Starlit Heroics: A Spectrum of Hate

Well, kids, it's a new beginning. So let's do this.

---------------

The majestic deep red dragon landed in front of a small house on the edge of the city of Bel Air, and her rider slid off, sighing, as she sat by her sister. She had searched every day for a bit now, out of worry. Technically, she didn't have to go out of her way to do anything anymore, but she went out of her way to try to find Ranthael.

"Still nothing?"

"Not a hide nor hair." Zora shook her head. "He can't have dropped off the face of the planet. And that's not even counting that place in the pocket dimension, or the other planet. I can't search all those. I can't even feasably comb one planet by myself. This place is huge, and I don't know a whole lot of it... I can't even teleport. He did all the teleporting for me."

"Maybe he needs the time to himself..."

"Maybe... but it feels like if one of our moms went missing." She watched as Tempest trotted off to the farmstead in back. Going hunting, probably.

"I'm sure he'll turn up in time."

"But what if he doesn't?"

"Maybe you need to stop doing these searches for a bit. You're going to burn yourself out. Burning yourself out is no good." Anya patted her on the back. "How about you and I go out tonight? I hear there's a new club that's opened. Sapphire's sister's girlfriend has a gig there tonight alongside some others. Maybe the atmosphere will do you some good. And then tomorrow, we can go play with the cats at that one castle. Would you like that?"

"I'd like that, yeah... heh. It would be you and cats, wouldn't it?"

"...You shut up."

Zora could have come back again to that, but didn't, instead watching the road in front of them. Hard to believe things like this had settled in to 'normalcy'. She owned a pet dragon. Her sister was dating a cat. She was dating an alien. Kinda.

In the back of her mind, she wondered how all the others were doing, the ones she had met before the big fight. Maybe paying some of them a visit would do her well.

-------

A young blond girl watched out the window as a Lumentian princess instructed her 'older sister'. It was still weird having one of those. It was weird having parents, and living in a castle, and being princesses. Certainly not a title she felt like she deserved. She didn't feel like a princess. She felt like a doctor.

In one hand, a wisp of white fire coiled. She had been trying to better manage her magic, and private tutelage had helped with that.

Speaking of private tutelage, here a Shenomire came, delivering a young woman in a nice suit to the front yard of the castle, where the practice session was happening. On her shoulders rode a small, deeper-skinned girl, with deep red hair to match, streaked with blues and oranges, curiously. In one of the girl's hands was a very ornate wand, obviously bought by royal money.

Funny, she wasn't expecting to have friends over today. She had assumed Grace was busy with wizard practice.

----

In the foyer of Nintendria Castle, a goddess sat, with swaddled child in her arms. Astra stared down at the baby, who reached up to and batted at her long hair, attracted to it by its bright colors. She couldn't help but think back to that battle. Someday this child would grow up, and what path would she take? Surely such a sweet child could never turn out like that man... right? This girl was, by all rights, a normal Existen. Nothing like him.

It was the least she could do to help the royalty out in minding her, even while her thoughts wandered.

How was Cameron doing? She felt the pang in her heart as she remembered what she heard that day. 'Girlfriend'. Did she still think of her that way?

If Astra knew where to find her, she would go to find her. But she didn't, and so she sat here, minding the baby, wondering.

Serafina and Dante both pouted in the entrance of Magmarne castle. The previous night was a bit of a scare. All Serafina remembered was her waking up to Magmarne beating the shit out of some guy in her own bedroom. Assassin? Stalker? She didn't know the guy so it couldn't have been some crazy ex. They moved into Dante's room for the rest of the night and Magmarne kept watch. When the first light of dawn appeared, their mother immediately assigned for them to have a full-time bodyguard.

"You fight a war and your parents still think you need a babysitter," Dante complained. "I bet I could beat up whoever they give us."

"This totally sucks man, I don't need someone watching my every move," Serafina said. "Ugh, I bet Mom's going to make them watch me in my sleep..."

However, when a man in Magmarnian armor walked up to them, they immediately stopped complaining. "Hi," he said, "I'm Keith, I'll be your new bodyguard." He held out his hand slightly when addressing the two smiled.

Both Dante and Serafina couldn't find their words to reply.

"Ah, I have to check in with the queen first, if you'll excuse me..."

Only after Keith left did Serafina speak. "Dante... are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm thinking I want my bodyguard to have my body if that's what you're thinking."

"He's hot... What do we do about this?"

It was a very valid question. Dante rarely approved of Serafina's boyfriends and Dante never actually had a boyfriend before. So this was a bit of a new experience for them. 

"Well there's a very easy way for us to clear this up. If he's straight or gay then this will be easy."

"What if he likes both!?"

"We'll figure that out later!" Dante said, just before Keith came back.

"Okay, ready to go? I'm following you two after all."

Serafina and Dante both flashed guilty smiles. "Nintendria?" Dante suggested. Maybe someone there could help out this predicament.

-------

"Jax!" Jack called out. She wasn't at her house, maybe somewhere around Glacientyr castle? "Jax! The new game came out today! Want to give it a play?"

"I don't know man, I wouldn't want to play Eight Evenings at Emily's either," Denzia said.

"Oh come on, I need someone to play it with," Jack said. "Otherwise I'd be too scared to play it at all. Besides, horror games give me an excuse to be all cuddled up."

"Well, you can always offer..."

--------

Meanwhile in Zempheriea castle, Diana and Bloodrain came to visit. They were immediately greeted by a great black panther, to which Diana kneeled down with open arms.

"Hey girl! Good to see you again too," she said, scratching the panther behind the ears.

Luterminis entered the hallway to greet her two guests as well. "Prince Rayner, Princess Diana, so glad to see you made it here safely. I'm sorry to call you down on such short notice."

Prince Rayner? Diana glanced up at her brother, who didn't show any indication that he thought it unusual. Guess Luterminis was just being extra formal.

"It's no problem, this is certainly one of the most friendly castles we visit," Bloodrain said, leaning over to pet the panther himself.

"That's good to hear. Diana, I believe Luna was looking forward to seeing you again."

"Oh really? Cool. You guys take care of boring kingdom stuff, I'll go see her." With that, Diana wasted no time in hunting down the princess, making sure to pet the cats on her way.

"Yes, boring kingdom stuff," Bloodrain mumbled. "Why do you even come along..."

Jax was sitting on a bench near Glacientyr Castle, with her sister.

"I don't understand what's going on." Deax muttered. "Things have been....weird since before the war."

"What do you mean weird?" Jax asked.

"Like when we were going to the safe castle.....I just knew that Kira wanted to come with us. I thought it was just an intuition thing." Deax said. "And later at the castle, she approached me and revealed that she didn't even think about the castle that day...even though it was mentioned a lot..."

"It's probably stress." Jax said. "The impending doom probably caused her to blank a bit."

"...You're probably right." Deax said, forcing a smile. "...Oh hey look there's Jack. Go say hi to him!"

Deax pushed Jax over to Jack, and then walked back to the bench. She sighed.

She'd have to tell Jax about the weird recurring dreams at some point. But not today.

-------------

Minuki was walking down the streets of Bel Air. She didn't live here, but it was a nice place to do some shopping.

Nice, until Minuki crashed into someone. A familiar looking girl was now sprawled on the ground.

"...Cameron?" Minuki asked, holding out a hand to pull her up.

"Minuki! Oh, hey!" Cameron exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here. Well not here, but I live in Nintendria." Minuki explained. "Moved a few months ago."

"I hear there's a good shop around here that sells sports stuff." Cameron said. "I think I'm gonna try surfing. Also, have you seen Astra? I feel bad I haven't seen her in so long."

"If rumors are true, apparently she's at Nintendria Castle." Minuki said. "We could go over if you'd like."

"That'd be great." Cameron said, blushing scarlet.

"Well, it'll be a bit of a wal-hey is that Zora?" Minuki asked.

"Looks like it to me." Cameron said. "How many other redheaded stoners are out there?"

"You'd be surprised." Minuki laughed. "Oy, Zora! Over here!"

In the middle of her train of thought, Zora heard her name being called. Well, speak of the devil. She waved at them, then looked to her sister, who smiled.

"You don't need my approval. Go talk to your friends. Go out, do something. I'm going to be doing the thing with Sapphire. Just get back before dark, we have plans."

"...You got it." Zora couldn't help but crack a smile herself as she rose from the front steps of her house to greet them.

"Hey guys. Long time no see, huh? I been missing you fucks, y'know? Like burning. What brings you out here today? Seems like you guys should be in the city proper. Me, I've just kinda been here hanging out with my sister." She wouldn't mention her searches to them. "And I was just thinking to myself, I should maybe go visit some of the guys. It's been a bit too long. It's about time I go pow around with someone again. Mind if I tag along, wherever you're heade- hey, Kit!" She waved as another girl came up, wearing this cocky little smirk and an oversized scarf to hide her neck.

"Yo, wassup. Just droppin' by to check up on Sapphire."

"Anya's got her."

"Ah, shoulda known. Alright, cool. So what's with the meetup out here all of a sudden? You guys goin' somewhere in particular?"

"Dunno, that's up to these guys."

--------------

There was splashing in the nearby water to Jax and Deax as a head poked up from it. Tiamat pulled herself out of the water and magically forced her clothes dry. Interestingly, she appeared to be wearing some heavy eyeliner today, despite not normally being into that kind of thing. She moved up to lean against the bench and watch the interaction between Jack and Jax,

"...Cute, aren't they?" She asked to no one in particular. Maybe Deax would answer, maybe she wouldn't.

------------------

Danielle deposited the girl on the inside of Ventureni Castle and went to sit outside and watch the lesson. The young girl already watching turned toward her copatriot. "I didn't expect visitors today. Was coming here your idea, or hers?"

"Hers... Kat, can I ask a question?"

"Go on. You should know by now, feel free to ask whatever you like."

"How do you deal with being... a princess?"

That pulled a small laugh out of Katarina. "...Quite honestly, I don't know how I deal, either. It's quite a change, isn't it? From an orphanage, from living in ruins your whole life. How did you live under the thumb of a dictator? We adapt, I suppose. I'm not even sure if I like it here, yet. Sure, my two sisters I already knew are fine, but... I don't know what to make of the rest, yet. That one likes flying perhaps more than I'm comfortable with. The other, however, I can already say I dislike, just from the stories I hear. We've never met."

"What kind of stories..?" Grace tilted her head.

"Tales of... debauchery. Attempted murder. Perhaps that is why my 'mother', as I apparently should be calling her, is depressed. It could be any number of things, to my knowledge. She was very tired after the fighting stopped, I know that. She is... nice. Kind. She and the Lumentian guard she's been seeing at night. I like the guard. She speaks sense."

"...Oh. My new mommy likes books a lot."

A small smile passed Katarina's lips. "...I'm glad you like her."

[Posted by Nyx]

Jack smiled and held a game box up to his chin.

"Hey uh, hi Jax. You like games right? 'Cause I, you know, got this one and... I hear it's all the rave but I haven't got the guts to play it myself." He paused a moment. "Or we could... play something else if it's too scary for you. I can do that too."

--------

Diana made her way to the back of the castle, where she found Luna sitting in an armchair, reading some book.

"Knock knock!"

Luna looked up and closed her book. "Hi Diana! Came by again?"

"Yeah, important kingdomy business or something. Bloodrain's got that covered. Kind of wonder what the rush on it was about though..."

"Well maybe if you paid attention to this kingdomy business, then you'd know," Luna teased.

"I can take a guess." Kaj entered the room behind Diana. "We've been having some... incidents, lately."

"Incidents?" Diana asked.

"Mm. There's been... undead, spotted both here and Shadowrian. It's nothing we can't handle, but it's slightly concerning. The Undead Research Institute says all their subjects are accounted for, but even so, they shouldn't have spread to both kingdoms so quickly."

"So... Necromancer!?" Diana seemed far too excited at the prospect.

"Or patches of corruption that we don't know about. Either way, it's probably something we should figure out now while it's not a big threat, rather than waiting for it to become one."

-------

Kaze landed a shot directly in the middle. Yes! She was getting better at this. Though she wasn't sure if having Angel around was a help or a distraction. Either way, it was nice to have someone else over at her place for the time being. Kaze still hadn't really bonded with her new siblings, and ever since the big battle, she and Jade seemed to grow distant.

She noticed Danielle approach and decided it was as good a time as any for a break. "Hey!" she called and waved. "How's it going?"

[Posted by Dan]

A young man clad in a black suit and cape wakes to morning dew covering his body. He kneels up and looks around; the area around him is a lush forest surrounded by trees with a dirt path directly in front of him. The man walks forward only to put a hand to his forehead and groan.

"What just happened? Where am I?" - He states.

The man steps onto the dirt path and glances at the grand white castle on his left. On his right, he sees the path extend far into what seems to be a city.

"... I'm definitely not at home, it seems. Maybe I can get some assistance from the locals in town." - The man states as he looks toward the city.

The man walks down the dirt path at a comfortable pace, only to stop when he sees a pink-haired woman lying unconscious on the ground. As he notices who she is, the man runs at a considerable speed and immediately goes to her side.

---

"... Where in the world...?" - A deep woman's voice echoes out.

A woman clad in a black dress and a witch's hat wanders around in the middle of a darkened forest. In front of her is a lake glistening with moonlight with a lone tree in the middle of it. Captivated by the sight, the woman walks up to the lake and sits down on the grass.

"This isn't Shadre, but it sure feels like it..." - She states as she gazes at the lake.

[Posted by Flareth]

"Oh, is that that Fifteen Frights at Francie's game?" Jax asked. "I....may have gotten the name wrong. Sure, I guess I'm down with that. As long as you cuddle me when you get too scared."

Jax grinned.

"Yeah....they are pretty cute." Deax mumbled. "....Listen....you don't happen to know anything about dreams, do you? Like science stuff. Because I've been having these weird dreams lately....."

----------

"We were going to head over to the castle to see Astra." Cameron said.

"Yeah, feel like coming with?" Minuki asked.

------------

A Shenomire cab parked outside Nintendria Castle and a girl stepped out. Her name is Itsuki.

"Keep the change!" she called and the cab zoomed off.

She brushed her silver hair out of her face and knocked on the door.

As they started down the road, Zora smiled again. This was nice. Maybe she shouldn't worry so much. The sun was shining, the trees were in full bloom... it was so nice that she didn't come back in time to hear the story's worth of context that Kit had started going on at the others about.

"...And so then, I shit you not, a Rusmor and a bunch of fuckin' Takaze got into a fuckin' rap battle, right there! A rap battle, can you believe it?"

"...Dude, what?"

"I know! Shit was fuckin' crazy. And don't get me started on the tattoo on the guy's ass of his ma either, let me tell you somethin', that was no moon-"

"No, really, what the fuck are you on about?" Zora gave her a look of utter disbelief.

"You mean to tell me you tuned out the whole thing? It was a great story!"

"I was enjoying the weathe- who's that?" She pointed toward the middle of the road, where there appeared to be two people. One looked conspicuously familiar, but the other, pink-haired and feylike, was unfamiliar.

"...'S a good question. Looks kinda like Daniel, but no idea who the broad is."

------------------

Tiamat shrugged. "Dunno. I'm not really into that kinda science, y'know? But I've heard some things on the subject before. They say that people who've got some kinda affinity toward the Void magics get weird dreams sometimes. Maybe it's that."

------------

"Nice shot!" Angel cheered. She really was getting better at this. Of course, something had been a little off. She hadn't seen Jade around a whole lot lately. She even seemed distant when she visited her mother. It was strange, for her. But there was nothing they could really do short of family therapy. And that would be like herding cats.

...Hey look a distraction.

"Heeey, what's up girl?"

Danielle smiled and shrugged. "Nothing much, just figured I'd stop by for a visit, watch you two practice a bit. Not much else to do, y'know?"

"Not even teachin' your girl some fancy new magic?"

"We had our lesson for the day. We decided it was break time, so we decided to come up here for a while. She can play with the other kids inside, I think."

"Mmm, fair enough. It's about break time for us, too. Ain't that right?"

-------------------

At the edge of the wood, near the shore of the lake, another woman watched, adjusting her scarf. Who was this? She had never seen her before, and she was dressed fancy enough that she really should have known her from somewhere. This wasn't one of the nobles, but she sure was clothed like one.

Queen Shadowrian stepped forward, drifting herself toward the edge of the lake to take a seat. It would beneficial to get to know this mysterious person, whoever they were.

-----------------

In the foyer of Nintendria Castle, Astra still sat, gently singing old Cerphixian folk songs to the baby in her arms as she allowed her to play with her long hair. She looked up to a knock at the doors of the castle, and with one motion, they swung open, letting Itsuki inside.

"Good afternoon. Been a while, yes...?"

[posted by Dan]

"Titania. Titania, wake up!" - The man says as he shakes her awake.

The pink-haired woman springs awake and notices the man. She holds a hand over her forehead and groans.

"D... Daniel. What just happened? Where are we?" - She says, covering her eyes from bright sunlight.

"I am just as clueless as you are. But hey, it can't hurt to ask around." - Telgard says as he helps Titania up.

"Yeah, but let's be careful." - The fey woman states as she dusts off her dress.

The two of them walk ahead, but stop to notice two women staring right at them.

"Uh... huh. That didn't take long. Hey, excuse me!" - Telgard asks as he and Titania walk over to them.

---

Diana glances to her side to see a woman wearing a crown and a red scarf.

"Oh, hello. I didn't expect to see someone else here. What's your name, if I might ask?" - She questions.

[Posted by Nyx]

"So... why is going to Nintendria going to help us?" Serafina whispered to Dante in the back of their Shenomire.

"I don't know I was cornered! Besides, if someone has the gall to just walk right up and ask someone about their sexuality, it's..."

"The Blackwoods? Yeah, I could totally see that."

The two glanced over to their driver. He clearly noticed them whispering but didn't ask. Good looking and considerate...

"Hey is that Daniel?" Serafina poked her head outside the window, and then her entire arm. She waved. "Hi Daniel!"

But when the Shenomire approached and slowed to a stop, she realized it wasn't who she thought it was. "Oh, sorry, thought you were someone else."

------------

"Man, it's still weird to think you have a daughter now," Kaze said. "There's no way I could take care of a little kid at my age." She quickly bit her lip. Technically, she sort of was. Sure they were officially siblings, but the difference in age made Kaze feel like their guardian as much as her own mother. And she wasn't exactly doing a bang up job at it. But... that was different, right? She didn't ask for a bunch of kids to take care of. And it wasn't her responsibility anyway.

Not her responsibility... Gods how could she say such a thing? Regardless of how it happened, they were her family now. Of course she should be helping to take care of them. And yet... Her family consisted of a depressed murderer, a depressed mother, a depressed eight year old, fuck maybe she was depressed. This was clearly a giant hell hole of a family, no wonder her brother ran away.

...Now that, that was an even worse thing to say. Gods damn it.

---------

Jack grinned. "Great! Awesome! Perfect!" He didn't even notice the part about him being the scaredy cat.

Meanwhile, Denzia plugged in to the dream discussion. "Science you say?" he grinned. "I might know a thing or two about dream theory. Of course, they're only theory."

-----------

"Duuude, let's go find ourselves a necromancer!" Diana declared. "This is so much better than our usual kingdomy stuff."

"But we don't... oh nevermind," Kaj said. "We were going to go out and look for the source soon anyway. I guess you can come along."

"Alright, I'll lead!" Diana nearly ran out the door.

"...I guess we're going now then."

[Posted by Flareth]

"....Uh, hello." Cameron waved at the two unfamiliar faces. "You guys lost or something?"

"Need us to call you a cab or something?" Minuki asked.

----

"Well, my dreams were oddly blank." Deax muttered. "Maybe void magic is the culprit.....but, go ahead, Denzia, lay on me your dream theory.

Jax joined Jack and they were total dinguses together.

----

"Yes, it's been ages." Itsuki said. "At least that's what it feels like. Hard to believe it's only been a few months."

Itsuki noticed the baby in Astra's arms.

"And how's Jordan doing today?" Itsuki asked, smiling.

Zora tilted her head as the pair approached, then whispered over to Kit. "He totally looks like Dan doesn't he?"

"Yeah he does. Wonder what's up with that." Kit shrugged, then spoke up. "We can totally call you up a cab if you need, yeah. Don't think we've ever seen a couple folks fancy as you hangin' around who weren't royalty though."

They both looked over as the Shenomire pulled up.

"Well look what the volcano erupted up." Zora commented. "Haven't seen you guys in a couple weeks. Who's the hot guy? ...And I mean that both figuratively and literally."

"She's right, that is one fine piece of ass. But I'll leave that for you. I got my own ass." Kit smirked.

"We know. And by the way, your shirt's on backwards again. Anyway yeah. We were just headed up to the castle when we ran into these two in the road. They look a little bit lost. Maybe they're from those 'colonies' I keep hearing about."

-------------

Tiamat nodded to Denzia. "You've got the floor, Animus buddy."

-------------

"I can say I didn't, either. This road is generally quiet. The name is Shyama." The queen answered. If this woman didn't know who she was, perhaps she was not from around here. An immigrant from Cerphixen, maybe? It was unusual to see one in such fancy dress, but it was certainly possible. "Might I ask the same of you? And also, where you hail from?"

-------------

[Current OST: to be determined]

Danielle shrugged. "It's not that bad. I think she may have some sort of learning disability, but otherwise she's really very self-sufficient. Resourceful, is the word. Maybe it comes from before, i don't know. But I'm happy enough."

"Well good on you." Angel smiled a half-smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an aura flicker strangely in the castle proper, but maybe it was nothing.

Inside, Katarina stopped watching and pulled herself away from the windsill. "Well. I do believe I need to make my daily rounds. Would you care to accompany me?"

"Okay!" As the older of the two began her stride, Grace skipped along behind her. "What kinda rounds?"

"Oh, making sure everyone in the castle is well... I admit, I worry in particular over... mother dearest. That is still so weird... She has been... depressed. And it did not happen until she went up to fight against the menace that terrified you. She hasn't come out from her room in a few days now. I worry that she may not be eating, in there. She has let me in, however, and things have looked fine... but I still feel the need to check."

"Ohhh.... I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault. I worry it may, in part, be mine. Perhaps I looked too detached... I do care. Perhaps I care too much. I try to act aloof, because that way, surely no one will worry."

"You shouldn't do that." Grace frowned. "You should let your feelings out."

"...I fear if I do that, the results would be... destructive, to say the least." They approached the large oaken doors to the master bedroom, carved with serpentine dragons and birds and scenes of the sky, and Katarina knocked on it. "Mother dear..? Are you there?"

No answer. Some indiscernible moaning. Katarina knocked and asked again, voice raised. Surely if there were anything going on in there, it would be loud enough to interrupt it. Still nothing. Illegible mumbling, groaning, like pain. Enough of a red flag to the young healer to prompt action.

"Grace. Has Ms. Danielle taught you matter manipulation yet?"

"Yeah, that's what we learned today."

"I need you to practice. Practice and practice until you get this door open. Please, I need to know what's going on in there. She sounds like she's in pain. I'm going to get an adult."

Grace pulled her wand out, while Katarina raced off to the scene with the adults. By the time she skidded to a halt in front of the group, she was panting, and looked almost in a panic. Angel looked a bit taken aback.

"Woah, hold up there munchkin. What's wrong?"

"Mother... something is wrong, very wrong... not answering... need to... need to get... someone...-" She was cut off by the loud, tormented scream of what was clearly an adult woman.

[Posted by Dan]

Telgard and Titania stare at each other with confused looks before glancing back at the ladies in front of them.

"That weren't royalty? Hmm... maybe we should introduce ourselves." - Daniel states.

"Right. My name is Titania Ardevone. I'm the queen of Terrantia, the Earth Kingdom. And this is my husband." - Titania says as she waves to him.

"My name's Daniel Telgard, I'm the prince of Librata. Nice to meet you." - He remarks with a confident tone.

---

"Oh, that'd be fine. I go by Diana Zilemont. I'm the queen of Shadre, the kingdom of darkness. Although judging by the nature of this place, I didn't know there was more than one." - Diana remarks, putting a hand to her chin.

[Posted by Nyx]

"Oh you guys you're such a tease," Serafina said, getting out of the shenomire to greet her friends. But when she got close, she dropped her voice. "Yo so I totally need a favor here. Dante and I have never had to worry about getting the same guy before so we need you to figure out if he swings boys or girls for us."

Dante and Keith also exited the vehicle to greet the travelers, but were a bit more caught up on their introduction.

"Queen of Terrantia?"

"King of Librata?"

The three of them were silent, trying to parse what exactly was going on. Serafina opened her mouth and lifted a finger as if to say something profound, but just ended up saying, "No."

"You may not know this," she continued, "but we're actual royals. So, I've met the Queen of Terrantia before. Like, actually know her. And what's a Librata? Is one of the colonies getting cheeky?"

"Is that an old Cerphixean kingdom?" Dante asked. "Or, maybe a new one. We haven't really been following the relief efforts there."

-----------

"Well, there are several theories to dream interpretation," Denzia started. "Of course, in ancient times, people believed that dreams were messages from divine gods or ancestors giving them guidance. This could have been the case for some but as Dream magic is typically quite rare outside of the Vaziranha it is more likely that these people were simply trying to interpret their own dreams for whatever purpose suited their need. More modern beliefs are that dreams are produced by the brain as a way to flush unneeded memories or the brain making sense of random neural firings. That being said..."

He stopped pacing back and forth and turned to Deax. "Empty dreams are most likely due to the influence of void magic."

---------

Kaze was startled by the scream. "Oh no, Mom!" She took off into a sprint back inside the castle. She ran up the steps, finally being led into the hallway in front of the master bedroom. The door was shut, as it often was.

"Mom! What's wrong?" she yelled, trying the handle. It was locked. She was about to bang on it when she noticed the wood of the door bending and flowing away.

---------

Diana marched along the Zempheriea road without looking back, while Kaj fumbled with a map.

"So if the corruption was spotted here... and we are here..." He turned the map around in his hands.

"Dear, you've been living here for months. Don't tell me you still haven't found your way around yet."

"I know my way around the capital," Kaj mumbled. "I usually have no reason to come out this far."

Luna sighed. "Give me that..." she said, looking over the map even though Kaj refused to give it up. "Really? You don't know how to get to Royal Peak's Mountain yet? We clearly need to go hiking more..."

As both of them mulled over the map, Kaj accidentally walked right into someone who was reading a book as he walked.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry, sorry," Kaj said, but then he saw who he ran into. "...Merrick?"

Despite having only been months since he last saw him, Merrick looked like he had aged several years. He was taller, had longer hair pulled back into a ponytail, and was even starting to grow a bit of a beard, though his was only on the chin and far better groomed than Kaj cared to. He was dressed peculiarly as well, in what appeared to be dark but lightweight mage robes. He held a very thick book in hand.

"You look... different," Kaj said.

"...A side effect of the reviver stone," Merrick explained. "Sometimes if there's a large difference between body and soul, the body will change accordingly... If I had been alive I'd be in my thirties..."

"Oh, uh, alright then." Kaj tapped his foot on the ground, and saw that despite the distraction, Diana hadn't stopped and waited at all for him. "Listen, I'd love to reconnect, but we're kind of in the middle of a thing... that involves undead."

Merrick caught interest at "undead."

"...So you probably don't want to come along."

"Actually I think I will."

"Oh?" Kaj was afraid of undead, but he had many opportunities to confront that fear over the course of the last year. Merrick had every reason to hate undead just as much as he did... or maybe being dead cured him of that fear. "In that case... come along I guess."

[Posted by Flareth]

"...So it must be void dreams." Deax muttered.

And then it dawned on her.

"Oh SHIT!" Deax exclaimed. "Now I understand!"

She explained what had happened the day of the war with Kira.

"...I fucking voided her memory." Deax moaned. "....oh my gods...."

------------

"....Ehhh....no." Minuki said. "Do you think we're stupid? We know basically every royal from these parts, and you're not one of them."

"...But why would they lie?" Cameron queried. "Doesn't make sense...."

"It's a scam, Cameron." Minuki muttered. "They'll claim to be a Terrantian prince and then they'll steal your bank account info...."

"But isn't that an internet scam?" Cameron muttered. "In real life...it just doesn't make sense...."

Minuki fell silent.