Kane and Ella sped through the sky above the white spires. Gazing out the window, Kane noticed many more buildings closer to the ground, all the same bright white as these spires.

"It's like the entire city is a clean room," he thought in disgust. "There's a lot of problems with Riftshade, but at least it's colorful."

Unaware of his thoughts, Ella began sharing what she knew of volfar and Dreadwolf. "To be honest, I don't know that much," she admitted, a little regretfully. "Volfar have been on Alfheim for as long as most elves remember, and they've been slaves for just as long."

A thought suddenly struck Kane. "What if I'm seeing Earth's future? Perhaps the volfar came to this world as raiders and became stuck like the beastlings on Earth?"

Meanwhile, Ella continued, "I know volfar have both a beastly and a humanoid form, but the humanoid forms can differ immensely, with some looking closer to humans, and some to elves. The beastly form is like a temporary boost to your physical abilities, and you can't remain in that form forever, but as your power grows, so does the time you can spend in it."

With that reminder that he should be able to turn back, Kane frowned as he explored his new body and instincts. He had been able to remain remarkably calm during this time due to his survival instinct, but he still desperately longed to see his old body again.

As she continued to steer the car through traffic, Ella switched to the second part of Kane's question. "As for Dreadwolf… I'm not too sure on the specifics here either, but I know that Dreadwolf is one of the eight aspects of the moon, which are the paragons of the volfar."

Kane's ears perked up at hearing another unfamiliar term. "Paragons?" he asked, a little confused.

"You don't know that either?" Ella frowned, equally confused. "Surely humans have paragons as well?"

Kane shrugged. "If we do, then I don't know about them." Then he frowned. "Tell me what you know, please." Since he was supposed to be some paragon now, he wanted to know all he could.

Ella nodded and did as he asked. "Paragons are the guardians of their species," she explained. "We high elves have twelve sparks of the sun, with my mother being one of them. For the volfar, it's the eight aspects of the moon."

Kane immediately picked up on the numerical difference. "So does that mean the high elves are more powerful? Because they have more paragons?"

Ella shook her head with a frown. "Not exactly. At the moment a species comes into existence, their first patron spirit essentially receives a bucket of power from the universe with which they can create their paragons. Every patron spirit receives the same-sized bucket, but they all create a different number of moulds to pour that power into, based on their own preferences."

Kane crossed his arms and frowned thoughtfully. "I see… so assuming all else would be equal, a volfar aspect of the moon would be more powerful than a high elf spark of the sun?" Despite still being in the process of escaping, he had already started making plans for fighting the queen who tried to enslave him.

Ella seemed unsure as she bobbed her head sideways. "Sort of, but not necessarily. Not all paragons are focused on battle, so even if you technically have more power, it might not help you in a fight. But in general, yes, the fewer paragons a species has, the more powerful they are individually. But that also means that losing a single paragon is far more devastating for the volfar than the high elves."

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Kane pursed his lips wryly and nodded. "And I bet a volfar patron spirit would go through quite a bit of effort to put one of these paragons back into play…"

Ella remained silent, but her expression told Kane all he wanted to know.

Frowning, Kane sank into thought. 'This whole thing is still messed up, but… becoming a paragon doesn't sound so bad. So far, it just seems like a free power-up. Well, mostly free. Let's first see if Luna and I can get out of here alive, and then I can start thinking pros and cons.'

For a few moments, the only sounds filling their vehicle were the low humming of its engine, a device that Kane actually wouldn't mind taking a look at. He was not only good at engineering, but he enjoyed it as well.

Then, he spoke up again. "So what about patron spirits? What exactly are those? I assume Mána is one?"

Ella startled a little, apparently lost in thought before. When Kane repeated his question, she nodded. "Yeah. Lady Mána is Alfheim's Crimson Moon, the volfar patron spirit. Every planet or world with a significant enough population of an intelligent species will spawn that species' patron spirit."

Kane nodded in understanding. "So when Mána mentioned a sister on Earth…" his voice trailed off in thought.

"She probably meant the Crimson Moon on your home world," Ella finished his sentence, indicating her agreement. "Every world has its own patron spirit for every species, and they usually consider each other sisters."

Finally, Kane had some answers, but it also raised more questions. "Okay, but while there are many Crimson Moons, there is only one Dreadwolf, right?"

Ella nodded, "That's right. Only the very first patron spirit has the power to create paragons, and those are the only ones the species will ever have."

Hearing Ella's explanation caused Kane to frown, "Then why would your mother believe them when they offered up a paragon like Dreadwolf? What could they have possibly asked for in exchange that made her think they would keep their word?"

Once again, Ella shook her head. "I don't know the specifics of their deal, but since patron spirits are supposed to be concerned with their species' well-being most of all, I imagine it had something to do with that. Although there was probably also a degree of arrogance involved on my mother's side."

"Fine," Kane nodded, realizing he wasn't going to get an answer about this for now. "Perhaps I can ask Mána at some point," he thought to himself.

Instead, he focused back on Ella. "So, that explains why Mána and her sister are doing this, but why you? What do you hope to accomplish by helping them?"

"I told you," Ella muttered sadly. "I want to improve the lives of everyone on Alfheim, elf and volfar alike. Ideally, I want them to live together in peace."

"And you think helping set me loose will accomplish that?" Kane scoffed, a healthy amount of scepticism in his voice.

Ella sighed helplessly. "What I think is that, with time, you have the power to become a ruler, like most paragons, and perhaps even a conqueror. I also think that I'd like to be there to help, so that perhaps… I can convince you to rule fairly. Then, maybe one day you'll return to this world, and I can improve their lives through you."

Kane's eyebrow shot up in surprise. "That's… quite a lot you're putting on not just your own shoulders, but especially your ability to convince."

Meanwhile, his thoughts raced. "I guess I've had some thoughts of taking over Riftshade someday… even thoughts of making Earth a world worth protecting again, but still. Do I really want to rule and conquer? And what kind of ruler would I want to be?"

"What other choice do I have?" Ella’s voice was barely a whisper, but it carried the weight of desperation.

Rather than try to poke holes in her plan or find out how she concluded that this was the best option, Kane asked the thing that concerned him right now. "So does that mean you're coming with me?"

"In a way…" Ella pursed her lips wryly as a conflicted expression appeared on her face.

At this point, they had been traveling for almost twenty minutes, and just as he was about to ask Ella what she meant, his eyes opened wide when a voice echoed in his head.

"Initializing…"