, and most importantly, Lofty.

“Okay, so,” Evan began, “Oliver’s always felt a little strange, right? Familiar, almost. But meeting Esther today, and seeing him use magic - it’s reminded me of something! First, look at this.” Evan opened the Wizard’s Companion, revealing the name ‘Oliver’ signed into its page.

“Now, that’s just a coincidence, right? On its own, that’s nothing. But now, I want you to skim through this.” Evan handed the childhood book to Roland.
 
To say he was inspired by Roland’s lawyer act in Goldpaw was an understatement. Still, he could tell by the way Roland’s face fell into shock that he had come to the same conclusions he did. Right now, Roland was reading all about how a young wizard by the name of Oliver had travelled to this world, and with the help of some friends, including the ‘Lord High Lord Of The Fairies’ and a harpist called Esther, defeated a great evil plaguing their lands and had brought their world peace for quite some time. The conclusion that their group had, in fact, not travelled worlds to get here, instead…
 
“They’re from the past.” Roland stated, putting down the book. He looked as confused as Evan felt. “My god, so now time travel is real, as well.”

“That’s. Not. All.” Evan huffed, rounding on Lofty as he felt his adrenaline rush start to fade. “When I had to do that trial, to make a pact with you, Lofty, why was that story the exact same as the one written here?”

“Um.” Lofty thought, shrinking a little under the combined stares of Evan and Roland. “Well, you see. Before I was a Kingmaker, I was a fairy, right, and my mentor told me this lovely little story of these humans he used to travel with, and you know, fell in love with the idea and all that, so I went to go meet my own humans and got a little inspiration from the story? And also my mentor just happens to be called Drippy?”
 
Evan and Roland looked from Lofty to each other. They processed this for a moment.

“You didn’t think to tell us sooner?”

“Well, sorry, but my mind’s a lot older than yours, of course I would forget!”

There was silence for a minute, then Evan finally let out a sign and sunk into a chair. “So I was right. It is time travel. Which isn’t something that’s supposed to happen in our world...”

“There’s a first for everything?” Roland offered, sitting down as well. “Not something I ever thought I’d come across. Wait, should we tell them? Would that break time laws or something?”

“Time laws? There are time laws?”

“In stories in my world, there sure are.”

“Oh no… This is even more complex than I thought.”
 
“Dina?” Pea asked, glancing up from her cup to look at him.

“Yes?” He responded, slightly tilting his head.

“Do you know how we can get home?”

“I- I don’t…” the young boy hung his head in shame. “Something’s stopping me. I want to leave, but I can’t.”

“Oh no.” Pea responded with a frown. “Can’t we just get rid of it?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t tried yet. I’m worried.”

“Don’t be! Pea will protect you!”

He laughed happily, a sound that cheered Pea up. “Thank you, Pea. I appreciate it.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bracken Meadows was a very busy person. She appeared to be the only capable person in the whole city of Broadleaf, its employees either having been lost to Doloran’s spell or focused on preparing the war effort. Actually, a good chunk had moved to Evermore as well… Perhaps she shouldn’t have been so gung-ho about helping Evan. Ah well, no changing the past. And to be fair, she had moved to Evermore as well. Although, temporarily, she was back home. Until they had located Mornstar, she wouldn’t be much use around Evermore anyway, so far better to assist Zip by running any odd jobs he needed doing. Which was an awful lot of jobs, actually. The past few days, she had to almost entirely remake a large segment of the security system. Finally finished with that, she spent the morning showing trainees how to upgrade robots to her own high standards. Although time was already creeping into early afternoon, her next job would take her out of the city. There were reports of local monsters acting weirdly, and considering the local monsters were pushovers anyway, she figured she could handle it alone.All of that led to the present moment, where Bracken was marching through the streets of Broadleaf at full speed, lost in the contemplation of how she had gotten there. By now, Broadleaf’s residents knew to stay out of the Chief Engineer’s way when her expression was blank, as she’d walked into a large share of people over the years. Her feet stomping on the metal flooring made a melodious sound that lulled her into a rhythm.“Honestly, could you be any louder?”Bracken heard a dry voice call out from behind, and was snapped out of her rhythm, turning to look for the source. Stood on the side of the street, looking very out of place among the smog and technology, was Bracken’s favourite ancient old man.“Leander!” She waved as a greeting, making her way over to him. “What brings you here?”“Her Majesty heard that you were having monster issues, and she sent me to help.” Ah, of course. She should have assumed that, to be honest. Either way, she’d be glad for the help. Pressing her palms together, she smiled at him then started to walk, at a slightly slower pace. “Well, you’re just in time. Off we go!”“You were going to attempt to deal with it on your own?” He inquired, falling into step beside her.“No, I was going to succeed in dealing with it on my own. Huge difference.”He simply sighed.“So, Leander.” Bracken began to ask as the two made their way out of the city.“Hmm?” Was Leander’s response, having to hold back another sigh as he worried about the upcoming ridiculousness of the question.“D’you hear about what’s going on in Evermore? With the whole, uh. Forgot the exact name, but the appearing kid and co?”“Yes, we received a letter about that ourselves. No-one matching the descriptions has been spotted in Hydropolis, and Her Majesty is making sure to keep a lookout for them. Also, the name of the child is Oliver, and he was accompanied by a ‘fairy’ called Drippy.” Leander tapped the side of his glasses, unconsciously adjusting them while he explained.“Wow, count on you to be so organised like that. Meanwhile, all I can tell you is that Broadleaf’s security systems haven’t spotted them. Not much manpower for much else.” She sighed, shaking her head. The two made it outside to the flats, the air finally fresh and clear, free from the oppressive smog that filled the city. Bracken couldn’t help but take a deep breath - she had gotten used to being in cities where you could breathe right. Yet another issue for the list.“Is it truly that bad?” Leander asked, shooting her a worried glance.“Yup. A lot of engineers are still recovering from overwork, a bunch of people are still fixing the damage caused by Bastion, and all the robots are being prepared to fly off to fight.” With a shrug, she paused to check they were going in the right direction, before setting off at a speedwalk towards the East Woods, where the reports originated from.“I didn’t think it would be this bad. So you’re doing almost everything? Alone?”“Yep and yep.” Bracken nodded, giving him the thumbs up. “Oh, I don’t mind or anything. I volunteered, because I can’t stand sitting around when there are things that I could be doing.”“I understand, I’m much the same. You should probably take a break soon, though. I can help with anything that’s… Not too technical.”“I appreciate it.” She smiled gratefully at him, then chuckled. “So when’s the last time you took a break, Leander?”“Well.” Leander paused to consider this, and it took so long Bracken genuinely wondered how far back he was thinking. He winced, “point taken.”Bracken’s chuckle turned into laughter, and Leander couldn’t help but smile despite himself.The duo walked on in a comfortable silence. When the floor was earthy and they were surrounded by real trees, Leander spoke up and asked Bracken the question that had been on his mind.“What are your thoughts about the current situation?”“Eh?” Bracken glanced at him, an eyebrow raised. “That’s a very sudden and very broad thing to ask.”“Oh, apologies-” Leander began, but was interrupted by Bracken. She began to ramble, waving her hands around to emphasise her words.“But anyways, everything’s pretty off, isn’t it. Between Doloran’s appearing island that steals people's souls, an anthropomorphic rabbit that looks after some kind of dream world, and a group of apparently powerful wizard types just popping up with no explanation? It’s weird. They’re definitely linked. That, or we’re super unlucky.”“My thoughts exactly.” Leander nodded, then crossed his arms in thought. “It would be stranger for it to all be coincidence.”“Another issue, right, is that I’m worried about the others, you know? Like, don’t get me wrong, they’re all capable of looking after themselves, but - this is an awful lot to place on a kid, no matter how strong-willed he is.” Bracken rubbed the back of her neck with a sigh. “Not to mention Roland’s been acting weirder than usual.”“I agree there, as well… I suppose all we can do is be there for them and do what we can to help.”“You’re right, you’re ri- there!”Without missing a beat, Bracken summoned her gun and pointed it into the brush, falling silent. Leander, catching on to her movements, remained quiet. Something had been watching them. They took soft steps, in tandem, silent. The forest was silent. It was not supposed to be.Another step forward. Silence. Another. The same. And on and on, until the danger seemed to have passed. A rustle.Wordlessly, Bracken shot. She shot almost a full round of bullets. Simultaneously, Leander released his spell. A dark spike shot from the ground at the location of the rustle. They glanced at one another, then nodded. Bracken sprinted to the spot, Leander staying a few paces behind.“...nothing.” She huffed, straightening up but remaining alert. “Whatever it is, it’s fast. Really fast.”“All I saw was a flash of white. Does anything matching that live in these woods?” Leander sighed, placing a hand on his forehead in annoyance.“Nope, not usually. We may have found our issue.”Continuing their path through the forest with renewed vigour, the two remained alert and kept talking to a minimum. Since the encounter, not a single creature had come within distance of them. The lower the sun got in the sky, the thinner Bracken’s patience grew. Soon, it would be nightfall, and she didn’t particularly want to camp out in a mildly creepy forest. She would much rather the creature jumped her and got it all over with now. There was a rustle from behind. She cursed herself for thinking that and jinxing it.“Ahem… Excuse us?” Spoke an unfamiliar voice.Bracken whirled around, pointing her gun at the sound. Leander turned as well, but carefully, as to assess the situation. At the end of Bracken’s sights stood a pair of unfamiliar people. They were both dishevelled and covered in forest debris, and wore strange clothes that were not from any kingdom she recognised. The one who spoke was shorter, with impressively long and sleek blue hair. He dressed fancily, and carried himself with poise, a short staff in his hand. The other took the meaning of shabby to a new level, but had positioned himself to be slightly in front of the other, and held a sidearm not unlike her own in his hand.“Who are you, and why are you following us?” Asked Leander. Bracken was thankful for his bluntness, because she was more focused on the physical situation than talking. The unfamiliar pair shared a prolonged look, before the blue one began to speak.“I’m deeply sorry if we startled you. You see, we’re lost, and you’re the first people we’ve seen.” He held his hands up in a pacifying manner, an awkward smile on his face as his eyes flicked to glance anywhere that wasn’t Bracken and Leander. “We would greatly appreciate it if you could perhaps tell us where we are, and take us to the nearest settlement.”“Broadleaf.” Bracken spoke up without thinking, relaxing her arm to her side, but remaining on guard. “That’s where you are. The nearest city, too.”“How come you don’t know that much?” Leander asked, his eyes narrowed.“‘Cuz we were teleported without our consent, that’s why.” The brown haired one huffed, staring the opposing duo down.Leander hummed. Bracken could tell that right now, the cogs of his brain were whirring around. In a seemingly innocuous movement, Leander patted the side of his coat twice. Aha, a signal. She dismissed her gun, letting herself relax and observe the reactions of the two.“You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a child by the name of Oliver, would you?”The changes in the duo were so pronounced even a kid could have read them. Both sets of eyes widened, and a large, relieved smile broke out on the brown haired one’s face. “You guys know Oliver? Ah, of course he’s already off making friends, it’s just like him.”Bracken couldn’t help but chuckle, a smile forming. “Apparently, he’s with some weird creature called Drippy? Anyway, they’re both safe with some of our friends, so you don’t have to worry.”“Goodness, that’s a relief. We should make our way to them as soon as we can, if you would be so kind as to lead us?”“Of course, we’ll get you two to Evermore as soon as possible! Although, I really need to clear everything with Zip, first…”“Ahem, would you mind introducing yourselves first?” Leander cut in.“My apologies. My name is Marcassin, and this is…” He trailed off, gesturing to the other.“I’m Swaine. How about you two, then? You’re not your average sort of people, are you?”“Huh, you’re pretty sharp. I’m Bracken Meadows, and I suppose you can call me the right hand person here at Broadleaf.”“Leander Aristides. Archon of the Kingdom of Hydropolis.”“I can’t help but be made aware of the fact that I know nothing of any of these places.” Marcassin sighed with a tilt of his head.Not before chuckling, Bracken began the long explanation of where they were and what events had led up to this. Leander was content to let her do most of the explaining, but couldn’t help jumping in whenever she missed a detail or heaven forbid, got a fact slightly wrong. Under the setting sun, the four of them walked as they talked, heading to the campsite Swaine and Marcissain were using as a temporary base. On the topic of those two, they had asked an extraordinarily large number of questions that put even Bracken’s curiosity to shame. She was going to like these two.Before long the two had packed up their makeshift camp, nothing left in the clearing but the ashes of a firepit.“Right.” Bracken cleared her throat and began speaking. “So, the plan is we head to Broadleaf, spend the night there, I bother Zip for a while, then we all head back to Evermore. Leander, that okay for you?”“Huh? Oh, yes. I have nothing else to attend to, if that’s what you’re asking.”“Okay, good. You two, you don’t really get a choice.” Bracken gives the two a thumbs up. “Anyway, if we’re all about ready to leave, Leander, could you woosh us?”“Woosh us?” Swaine interrupted, looking equal parts confused and concerned. Leander sighed, adjusting his glasses.“She means that she wants me to use a form of teleportation magic. I assume you two are familiar with magic?”“I suppose you could say that.” Swaine smiled, a look passing between him and Marcassin as if they shared a good natured secret.“I’m interested in seeing how magic in this world works, to be honest.” Marcassin nodded. “We’re all ready to go.”“Alright.”Without much more of a warning, they were enveloped in that glow that Bracken still wasn’t used to. It faded, and they were instantly there, outside Broadleaf. Bracken could be biased, she admitted it, but there was something far more unsettling about travelling via magic rather than technology. She’d choose the Zipplin over teleporting any day.“So, here we are. Broadleaf’s Treehouse. Pretty impressive, right?” Bracken looked up at it with a fond smile and pride in her voice. It was her home she had helped build from the ground up, and it would always remain her favourite place to be. “Okay, you’ve had a good enough look. Places to go, things to see!”“Miss Pea, you just need to be patient for a while more.” Dina sighed, watching his companion impatiently swing her legs. He himself was not much better, his usually formal posture forgone so he could sit with his knees to his chest.“I know, I just-”“Worried, huh? Don’t worry. I believe in Evan, he’ll find a way.”“Promise?”“I promise.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“What a strange little guy…” Oliver muttered, staring at the creature called a ‘Higgledy’ that stood in front of him. He was knelt on a patch of grass behind a building that apparently created and housed hundreds of them.“Aren’t they adorable?” Esther squealed, sat to Oliver’s side and carefully holding a Higgledy that glowed like the sun. Tani laughed happily from across the two, lying on the grass and watching the group of Higgledies that had gathered.“They really seem to like you, Esther!”“Hehe, of course they do! I wonder if I can get one to follow me around…”“You definitely can, some of them can even fight! You’ve just got to find the right one.”“Don’t worry Ollie-boy, we can’t all be good at everything.” Drippy spoke up, noticing how the Higgledies had flocked to the other two and ignored Oliver.“It’s still impressive that you can see them!” Tani chirped, looking over at him. “That’s a really rare ability itself.”“Poor guys, they deserve to be appreciated!”Time had flown since Oliver had reunited with Esther, at least a few days had passed. Nothing had seemed to have gotten done in that time, with Oliver hearing no updates about his missing friends. Evan and Roland had been swamped with work, so he hadn’t been able to speak with them very often. Tani and Batu were always around though, and he was grateful for Tani’s infectious cheer. He only wished it didn’t feel as like he was being babysat the whole time. Oliver missed the freedom of being able to travel the world as he wished, but he didn’t miss the stressful situations he often found himself in. Nevertheless, Oliver wished to be doing something.“Oh! Oliver?” Esther nudged him, breaking him out of his thoughts.“Yeah?”“We should show Tani our familiars, in exchange for seeing the Higgledies!”“Wait - familiars work in this world?”“Um, yeah, of course they do? They’re part of our hearts after all.”“Not to interrupt, but what's a familiar?”“Creatures born from the heart, they are. Our Esther here’s a top notch familiar trainer, actually.” Drippy’s lantern seemed to almost shine brighter with pride.“Oh, wow! Now you’ve gotta show me!”“Alright. Come on out, Gogo.” Esther smiled. She placed her hand over her chest then drew it out with a flourish, a small pink orb forming and growing into a rather fat blue bird. Esther patted her old friend, and Tani looked on in awe.“Woah… That’s so cool!”“Hello, Gogo.” Oliver nodded at the familiar, then summoned his own. The Mite landed on the ground with its signature squeak, then spun around and poked Oliver with its sword. “Hey! I’m sorry, but I didn’t know if you were around or not!”“Is that yours, Oliver? I like it, it has spunk!” “Aye lad, there’s been no word whatsoever.” Batu shook his head, arms crossed. Evan sighed and glanced at Roland, who was frowning.“This is taking too long. We may as well start searching ourselves at this rate-”“The entire world? That would take forever! Li Li said she would have something soon, she was just set back a bit…”“But how long do we have, with Doloran at our doorstep?”A blinding flash of blue light interrupted their heated discussion. Before it had even died down, Evan could hear the familiar voices of those who had just arrived.“Your favourite ministers have returned! Bearing good ne- oh, are we interrupting?”“Honestly, Bracken. I tried to tell you that teleporting a group directly into the Throne room would be a bad idea…”“You should’ve told me harder.”“Will someone please explain where we are!”That voice was unfamiliar. As the light faded away, Evan saw Leander and Bracken standing next to one another. Which was weird, because he could swear they were previously in entirely different countries. What was even stranger was the duo who had seemingly tagged along, dressed in strange clothes. Ah, they must be Oliver’s missing companions.“This was… Unexpected.” Roland looked at his two friends with his arms crossed. “Care to introduce those two?”“Oh, right! This is-”“We can introduce ourselves. I’m Swaine, and apparently you guys know where Oliver is, so I’m here to keep an eye on him.” Swaine introduced himself nonchalantly.The other one hissed something to Swaine, then looked at Evan with a polite smile. “My apologies, he’s just worried. You must be King Evan. I am deeply grateful for you and your Ministers’ assistance to my companions and I.” He dipped in a small, stately bow. The two couldn’t be any more different, Evan thought. “I am Prince Marcassin, of Hamelin. Whilst I do not have much in this world, you have my deepest thanks.”“Oh! It’s a pleasure to welcome you to my kingdom, your Highness.”“Wait, you’re a Prince!?” Bracken blurted out. “Did you forget to mention that or something?”“Oh, it wasn’t relevant, and I didn’t want to seem pompous or anything, so I just.. Didn’t bring it up.”Ah, of course. Even though the story was a children’s one, so lacked detail, Evan recognised the two characters. Swaine, the argumentative gunman and thief with a soft spot for the rest, and Marcassin, the noble Prince saved by the party who thanked them by providing magical prowess. Getting to meet his childhood heroes in the flesh… Evan was trying very hard to contain his excitement.“Ahem.” Roland cleared his throat. The introductions had finished, and he was moving on to the next point. “Prince Marcassin, Swaine, the rest of your companions are here in Evermore. I’m guessing you’ll want to be reunited right away.”“The rest? We were told of Oliver and Drippy, but is Esther here as well?”“Aye.” Batu gave Marcassin a gruff nod. “They found her a couple days ago, and she’s been here ever since.”“She had befriended a bunch of monsters and was fighting a tainted monster all on her own when we found her… Oh, but don’t worry! She’s fine!”“Pah, of course she is. There was no question on if she was fine, she’s far too stubborn to let anything get to her.”“..I, for one, am glad. Could you be so kind as to take us to them?”“Of course!” Evan smiled warmly at the two. “I’ll take you now.”As Evan began to walk out of the throne room, gesturing for the two to follow him, he heard Roland call out behind him.“Evan, would you mind grabbing Tani? I want to have a group meeting.”“On it, Roland!”“Ahh, I’m jealous. I would kill to have one of these guys.” Tani huffed, staring enviously at the space where the familiars had stood but two seconds ago.“I don’t know, I think Higgledies are pretty neat as well..” Oliver mused. “But in the end, they’re pretty similar if you think about it hard enough.”“I agree! Although, I do think familiars are better… but maybe I’m biased!” Esther chuckled, her face then settling into a frown. “...Any news, Tani?”“Nothing yet.” The young sky pirate shook her head, looking a little disappointed herself. “Honestly! I have half a mind to go out and search for myself!” Esther huffed, and Drippy nodded in assent.“Right you are, we’re getting nowhere sitting around.”“I know they’re both strong, but… What if they’re all alone in danger somewhere?” Oliver wondered anxiously, looking pointedly at the ground. “It’s okay Oliver, I’m sure they’re both safe. If there’s no news by tomorrow, I’ll go search for them myself!” Tani attempts to give him a comforting smile, Esther nods.“Tani’s right. I’m worried too, but I have full faith that they’ll be just fine, okay?”“Is that a hint of concern for me? No, this definitely isn’t Esther.”Oliver immediately turned his head, the sentence he was forming dying before it reached his lips. There stood Evan, waving happily at him. And behind Evan… Oliver was close to crying tears of joy, as embarrassing as that would be. Swaine stood with his signature wry smile, looking at them with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Next to him was Marcassin, who had a truly relieved smile.“Hey! You’re missing for a week and that’s the first thing you say? Hmph! And I was only worried about Marcassin anyways.” Esther immediately shot to her feet, hands on her hips. Ah, the sound of familiarity.“You guys-!” Oliver let out a strangled noise of relief. They were fine. Everyone was fine. He wasn’t going to lose them. “I’m so glad you’re safe!”“Likewise.” Marcassin walked towards Oliver, and pointedly decided to ignore the two arguing. “Oliver, Drippy, I’m glad to see you’re unharmed.”Evan smiled warmly at the scene. No matter how confusing or strange the situation was, getting to reunite people with what was essentially their family warmed his heart. He wouldn’t know what to do if he lost the others, and hoped he would never have to find out. Evan felt eyes burning into him, and looked over to see Tani staring at him with a grin. She wandered over to him, looking pleased.“So you found them, huh?”“Well, not me, exactly… But they’re together now.”“I’m glad. They were really worked up over finding these two.” “I’m sure they were… Oh! Tani?”“Yeah, what’s up?”“Roland’s called a group meeting, so we need to hurry back.”“Oh geez… what for?”“He didn’t say?”“He never does.”The two shared a grin.“Yo, guys! We’re heading off!” Tani yelled at the group of five, who had circled together and seemed to have calmed down.“We’ve got something to take care of… It was nice to meet you two.” Evan nodded his head as a bow, looking up with a smile.“But don’t run too far without us, okay? We only just found you all.” Tani added with a joking huff. The two wandered off together, anticipatory of the promised meeting.A range of variations on ‘thank you’ rang out from the group. They waited until the two were out of sight, then turned to each other.“Righto.” Drippy began, standing in the centre of their circle. “Time to get to the bottom of this.”“First, let’s start with what everyone experienced before coming here.” Marcassin spoke, and the others nodded.“I remember… he had asked us to visit Ara Memoriae, so we did. We landed, we crossed the bridge, and then… blank.” Oliver strained to get any clearer memories, but couldn’t. “You guys?”“Yep, that’s what I remember.” Swained added, and Esther nodded next to him.“Me too. We entered the place, then.. Bam, I woke up in the middle of nowhere.”“I believe it’s safe to assume magic was involved. That begs the question - was our memory wiped, or were we all hit by some spell?”Marcassin’s question caused the group to pause and fall silent, pondering it.“Well, whatever it was, I bet it was the work of that Witch.” Drippy bounced, looking annoyed. “The manna stuff wasn't enough, so she had to get rid of us for good, ey?”“...he has a point.” Swaine looked around. “She’s the only wizard type who’s currently mad at us, right?”“And the only one strong enough, probably.” Esther added, and Oliver sighed.“Those are good points, but I’m just not sure…”“There’s not enough information.” Marcassin ‘hmm’ed, closing his eyes to think. “Perhaps we should all share our experience of this world, so we all have the pieces?”Everyone agreed, and so they shared their stories one by one. Oliver spoke of waking up on Evermore’s doorstep, lost in a new world for a second time. Drippy proudly described how he obtained Evan’s help, then found Oliver. Esther explained her tale, of befriending a strange species in order to have allies. The three then told of their reunion, then turned to Marcassin and Swaine. How did the two make their way to them? Were they together the whole time, or did they only find one another recently? These questions were at the forefront of their minds as Marcassain began to speak.His first realisation was that he was laying on slightly damp grass. His second, opening his eyes, was that he was no longer in Nazcaa. The third and most worrisome one was that he was alone. Completely alone. Standing up and surveying his surroundings, Marcassin reasoned with himself. He had spent almost his entire life alone, so the situation he found himself in would cause no issues whatsoever. The more pressing matter would be in unfamiliar territory he found himself in, of course.The forest was green and teeming with life, some of which was hostile. At the bare minimum, that was consistent with what Marcassain knew. Fighting the creatures off presented no trouble for him - a great sage was expected to be able to fight off a few creatures on their own without breaking a sweat. If Marcassin missed the company of others on the battlefield, the knowledge that his back was covered while he focused on magic, he kept those feelings bottled deep down inside himself.It took the better part of the day, judging by the movement of the sun, but Marcassin reached the edge of the woods, where trees made way for an expanse of barren ground. Clockwork machine parts were littered across the flats, getting more and more clustered together until they surrounded a mechanical tree that reached into the sky. Objectively, the shift was unpleasant. The air was stifling and harder to breathe, and the sharp tang of chemicals filled it. Rather than the forest creatures, the ones in the plains were mechanical, robots thrown away and left to rot. To many people, this would be considered a sad sight. To Marcassin, it felt almost like he was home. The unknown kingdom was close, but not quite Hamlin. The thick smog that industry produced hadn’t quite set in, but in a melancholy way, Marcassin knew it would only be a matter of time.By the time he had managed to gather his drifting thoughts, the sun was dipping low in the sky, promising to disappear altogether in a matter of minutes. Marcassin knew, logically, that he should make a camp, rather than risk travelling in unfamiliar territory at night. That tree looked like a city, but there was no guarantee it wasn’t dangerous. He couldn’t risk that. It was only after he felt confident in his plan that he realised the glaring issue. Marcassin did not know how to even begin setting up a camp.He had watched the others do it a few times, but he was never paying enough attention. He was always thinking of logical puzzles or planning next steps, not learning how to camp. An oversight, on his part. He deliberated, for a while, but there was nothing he could do, not now the sun had completely vanished. With a drawn out sigh, he returned to the tree line and sat down, leaning against a sturdy one. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but he may as well rest. He began the first and only step of preparing for sleep - he called out Joules.“I’m glad you’re still with me, at least.” He mused, sleepily reaching out and petting Joules’ head. “Will you do me a favour and keep an eye out while I sleep? Wake me if you sense anything at all.”Joules spun around, which Marcassin took for agreement. He slumped down and closed his eyes. It was cold, and the ground was hard, but eventually he fell into a dreamless sleep.Across the flats, in a junkyard by the sea, was Swaine. He had spent the majority of the morning cursing his luck. Waking up alone, in some toxic swamp, with nothing but the clothes on his back and the pistol in his pocket. The others probably woke up somewhere nice, all together. That would be par for the course with him. Although, he conceded, he was lucky in the sense he knew how to travel around on his own. As depressing as that thought was, when he was so used to the company of weirdly loud and cheerful children.After surveying his surroundings, Swaine saw two things of note. One, the ginormous mechanical tree that could put Hamlin to shame. Two, a dense forest off in the distance. While he badly wanted to visit the strange building and see what sort of things they were doing, he had to decide against it, for now. The forest would provide cover, and probably a lot of food as well. He’d stock up, then set out and find the others. A fine plan, he congratulated himself.Swaine chose to cross the flats after nightfall. Why? Because most of those mechanical creatures would power down, from his experience. He was right. Under the cover of darkness, he breezed through the flats without a single encounter. He would have to avoid fighting, because as confident as he was, he wasn’t stupid. Alone, he didn’t have the manpower to defeat things. He was a tricks guy, not a head on person like the others. It was close to dawn by the time Swaine reached the first few trees. He relaxed slightly, and allowed himself to grin a bit. His plan worked, of course. Now for phase two. Or, it would be phase two, if a small… bat creature? hadn’t swooped down and thwacked him over the head.“Hey, what the hell!” He yelled, grabbing it and holding it up. Now it was still, Swaine did a double take. “Joules?” He questioned, eyebrow raised. The creature wiggled out of his grip and seemed to do its best at a nod. What the hell was Marcassin’s familiar doing on its own?Joules headbutted him, lightly.“What’s you- you want me to follow you?” Swaine worked out what Joules wanted, and it responded by twirling then flying off. Swaine was worried, now. Why would Joules be on his own? Had something happened to Marcassin? With these anxious thoughts as fuel, he jogged after the familiar.It was, perhaps, the few most agonising minutes of Swaine’s life. What if Marcassin was hurt? Would he be too late? If only he’d been brave or strong enough to travel earlier, he wouldn’t be in this situation, and the two would be fine. The story of his life, Swaine bitterly thought. There - in the first light of dawn, Swaine finally spotted his brother. Marcassin was asleep against a tree, with nothing to protect him and not even any semblance of a camp. Rushing anxiously over, Swaine let out a sigh of relief. Marcassin was unharmed. Stupid, but unharmed. Shaking, the rush of adrenaline dwindling, Swaine busied his hands by searching for something to eat. But he didn’t dare stray too far. Marcassin remained in his sights the whole time.“...sleep right here? Can’t believe he’d be so stupid! At least he had the sense to bring you out.”Marcassin woke up at the sound of the voice. Someone was looming over him. He opened his eyes, hand shooting for his wand he left lying next to him.“Gascon-?” Marcassin was incredulous. Standing over him was his brother, looking even more dishevelled than usual, but smiling. Swaine was eating an apple with one hand, and using the other hand to feed another one to Joules, who was perched above his shoulder.“Honestly Marcassin, what were you thinking?” Swaine’s smile dropped away, and his voice was snappish. “You could have died and been none the wiser!”“Joules was going to wake me if anything came.” Marcassin kept his voice steady as he stood up, brushing the debris off of his nice clothes. He was glad Gascon was here, but… He didn’t appreciate being yelled at. “At least, he was going to. Joules has always had a soft spot for you.”Swaine scoffed. “And if something had attacked Joules? Did you forget that would hurt you as well?” He spoke in an almost condescending tone. Marcassin recognised it well, it was the voice Gascon always took when scolding him. Normally, he would try to ignore it, but between the stress of the situation and the aches his sleeping position caused, he found himself being unable to.“What would you rather I’d done? Did you forget? I have never set foot outside Hamlin alone. I am not you - I didn’t spend years gallivanting across the world.” Marcassin snapped, and he regretted it the second he saw the shock in Gascon’s eyes.“Marcassin, I-”“I’m sorry, I misspoke.” Marcassin apologised, but his brother merely sighed.“Leave it. I didn’t get the chance to sleep last night, so I’m taking it now.”With that, Swaine took up Marcassin’s previous spot and immediately fell asleep.Still on edge, Marcassin paced a few circles around their makeshift ‘camp’. The sun was starting to rise, marking his second day in the unfamiliar place. Eventually, he settled, perching on a stump. Also on the stump was a pile of fruits that were definitely not there the prior day, so he presumed Swaine had gathered them. Marcassin, having just realised he hadn’t eaten at all the whole time, took a fruit off the pile and began to nibble on it. He wasn’t expecting to find anyone so soon, least of all Swaine. He was quite glad it was him out of all of them, though - for his abrasive nature and general carelessness, Swaine was still his brother, and around him he didn’t have to keep up the pretence of being more capable than he is. The drawback, however, is that the two of them had not had a single one on one conversation for over a decade. Marcassin hoped that finding the others would be as fast, if only to avoid the awkwardness.Hours had passed. Marcassin wanted to get travelling while there was still daylight, but Swaine showed no signs of waking. He would have to take matters into his own hands.“Gascon. Gascon.” Marcassin repeated, nudging Swaine with his wand with each repetition.“I’m getting up…” Swaine sleepily raised a hand to bat Marcassin away, then rubbed his eyes with the other.“Sorry to wake you.” Marcassin apologised, then sat himself on the ground opposite Swaine. “It’s been a few hours, but I didn’t want to waste the daylight. Did you sleep well?”“Smart thinking.” Swaine yawned, stretching his arms out. “Geez, how’d you make it through a whole night there, it’s uncomfortable as anything.”Their brief conflict from earlier was not brought up. Instead, it was all disjointed sentences of small talk as they created a plan. For that day, they would focus on gathering supplies and finding a place to use as a base for any further travel. Swaine dominated the planning, as Marcassin felt his skillset was unsuited for the task. The day went as planned, and by the time the sun had set, the two had found a clearing to make their camp. Swaine was creating a haphazard sleeping mat out of assorted greenery, whilst Marcassin crouched by the firepit. He carefully directed a spell, which turned the pile of wood into a crackling flame. Although the shadows it cast were long and gloomy, the place felt a lot more homely with the light.“Tonight we should sleep in a shift pattern, yes?” Marcassin broke the quiet that had settled over the camp. Swaine made a noise of agreement.“Yeah, makes it safer. Tell you what - I’ll take the first shift, and I’ll wake you when I’m tired.”“Makes sense.” Marcassin nodded, then returned to staring quietly at the flame. He had made it through the day, and it would only be a matter of time before they met up with everyone. Still, he wished they had more to talk about. Logically, a situation like this was perfect for talking to someone. But the two had drifted so far, and Marcassin was so bad at simple things, that he wouldn’t know where to start.“Wait.” A thought occurred to him. “You’re planning to let me sleep more than you, aren’t you? I’m not a child, any more. And I’m not some pampered prince, I’m perfectly capable. We should take even shifts.”“Well. I.” Swaine responded. Aha, he was stumped. So Marcassin was right. “It’s only fair. I basically took a nap this morning, anyway.”“You slept for three hours. Following your logic, I should take the longer shift.”“Look, I just-” Swaine let out a defeated huff. “You need the rest a lot more than I do. If we get into any trouble, I doubt even a Great Sage could manage it while sleep deprived. You’re strong, so keep up your strength. I’m not as useful then, so I’ll be useful now.” There was a hint of bitterness in his voice and self-deprecation in his words. Marcassin frowned, looking deep into the flames.“You’re wrong, Gascon.” Marcassin sighed softly, his voice quiet. “You are far more useful than me. You’re resourceful, and you have the sort of brains to get us out of things. A lack of sleep won’t stop me throwing a spell at things. You need to rest. You deserve it.”Marcassin could tell that Swaine had stopped his movement, standing still for a split second. He slowly shuffled his way over to the fire, sitting on the ground next to Marcassin.“You’re too humble, you know. You’ve always been the strong one. You’re better than me at most things. Hell, if I gave you my stuff and a few days, you’d be a better thief than me.” Swaine huffed. Marcassin held a small smile in response, but his tone was melancholy.“I appreciate the commendations. But no matter how strong, how skilled, people say I am, you’re the one who does things. While you were out there helping people, I was acting like a fool and letting Hamlin fall apart. You fought Shadar, Gascon, and you won. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. You always have been.”One again, Swaine paused. Without turning to look at him, Marcassin could tell he was trying to come up with a way to turn it back around. He would not give him the time to.“I have always thought you were the better one of us. Yes, I can use magic, but what does that mean in the grand scheme of things? You’re an engineering genius, you’re reliable, and you have a kind heart. I merely have my spells - and even then, Oliver’s more powerful than me, and he’s just a child.”“You know, if you told Oliver you think he’s stronger than you, he’d start crying on the spot.” Swaine nudged Marcassin, who chuckled at the image. “But geez Marcassin, if you look up to me that badly, I’m going to have to start acting more like it.”“Don’t be ridiculous. If you changed, then you wouldn’t be the brother I look up to.” Marcassin had a small smile on his face as he stared into the flames. It fell quiet for a minute, and his heart was warm. After all those years, maybe they could go back to being as close as they used to. Marcassin liked the sound of that.“Hey, Marcassin?”“Yes?”“I’m sorry for being a horrible brother.”“Hmm… forgiven. I’m also sorry, as well. Let's both do better from now on?”“...Yeah. We’ll do that. Hug?” Swaine asked. Marcassin glanced at him, surprised, and saw an awkward smile on his face. He was never one for hugs, but… Without a verbal response, Marcassin shuffled closer and awkwardly used one arm to hug him. Swaine returned the hug. It was clumsy, and stiff, and the two of them clearly weren’t used to showing affection, but it was a hug, and Marcassin found comfort in it.The next few days had passed with no issues, the two working in perfect tandem to ensure a thorough search of the woods. It was a couple days later, when they were finally leaving the woods to investigate the city, that they met Bracken and Leander. Met, being a loose term, as they originally decided upon the two being a potential threat. Of course, that was quickly ironed out, and the two were taken away with the promise of meeting with their friends.That was the long version of Swaine and Marcassin’s tale. The version they gave their friends was far more succinct, only describing each basic action. Neither brought up their conversation, their proper reunion, deciding to keep that between them. The three had listened attentively, and when the story was over conversations continued. Now that they all understood the past, they turned to the future in order to plan the next few steps.“Everyone is here and prepared. Roland, if you would like to begin.” Leander gestured to Roland. They stood in a tight knit circle, all looking at one another. “So, I called this meeting because we’re all here now. Sorry for not letting you guys catch a break.” Roland apologetically smiled at Leander and Bracken.“Eh, it’s no problem! What’s up?”It’s about the newcomers. Evan, if you would?”“What? Me?” Evan asked, startled. He cleared his throat. Carefully, he explained exactly what he had figured out. How Oliver and company were time travellers rather than world travellers, and what they had accomplished in the past. By the time he finished, the room had a blanket of stunned silence laid over it.“My goodness.. Yes, I’ve heard that tale. It’s ancient.” Leander spoke first, cautiously. “You mean to tell me that the two we met are from it?”“Yeah, they almost definitely are.” Roland nodded. Tani and Batu glanced at each other.“Boss, d’you know the story?”“Not at all girlie, it’s not sky pirate fare.”“Oh! I have the book here, for anyone who needs it!” Evan hastily pulled out the book and handed it to Tani. With an almost menacing smile, Roland looked at Lofty. “And for anyone who wants the detailed version, ask our dear Kingmaker, who neglected to tell us that he indeed not only knows who they are, but was taught by Drippy.”Lofty’s eyes widened, and everyone turned to stare at him.There was a good five minutes of pure outbursts that Lofty had to weather. Evan almost felt sorry for him. Almost.“Okay, everyone.” Roland drew the focus back around. He was pretty good at that, Evan had noticed. “What we need to do is decide on how to deal with this.”The group fell into a lengthy and chaotic discussion. After what felt like a very, very long time, they had come to a decision. One, to trust the group for now. Two, to take them to help in combat. And three, to not tell them about their time. According to Roland’s ‘movies’, that could create a ‘paradox’ and mess with the ‘timeline’. Evan didn’t even pretend to know what that meant, but Bracken and Leander seemed to understand, and that was good enough.The meeting settled down, and everyone was ready to part and reconvene until the morning. That was, until they were interrupted. Why could Evan never catch a break? Could interruptions please be, perhaps, less interruptive? Anyway, Li Li walked up to their group, a smile stretched across her face from ear to ear.“I apologise for the wait, but I’ve found Mornstar’s location!”Everyone smiled, looking around at one another. This was it! They were going to get what they needed, and take down Doloran! Everyone would be saved!“Okay, tell us what you found!”“Ooh, Dina, question!”“Hmm? Please, go ahead.”“Why is Mornstar a sword?”The time was being passed with questions like this, although this was a more interesting one. Dina had to pause, and think.“Why wouldn’t it be one? It’s a weapon many people know how to use, isn’t it?”“I don’t. Also, it’s a wand! A wand! Based on Doodle-Doo’s wand!” Pea declared, pouting.“Oh, really? Perhaps it changes shape to best suit its owner. Legendary items can do that, right?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The wind, bitingly cold, nipped at any uncovered bits of skin. Bright white snow shined as far as the eyes could see, which, in the snowfall, wasn’t actually all that far. The valley was eerily silent, nothing alive aside from the group of freezing people. They were extremely colourful compared to the monochrome landscape that consisted of snow, mountains, some more snow, and a crumbling ruin. They stood at the entrance, deep in discussion.“I’m f-f-freezing…” Evan was shaking, his teeth clattering.“You th-th-think you’re bad…” Tani hissed. Roland sighed, drawing his coat further around himself. Their group had foolishly come in their regular clothes, but as for the others…“Geez, we’re coming to the snow and you didn’t bring coats?” Swaine scoffed, bundled up in a very warm looking coat. The rest of his group, even Drippy, were the same, wearing colour coded, matching, winter coats. Evan was.. Really impressed, actually. Tani, on the other hand, had an expression on her face that looked like she was planning a murder. She.. probably was.“We should head inside. It’ll be warmer.” Leander spoke calmly, though he was noticeably shivering himself.“Come on!” Oliver chirped up, heading inside. Everyone trailed in after him, leaving the landscape colourless once more.The inside of the ruin was far nicer than the outside suggested. Most walls were intact and lined with sparkling gems. It was also far warmer than outside, now there was protection from the wind. Everyone had managed to stop shivering. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a squeeze to fit all of them into the first room alone, but they managed. It made it warmer, Evan supposed? As for why they were bringing the new group along for Mornstar’s collection, that was easy. Oliver held the very same weapon, after all. Although… they hadn’t told him that. They’d lied and said they needed help with monsters. After a moment of deliberation and much debate, they decided to split up. Since paths branched at almost every point, and their large group would be ineffective in combat in these narrow halls, it was reasoned that separating would be the better option. The two groups stood at either end of an intersection. With one final goodbye and good luck, they both set out.This first group took the left path. It was led by Evan, supported by Leander, Tani, Esther and Marcassin. Groups had been chosen to ensure each one had a balanced mix of skills - Evan wasn’t too sure, but it seemed to make sense so he stuck with it. The monsters so far had been relatively easy to defeat, and the environment looked the same. It was boring.“A question, if I may?” Marcassin spoke up.“Yeah, what is it?” Tani responded, curiously looking at him.“To my understanding, we’re looking for something. What is it, exactly?”“The legendary weapon, Mornstar. Specifically, it is currently a cup, but we are planning to forge it into a sword for King Evan to wield.” Leander answered, tapping his glasses. Marcassin and Esther immediately turned to one another, a similar wide-eyed expression on their faces.“Mornstar? A cup? That’s funny! Where we’re from, there’s a weapon called Mornstar - but it’s a wand!” Esther’s surprise was earnest, and Tani gasped.“Woah, no way!”“Indeed. You know, this reminds me an awful lot of how you guys managed to get Mornstar in the first place.” Marcassin smiled, and Esther laughed.“Oh yeah! That was a really weird time.”“What… Happened?” Evan asked - his story never explained how they got the wand, so he was genuinely curious. The two shared a small smile, and Esther turned to him.“Our secret!”“Awww…”Eventually, their group made it to what seemed to be the deepest part.“Hey, look! I think that’s it!” Tani pointed at the other end of the room, then started walking towards it.“Tani, wait-” Evan tried to warn her, but it was too late. An automaton sprung into view and charged directly at her. Tani braced herself for the hit, but before it came, she was pushed gently aside. Marcassin stood in front of her, sending a beam of light that hit the creature and sent it off course.“Are you alright?” He asked, with a frown.“Oh geez- thanks!”“You’re welcome. Now, let us defeat this and return to Evermore.”They sprung into action. There was no time to think, as Evan drew his sword and sprinted forward. Everyone fell into their positions. Evan could not spare any focus, but from the corner of his eye he could see them. He dived under an attack, rolling and hopping up the other side. He lunged with his blade, leaving a gash across its back. Tani seized the opportunity, making a sweeping slice at the front. The automaton staggered back, and the two wizards used the opening to barrage it with an onslaught of magical energy. Esther cheered, strumming a song. Although nothing visually happened, Evan felt his previous scrapes disappearing. He rolled and spun again, a smile on his face. They had this.One kind of long and mildly arduous battle later, the automaton fell to the ground. Although they were exhausted, all taking heavy breaths, they looked at one another with pride.“Well done!” Evan may have been hunched over, hands on his knees, but he was beaming. “We did it, we’ve got Mornstar!”He spoke too soon. A cold wind picked up and flowed into the room, chilling Evan to the bone. A howl echoed out. Wisps of black smoke began to flow in. Evan hastily readied his blade, but his weary arms struggled to hold still. A quick glance told him his companions were the same. Bounding footsteps. Whatever was coming, it would be here soon.A gigantic wolf charged into the chamber. Its shiny, pearlescent fangs were bared, each one large enough to be a knife. Dark markings crept across its face, and a collar, blood red and like a sharpened halo, was secure around its neck. “Watch out!” Esther cried out, visibly afraid. “We’ve fought that before, it’s - why is it here?”“What do you mean?” Leander yelled over the howling winds, “It’s not supposed to be here?”“It wasn’t supposed to be in our world either - there is no choice but to fight!” Marcassin called, straightening up and preparing to fight. The others followed suit, but they were all exhausted and weakened already. The wolf pounced at them.“Aww, geez. Yep, still freezing!” Bracken shuddered, trudging on through the halls. Next to her, Roland sighed and shook his head.“Honestly. What about ‘we are going to a place called Coldera’ didn’t scream that it would be cold?”“You just need to tough it up.” Batu grumbled, clearly trying to hide his shivering. Swaine rolled his eyes at the exchange, Drippy shook his head with a jingle of disappointment. “So,” began Oliver, in an attempt to change the subject, “Mornstar, right? And it’s a… cup?”“Apparently so.”“Bit of a weird way to store a weapon ain’t it?” Drippy piped up. “I’d have a right hard time fighting someone with a cup.”“That’s why I’m going to forge it into the best damned sword the world will ever see!” Bracken grinned, cracking her knuckles.“A sword is definitely more useful than a cup. Although I’d really like to see someone fight with one.” Swaine mused.The group continued trudging on, easily dispatching anything in their way but finding nothing but ruins, ruins, and more ruins. Why was Mornstar in such a boring place? Oliver almost wished they were in the Tombstone Trail. It sure was creepy, and dangerous, and required them to fake their deaths, but at least it was interesting..? Seeing the same walls no matter how far they walked, with the cold slowly seeping into their bones, the group's spirit fell. Silence had fallen over them. All of a sudden, a howl echoed throughout the halls and sent a shiver through Oliver’s spine.“Hey, Oliver? Correct me if I’m wrong, and do I want to be wrong, but isn’t that..?” Swaine trailed off, a small frown on his face as he looked at Oliver, who gave a nod.“I think so? But what’s he doing here?”“Hey, mind filling us in?” Roland cut in, leading the group towards the howl.“Right - short version is, where we come from a part of our own legendary weapon was in an icy cave, guarded by this magic wolf.” Swaine explained.“Roland, why are we running towards it?” Batu asked, puzzled.“That confirms that. Where this wolf is is where we’ll find Mornstar.”“Makes sense, I guess.”Evan took a pace forwards, so he was slightly in front of the others. He held his sword in a defensive position, as the wolf barreled forward. The impact of the hit sent his sword clattering to the ground. Evan skidded backwards, his feet losing contact with the ground as he hurtled backwards. Instead of slamming into the wall like he expected, he hit into something soft. He opened eyes he didn’t even realise were scrunched up, and looked back for what caught him.“Roland!” He was immediately cheered up. Roland, appearing valiantly out of nowhere, had managed to catch him. “Thank you!”“You should be more careful, Evan. You okay?”Evan nodded in response. He glanced around. Roland’s whole group had arrived. Oliver and Bracken formed a barrier between the others and the wolf. Meanwhile, Batu had run to Tani and Swaine to Marcassin, both having conversations Evan couldn’t make out.“Evan’s group, stay back. My group, let’s take it out.” Roland ordered, joining Oliver and Bracken in beginning to fight the beast. With a characteristic ‘aye’, Batu rushed into battle.“Don’t worry, I can keep fighting.” Marcassin tried to argue, but was elbowed by Swaine.“No, you can’t. Full offence, you look like a gust of wind you knock you over right now.” He scoffed. Swaine’s evaluation was apt, as Marcassin did look a lot more exhausted than usual. “So leave it to us, you hear?” With a grin and a flourish, he twirled his gun and began firing it.It was a long fight, and no-one was left uninjured, but they’d won. The wolf dissipated into black smoke that slowly wisped away. Everyone in that room was exhausted and injured, but they all had grins as they looked at one another. Evan ran over to the end of the room, where he found it. Mornstar. They’d done it! They were going to be able to defeat Doloran!Preparations were well underway. Sure, things weren’t exactly going as planned, but they were making do. The two groups had bonded after their experience, and before long friendships had formed. Swaine and Marcassin had made the foolish decision of letting slip to Bracken that they came from a place very similar to Broadleaf. She had immediately begged them to join Evermore’s R&D team, which they accepted. Leander was happy to have other people with common sense, although… From Evan’s standpoint, he wouldn’t call them that. Leander would have his hands full. Evan himself liked spending time with all of them. They were his childhood inspirations after all! He just wished he could tell them that, somehow.As everyone prepared around them, Evan found he had nothing to do. To chase off any anxiety, he set himself to work doing what small things he could. That’s what led him to Ding Dong Dell, where the old well was experiencing disturbances. A few companions had tagged along, as well.“Ollie boy! Look!” Drippy was incredulous as they walked throughout the city.“It’s exactly like - but look at that rat statue!” Oliver gasped, staring. Roland shook his head at them.“Seriously. Try not to draw too much attention to us, okay?”“Sorry!” He apologised quickly. Evan laughed, a bit.“That’s Mausinger. He’s the king, right now. So, they built a statue of him.”“Your majesty! We should make a statue of you for Evermore!” Esther grinned, Evan shook his head.“Definitely not!”“I dunno, you’d make a good statue.” Tani agreed, and Lofty jumped at the chance to add on.“All good kings (and their Kingmakers) need statues, Evan mun!”“Not you both as well…” Evan whined. Everyone laughed good naturedly, except Roland, who fondly rolled his eyes at their antics.As they descended the steps leading towards the well, Oliver hung back and whispered something to Esther. Evan couldn’t quite make it out, but it put frowns on both their faces. He was worried, but he pressed on. They entered the well. He.. wasn’t a fan of the well. It stunk, it was full of monsters, and.. Bad memories. There were a few of those. Anyway! They were inside and they must stay focused.“Right Evan, what’s the plan?” Tani asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.“Oh! There’s probably a tainted monster here, so we need to find it and take it out.”“Sounds easy enough! We’ve got this!” Esther smiled, and they began their trudge through the grimy sewers.“So, what happened to making a sword?” Swaine’s displeased voice spoke up. Bracken had dragged him, Leander, and Marcassin to a forest near Evermore. Marcassin didn’t quite understand why they had come, but he agreed to follow along. He had some things he needed to do.“Ah, Evan’s away, so what he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him.” Bracken smiled and pressed her hands together, but Leander raised an eyebrow. They were an interesting pair, that’s for sure.“We need a special kind of wood that grows here.”“And why did we tag along?” Swaine grumbled. He grumbled an awful lot.“Knowing our recent luck, we’ll come across a dangerous monster. It would be unwise for Bracken and I to come out here alone.”“Which is why I offered for us to come and assist them.” Marcassin chimed in, and Swaine nodded.“If you say so.”The forest was quite pleasant. It was nothing like Hamelin, or Broadleaf. It was a beautiful place, abundant with nature. And monsters. That seemed to be a problem common to these places. They also had to climb across massive, stretching branches to proceed, which was definitely an experience for the guy who had only very recently left his home for the first time in over a decade. Sufficient to say, he was pretty distracted. Before long, their group had arrived at the centre of the forest, full of the trees they were looking for. Perfect, Marcassin would be able to bring up what he wanted to.Evan’s group had finally reached the depths of the well. Oliver, Esther and even Drippy were uncharacteristically quiet, but they managed to keep up and fight well, so Evan chose not to worry too hard. A boom. Something exploded, not far away. “Let’s go!” Evan called, running towards the sound. It came from the circular chamber that let in the light, where they had fought the fairy monster beforehand. When they arrived, Evan was shocked. A very large and very ugly mouse stood bipedal, clutching a sceptre.“This is ridiculous!” Oliver cried in outburst. He sent a ball of fire at the mouse, which squealed and turned to fight them. Esther looked both incredulous and angry. Drippy turned to Evan.“Oi! We’ve fought this ‘un before! Hit it with fire!”Evan could argue that hitting most things with fire was an effective battle strategy, but chose not to. For now. Instead, he charged at the mouse.It was defeated easily, in a very, very strange fight.“Okay.” Roland took a deep breath. “What the hell is going on?”“About that - how do I… Mr Drippy?” Oliver looked helplessly to his companion, who shrugged.“Why’s it always me… Listen up! These are weird rift monsters that are like knockoffs of fights we’d already fought, and now we have to fight them again! What a pain… Some pink rabbit guy was in charge of all that.”“The conductor!” Tani gasped.“You’ve met him? He’s here?” Esther’s eyes widened in shock.“He is!” Evan nodded. “You know him as well?”“Yeah! In fact - we were doing something for him before we were sent here!”“So. Why am I not surprised?” Roland grumbled. “I hate that guy. We owe him a visit.”“...one more thing.” Oliver steeled himself, and began to speak.“Bracken? Leander?” Marcassin spoke all of a sudden, turning to face them. Bracken barely looked up from the log she was inspecting.“Yeah, what’s up?”“You consider us allies, if not friends, right?”“Okay, where’s this going? But yes, we do.” Leander looked at him, arms crossed. Swaine raised an eyebrow, also clueless.“So you’ll forgive me if this sounds accusatory, however… We’re not from another world, are we?”“Marcassin?” Swaine asked, expecting him to elaborate.“It’s simple. Breach time was used. Or, to put it another way, we’re in a different time.”“What… gives you that idea?” Bracken asked hesitantly. Marcassin could tell. She knew.“I picked up an interesting book. One about A saviour and his band of friends. Or to be more specific, it was about us.”“...You’re correct.” Leander stated, pushing up his glasses. “We did not wish to tell you, on account of accidentally upsetting the order of events.”“Again? This is the - how?” Swaine asked, confused. His voice rang through the woods, and the group eyed one another in silence.“Not to minimise anything, but, um. Behind you?” Bracken winced, and pointed to behind Marcassin. He turned, only to see the lumbering form of the first rift beast behind him. Ah. Just his luck.“We can discuss this when we win!” Leander drew his spear, and the rest followed suit. Marcassin would get the full picture as soon as he felled the beast.“This sounds strange, but I think we may have travelled through time?” Oliver admitted, looking confused. Evan looked at Roland. He’d figured it out?“Again?” Esther shook her head. “No way. We would have realised-”“We didn’t realise the first time, either. I think Ollie boy’s right.”“So, um, glossing over the fact you guys have somehow done this before, what makes you think that?” Tani asked.“I’ve been through this well before. In fact, I only realised it today, but - Evan, I knew your ancestor!”“Eh? Oh yeah, you did! Wow, isn’t that so cool!”“Uh. You sound pretty sure of that, Evan.” Esther raised her eyebrow at him. “Want to add anything?”Oh no.Evan looked helplessly at Roland for help out of the hole he dug himself.“Apparently, you guys are a popular kid’s book in this world.”“Eh!?” Oliver looked shocked. “That’s silly.”“No, it’s real! It was my favourite book as a child!”“Oh wow…” Esther smiled a little. “I’m glad people still know about us, as silly as it sounds.”“Makes sense to me, we all want to be remembered. Oh, and don’t be mad at Evan. I’m the one who wanted to keep it quiet. Figured if you guys find out what happens the timeline would be messed up.“Oh, it doesn’t work like that.” Esther shook her head. “It’s a long story, but we’ve kinda done this before, and the timeline is meant to happen like this? It’s a bit odd.”“I wonder how we got here, though… But I don’t blame you guys for keeping quiet. At least we know now to go ask the conductor.” Oliver mused.The foe was felled, and their conversation continued. Marcassin explained how time travel theoretically worked, Leander tried to piece it all together, and Swaine and Bracken let them do that. When the serious matters were over, Bracken piped up with a question she had clearly been saving.“Okay but Swaine! You said again! What does that mean!”“This is the second time I’ve been time travelled without my permission. The first was worse, though.”“Really? I thought it was fun. I’m a little jealous of you guys, actually. I wish I got to meet baby me as well.”“Oh my god Marcassin, how did anyone put up with me back then?” Swaine huffed, placing his head in his hands.“Hello, another two people here?”“Sorry! Everyone except me travelled into the past and met me as a child, so technically I was there but also not the current me? It’s odd.”“And you met child Swaine, as well? How long have you known each other?”“Oh, you know, Marcassin’s entire life. Seeing as I am his brother, and all.”Bracken and Leander looked very, very shocked. Marcassin couldn’t help but smile, and raised a hand to cover his mouth.“No-one ever guesses that. I wonder why?”“So. Ignoring that revelation. This has happened before?”“Yeah. Some magic ghost guy wanted us to get Mornstar from the past and bring it to the future.”“You’ve had Mornstar!?” Bracken almost shrieked. “This whole time?”“Well, Oliver does. But it’s a wand, for him. Also, Gascon, that ‘magic ghost guy’ was the Wizard King.” Marcassin explained, with a sigh and a shake of his head. Leander looked like he was beginning to nurse a headache, and Marcassin felt rather similar.“This is… I’m gonna think about this tomorrow. Let’s get what I need and head back!”Night set on Evermore, and the castle stood tall above the city. Its inhabitants and visitors were all reconvening, tasks for the day over.“Yo!” Bracken waved at Evan. “Tomorrow! As long as I burn the midnight oil, we’re good.”“Don’t push yourself, bracken.”“There’s been a change of plans-”“Swaine! Marcassin! You won’t believe this!”“Us first! We’ve -”“Time travelled!” Esther and Swaine said in unison, then stared dumbfounded at one another.“You figured it out, as well?” Marcassin asked Oliver.“We did. At least we’re closer to the truth.”“I apologise for hiding it - but now, we know where to go.”“What in the hell is everyone talking about?” Batu bellowed, stopping the discordant chatter. Everyone looked amongst their group, until Roland began to explain.He explained that Oliver and company had figured out they time travelled themselves. He also brought up the strange rift creatures, and the conductor. Leander chimed it, saying his group had fought one themselves.“And so, that’s why we’re paying the conductor a visit as soon as we can.” Roland stated.“I’d like to do it as soon as possible. How close is he?” Marcassin asked, Bracken shrugged.“Hmm. He’s in a dream world we can access from taking a nap in the inn.”“That… sounds exactly like him, actually.” Oliver sighed. “Tomorrow, then?”“Tonight.” Evan said, although it sounded a bit like a question. “I mean - Mornstar can wait, and I feel like this is really important.”“I agree. Although I can’t say I enjoy our time with him, we must know these things.”“Everyone agreed?” Roland asked, and was met with nods from all. “Alright then. Be prepared for anything.”“Time travel, huh…” Dina mused. “And in physical bodies. That’s impressive.”“Doodle Do can do that!” Pea grinned and kicked her legs. “Or, he did? It’s got some weird rules.”“I imagine so. I hope I didn’t impact any of this, though…” He sighed, stirring his tea and staring into the liquid.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

This was strange. Roland had woken up in the dream world just fine, but not in the Midnight Garden. Instead, he was in the middle of a ruined city. It looked like it would have been beautiful, but now the marble was dull and grey. It wasn’t anywhere Roland had ever seen before. Perhaps it was a memory from his unexpected companion? Because they were not in a large group, the way they had meant to be. Roland was alone, except for Oliver, who continued to sleep. He felt bad, but it was time to wake him up.“Oliver.” He spoke softly, kneeling down to nudge the young boy. Oliver awoke with a start, immediately sitting up and almost knocking into Roland in the process.“Oh! Sorry!” Oliver shuffled back, and Roland stood up.“It’s okay. Do you recognize this place at all?”“Uh…” Oliver stood up to take a look around. After a moment, he shook his head. “No. Where are we? And where is everyone else?”“This is the dream world, but something’s off. Usually, that rabbit greets us, and we’re in a group.”“Ah.” Oliver sighed. “The conductor. Now I’m prepared to accept everything.”“He’s… kind of weird. Anyway, let’s go.”The two began the walk through the ruined halls, all the surfaces painted in ash that disperses into clouds as they disturb it. Roland ensured he was constantly alert for any threats, but explained to Oliver as they walked.“Almost every time we’ve been here, it’s a warped version of somewhere we recognise. This place takes a person’s memory and turns it into a maze, basically.”“Huh, I wonder who’s this is?” Oliver asked, poking around. “I don’t think it’s like anywhere I’ve been in either world.”“How many worlds have you been to?” Roland asked, genuinely curious.“Oh! Um! Just the two! I’m in this world now, but I’m from another world. It’s a lot more boring. There’s no magic or anything.” Oliver explained. Roland raised an eyebrow. That sounded a lot like his world, actually. Could they be from the same place? That would be one hell of a coincidence.“Roland?” Oliver looked at him, curious. “Evan mentioned you’re from another world, too?”“Right, I am. Mine’s a lot like yours. No magic, or weird creatures, and time travel is only in fiction.” Roland shook his head. “It made a lot more sense, I’ll give it that. What happened to your world that made you leave?”“Oh…” Oliver frowned, and Roland almost regretted asking. “It’s my mom. She… She died. So I came here to look for a way to save her, but she was actually from this world herself.”“Sorry to bring up any painful memories, Oliver.”“Don’t apologise! I have everyone now, so I’m not alone. How did you get here?”“Well, I don’t actually know. I was caught up in an explosion, and I thought I died, but I ended up in this world, right in front of Evan.”“Jeepers!” Oliver’s eyes widened. “So you can’t go home?”“...No, I don’t know how. It’s alright though, there wouldn’t be much to return to anyway.” Roland sighed and shook his head. “I have things I need to do here, anyway. I promised to help Evan.”“I understand.” Oliver nodded. “Oh! Roland, that looks different!” He pointed to a mass of gathered energy that shifted and rippled.“That takes us to the next area, let’s go.”It was ruins again. This time, they were blackened stone. The smell of fire was acrid and surrounded them, although there were no flames to be seen. This was also an unfamiliar place to Roland, but Oliver had a frown on his face like he was thinking.“Oliver? Penny for your thoughts?” Roland looked at the kid, the idiom coming naturally to him.“Huh, we have that saying as well. I think we’re from the same world. Anyway, I also think I recognise here… Sort of?” Oliver looked up from the bit of wall he was investigating.“One, you think? Two, where are we and why is it sort of?”“Um- well- I just think we might-” Oliver stumbled over his words, then coughed and cleared his head. “I think this could be a place called Bellecosia? But that would be Lucien’s memory…”“Who’s Lucien?”“It’s an, um, long story, but he’s my soulmate.”“Like, romantically?”“Um, no. That would be weird. Did no-one explain soulmates to you?”“No?”Oliver sighed and placed a palm to his head, looking far more exasperated than a boy his age should be. Roland crossed his arms and quirked his eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.“Um, so, it’s like this, see - our world and this world are parallel with one another, right? Which means that every person in our world has a matching person in this world. They can be similar in appearance, personality and in what happens to them, but not always identical. If that makes sense?”“It does.” Roland nodded, then mused upon that. Was there truly someone out there who was the equivalent of him? How odd.“So, I’m guessing you haven’t met your soulmate yet, because you would definitely know. Whoever they are, they’ll probably look like a twin and act alike. Oh! But be cautious, because the death of one soulmate kills the other. Usually.”“Usually..?”“If they somehow sever the bond before one dies, the other doesn't. I’ve, um, seen it done.” Oliver responded. With the way Oliver’s eyes were flicking around, it seemed to be a worrisome topic, so Roland dropped it. He would ask someone like Leander to explain more later, he figured. Better than it coming from a kid who was barely older than Will.“Anyway. Bellecosia? That’s definitely not around today.”“Most of the places from our time are gone - but Bellecosia was destroyed years before our time, anyway. It used to be a very powerful kingdom, but it fell to war. I think.”“Huh. What places are you guys familiar with, then?”“Ding Dong Dell! And that’s it, really. Esther’s from a city in the desert, and that’s not on any maps I saw. And Hamelin, that’s Marcassin and Swaine’s kingdom, seems to be replaced by Broadleaf.”Roland nodded along. The more he learnt about this world, the more complex it seemed, and the more he grew attached to it. The two of them were making good pace through the ruined halls, and soon came upon an exit. With a quick glance and a nod at each other, the two ran through.This area was certainly more familiar. Empty space, with nothing but the small string of platforms they stood on. A staircase led up to a large circular platform, which Roland knew meant some kind of danger. Oliver made to climb the stairs, but Roland placed a hand on his shoulder.“Wait. There’s going to be a fight up here, so we should prepare. If we check the pedestal, it usually warns us about what we’ll fight.”“Oh! That’s pretty handy.” Oliver nodded, and the two went to the pedestal. It looked to be one single enemy, weak to water and darkness.“Great.” Roland huffed. “Please tell me you know some spells for that.”“I know exactly one dark spell?” Oliver offered, with a small worried frown. “Will we be alright, just the two of us?”“Of course. Stick behind me, and focus on blasting the hell out of it, okay?”“Okay.”The two ascended the stairs, Roland taking point with a drawn sword. The enemy faced them, axes in hand. A Nightmare Rook, if Roland remembered correctly. The easiest type, but still a handful. As long as they were smart about it, they’d take it down with no issue. A grin set on his face, Roland dived into battle. It was embarrassing to admit, but Roland loved fighting. He had always dreamed, as a kid, about taking up a sword to defeat evil, and look at him now. Perhaps it was his younger body bringing with it foolishness. Or maybe it was Evan rubbing off on him. Either way, he swung his sword through the air, causing a shockwave. It was undeniably fun.Every few moments, in what had become a steady rhythm, Oliver cast a spell. Each time, the battlefield was overtaken by inky darkness, which coalesced into an orb around the Rook, then exploded. Oddly enough, Roland had seen Leander cast that same spell. That meant it was easy to time his hits with. Slowly but surely, they chipped down the beast. But it wasn’t stupid. Its beady eyes locked onto Oliver as he released another blast. He was growing tired. The Rook flapped its wings and made a dive for Oliver, axe raised. Roland dashed in front of him, blocking the strike with his sword. With its other axe, the bird slashed a shallow gash into Roland’s arm. He cursed, perhaps a bit too loudly. “Roland!” Oliver gasped from behind Roland. He stepped back, then cast another spell. This time, light covered Roland’s arm, and the injury was gone. “Are you okay?”“I’m fine, thanks to you.” Roland yelled back, full of curiosity even as he retaliated with slashes of his own. “You alright?”“Yes!” Oliver called, and even though he was already short of breath, prepped another spell to attack the Rook.It fell swiftly after that, and Roland saw the exit door light up. Excellent.“Phew…” Oliver huffed, slumping the second he was sure it was safe.“You did a great job there, kid.”“Oh - um - thank you! But you did a lot more than me.”“It was a group effort. Was that healing magic you used?”“Huh? Yes, of course it was.“You know, I’ve never seen anyone use it before.”“Eh? It was the second spell I ever learnt… How do you cope without it?”“Badly. We cope badly.”“I’m… going to try to see if Evan can learn it.” Oliver responded, looking mildly confused.“Thanks. Anyway, through that door is hopefully the end.” Roland gave a wry smile, looking up at the door. He hoped the others would be safe.Through the door was the familiar endless field. It stretched all the way past the Horizon, the only thing in its midst being the little townhouse. Roland felt a sense of relief, but then he saw Oliver’s face. The boy looked confused, to say the least.“Why is my house here!?”Huh? His… House? Well, it had to be someone’s, and if the tome they found here really did have Oliver’s name in, then it made sense, but still.“Your house? Are you sure?”“Definitely! And I’ve seen this field in my dreams before, I’m sure of it.”“...Maybe this whole world is your dream?” Roland asked, eyebrows furrowed. It was certainly possible.“What? But why - ah. The Conductor. It all makes sense.”“It does?”“I’ll- explain when everyone’s there?” Oliver gave half a smile, then set off for the house at almost a sprint. He barely stopped to open the door, running in.“Roland! Oliver! I’m so glad you’re safe-” Evan, sitting on the stairs, perked up the second he saw them, but was cut off by the fairy barreling down the stairs.“Ollie boy!” Drippy yelled at the top of his lungs. “It’s youer house, ain’t it? I’d recognise it anywhere!”“What on Earth is your house doing here?” Swaine called down. He stood at the top of the stairs, Marcassin and Esther to either side of him. A cursory glance showed that Tani and Batu were in the living room, and Roland could faintly hear Bracken and Leander from the kitchen.“I think I might know!” Oliver nodded, then paused. “But, um, is everyone searching through my stuff?”“I did try to stop them.” Evan sighed, and Lofty bounced next to him.“If it makes you feel better, our lot were banned from the top floor. Invasion of privacy otherwise, it was.”“It blimmin would’ve been!” Drippy huffed back. “Anyway, gather the troops in the living room!”The fairy was… So bossy. Even though he stood in the presence of multiple royalty and something that was technically a very large dragon, he commanded the most attention. It was oddly charming, Roland thought. Although, he supposed that most people bossed around each other in the group. Certainly made it entertaining.Eventually, everyone had cramped into the living room. Clearly, it was not designed for ten people and two fairies to sit in. What an oversight of the home’s owner.“First off, is everyone alright?” Roland asked. He was pretty worried about them all, but he was answered with a chorus of chirpy yesses. A relief, to be sure.“Second,” He continued, when everyone had quieted. “Oliver, explain.”“So- this is definitely my house. Or at least a copy of it? But I’ve had dreams set here before.” Oliver rambled, using his seat on the couch to draw his knees to his chest. “And that makes sense, because, well, it’s technically also the Conductor’s house..?”“Right you are, my favourite saviour!” Said rabbit waltzed into the room. He was as disgustingly pink and lanky as Roland remembered him being. “You see, it’s an awfully long story. But anyway.”Like usual, most people looked like they wanted to throttle him. Roland included. You would think he would give a straight answer in this situation, but no.“I believe answers are in order.” Marcassin fixed his gaze to the Conductor. Swaine rounded on him as well.“Yeah! Why’d you send us here?”“Why, because your world is in danger!”“When isn’t it in danger, at this point?” Tani grumbled under her breath.“Ah, you have a point. This time, time is the issue! You see, two particular events connected, and there you have the danger!”“Um. What.” Esther blinked.“Now, now, two times, both had a certain country decide to come back, you add some forbidden magic, and poof - a connection.”“Oh…” Leander’s eyes widened, and he looked like he had just realised something. “The name of the island Allegoria is on is Nazcaa. If I’m not mistaken…”“Nazcaa - the White Witch - the manna… It matches. Nazcaa, the White Witch, Doloran, manna, and the lost souls… They’re the same.” Marcassin mused. A silence fell over the group. They all mulled it over, in their own ways. As for Roland, he understood nothing. Well, he understood the general logic. But only because he had seen movies with this plot before. Who knew procrastinating his work by watching films would be this useful.“Aye, and what’re we mean to do about it?” Batu asked, arms crossed.“I am so glad you asked!” The Conductor smiled ominously. “For now, continue the way you are. I’ll do some more working out here, so sit tight. Of course, you’ll keep doing your best to save everyone, right?”“Of course we will! We didn’t come this far to back down, and if it’s as bad as you say, we’ll work even harder!” Evan nodded, determination sparkling in his eyes.“We will as well - right, guys?” Oliver looked to his friends, who all agreed. Looking around the room, it was clear everyone held the same sentiment. Roland held it, as well. If he really was stuck in this world, he would do his damned best to save it. Even if - no, especially because he couldn’t save his own.“Well, it seems as if you’ll remain the saviours. Farewell for now!”Before anyone could get another word in, the room began to fade. The final image Roland saw was the Conductor, smiling as he waved. It seemed as if they only had more questions. As it often seemed to be. Roland’s last thought as he drifted to sleep was of his companions. They deserved to have the future that he could not give Will. So he would fight for them, if nothing else.In a room of glistening white marble, a girl was seated in an ornate chair at an ornate table, a beautiful tea set sat upon it. She was alone. The tea had gone cold.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

One foot in front of the other. A deep breath. Another step.The boy focused entirely on his movements. He felt that if he stopped, he would never start again. The cave was dark. It was damp. It was full of horrifying monsters, like those of a story. He was all alone.He staggered another step forward, one hand on the rough stone wall to steady himself. It was cold, its starkness keeping him awake. Its smell wasn’t something he recognised. To be fair, he only knew of two smells. One, the sharp, sterile smell of a hospital. Two, the acrid smoke of that hospital burning. The cave did not smell much better. This was truly an awful place to spend an afterlife.No. He promised to not think about that. He had to keep walking. Even if he was dead, he still felt pain. He felt the way his muscles tightened and refused to move. He felt a sharp pain in his chest each time he struggled out a breath. If those monsters found him, it would be so much worse. He looked down at the ground. His legs definitely looked real. What an odd ghost he was.His body gave up on him. His legs seized and sent him tumbling to the hard floor. He cursed himself for being so weak. So weak. He was an embarrassment to everyone, and it was best that he was dead. Father wouldn’t notice, what with all the work he’d have to do. The boy started to cry. Long, ugly sobs. His tears dripped one by one to the floor. He gave up. Laying down on his side, curled up, he waited for the end to come. Again.“What are you doing here?”The boy opened his eyes. Another boy was crouched down in front of him. He seemed to be around the same age, but he was unfamiliar. His face had a kindly frown.“I- I died, didn’t I?” He blubbered out, suddenly embarrassed to be seen.“Um, no. You’re alive.”“Huh?”“We’re - no, I don’t have the time.” He shook his head, then offered a hand out. “My name’s Ferdinand.”“...I’m William.” He responded, voice hoarse. Although his muscles ached with every movement, he took the hand. The two stood up, then properly shook hands. As William stared at the boy across from him, hundreds of questions raced through his mind. He struggled to fix his exhausted mind upon just one, and so ended up blurting out the most random of questions.“Why are your ears like that?”Ferdinand laughed. He had two cat ears upon the top of his head, ones that were small and almost blended in with his hair, but they seemed real.“I’m sorry- that was-”“Haha, don’t apologise!” Ferdinand grinned. “In my world, the world you’re in, this isn’t such an unusual sight. To answer your question, I inherited them from my dad.”“...Oh. Okay.” William nodded. What an unusual experience. A whole other world? What a fun thing to call the afterlife. Even if Ferdinand insisted otherwise, William was certain he had died. It was the logical thing.“Um, I have to leave now.” Ferdinand dropped William’s hand, glancing from side to side. “It’s chasing me - I need to go.”“What’s chasing you?” William’s eyes widened as he looked around as well. Ferdinand patted William’s shoulder, then stepped back.“Come find me! I’ll explain! Trust your instincts, we’ll meet again!” Ferdinand started off down the cave, running into the dark.“Wait - please don’t leave me!” William called out. There was no response, just one final wave as Ferdinand disappeared into the darkness. William sniffled, then quickly rubbed his eyes. He was William Crane, and he was far too brave to cry. Shadows flickered in the corner of his eyes, as if enticing him to enter them. He took a deep breath, and he placed one foot forward. Then the next foot. He had been granted a second wind, and he was going to use it.