After exploring the projection of the Royal Palace, Ingrid and Vaska found a promising room in the servant quarters where only women could be found. Vaska opened a portal in an empty room filled with bunks. The drawers under the bunks contained servant uniforms.

After getting dressed they left the room and quickly encountered a plump maid. "I don't recognize you two children," she said. "Are you new here?"

"Yes ma'am!" Vaska said. "Just joined today."

"They told you right? No pay for the first two months. If you leave, you get paid for two more months after you leave. Same goes for all of us. The King is waiting for some charlatan to finish some deal. Terrible... terrible."

Ingrid and Vaska glanced at each other. The plump woman scampered off into the hallway.

Vaska was remarkably good at pretending to be a servant. Her face was filled with a mix of purpose and sternness. Ingrid said nothing and did very little as Vaska wandered the hallways. The servant quarters were mostly made of unadorned wood, cramped but clean.

The palace itself was unlike anything Ingrid had ever seen. She had only ever visited the Emperor at his lodge in the mountains, and had never seen his palace in Heylin. In fact she had never seen any palace before, not even the inside of the government building in her hometown. Every floor in the palace was polished wood covered in ornate rugs, mostly dark green and gold. This color scheme continued into the seats, the drapes, and the great banners that dangled from the ceiling. Soldiers marched about in drab olive uniforms, and servants scurried past with platters of snacks or pitchers of water.

"No women soldiers," Vaska noted. "We should get some food."

They lingered near the soldiers, offering food and water when asked, and simply listened to what they were saying. None of the soldiers said anything interesting, though there seemed to be some confusion about why they were in the palace at all. The other servants occasionally inquired about Vaska and Ingrid's recent employment.

"It is only a matter of time before one of the servants realizes that we do not actually work here," Ingrid whispered.

"No worries," Vaska said. "If anyone notices, they will likely confront us first and ask for a bribe."

So much evil in this place, Titania said. It writhes and scurries. I cannot speak with Mother here.

Finally, a woman in a golden mask entered the palace with an escort of a dozen soldiers. She had a Light Elemental with her, just like Titania, a tall armored woman with a sword and shield made of mother-of-pearl light. Ingrid noticed for the first time that the surface of her body looked a bit oily, as if the light was passing through slick oil on the surface of a puddle. Vaska's mouth dropped at the sight of the woman.

The Elemental pointed her sword straight toward Ingrid.

"To the other side, now," Vaska snapped as a portal opened directly behind her, inside the palace foyer. Vaska grabbed Ingrid's arm and yanked her through the portal into the Plane of Darkness. The portal instantly vanished behind them. The twilight projections of the soldiers stood around in complete shock.

Vaska was holding her chest, breathing heavy.

"That was close," she finally managed. "What is that Light Elemental doing here!? Why in the world would the King order it to be brought out of the Bank?"

The Matron and the Light Elemental appeared as misty wraiths in the projection nearby. "Can they see us?" Ingrid asked.

I do not think she can sense us, Titania said. The Matron appeared to be speaking with the other Light Elemental for a moment, before both of them continued on, vanishing after leaving the local projection.

"We need to follow her," Vaska said. They began walking in the same direction. The cavern walls and fungi outside the projections shifted and moved past them as they went. Once again Titania was nowhere to be seen. They wound through the projection of the palace once more, returning to the location where the Firstborn had transported them. It was inside of some type of arcade filled with soldiers. The Matron vanished into a wall.

"The portal must be against that wall," Vaska said.

My sister speaks to me, Titania said.

"Where are you?" Ingrid asked. "We can't see you."

I am here, but I cannot see you either, Titania said. Sister speaks to me.

"Oh no," Vaska said. "Titania must be outside the projection, completely in the Plane of Darkness."

"What do you mean, completely in the Plane of Darkness?"

"The Firstborn's projection of our world is in fact within the Plane of Darkness, but it is also adjunct to it. It is possible to enter the Plane of Darkness without being inside the projection. That is where Titania must be. That means the Matron and her own Light Elemental can see Titania, and speak with her."

Yes! Yes! Sister is here. She speaks of their objectives. That is what you wanted to know, right?

"I'll not say no to that," Vaska said. "What do the Ayaruans want here?"

The Queen's Prison is weakening. They brought Sister here to help repair the broken seals. Ingrid, we must help.

"What?" Ingrid said. "You want me to help the Ayaruans?"

Yes, you must. I am allowed to kill you if you refuse to help.

"Vaska, I need to go."

"Right," Vaska said. "Then I'll go with you. Firstborn, allow us to leave the projection and complete the transition to the Plane of Darkness."

The dark space of nothingness around them began to dissolve and give way to figures standing in a small field of spores. Ingrid dropped a few inches as her boots sank into the spores with a crunch. The Ayaruan portal was small, similar to the ones the Firstborn made, and the interior of the Palace could be seen on the other side. The Matron stood with her gold robes and mask and regarded Ingrid. The Light Elemental stood by her side, along with half a dozen Ayaruan soldiers who looked unalarmed.

Vaska Maryy, sneaking around in servant uniforms? No doubt you have FIA agents here in the palace as well, the Light Elemental said in unaccented Taisian. Ingrid assumed that Vaska was hearing the Elemental speak a different language. And this child must be the one the smallfolk have named Ghost.

"If your soldiers turn violent," Vaska sneered, "I will kill them and then I will kill you."

The Elemental turned to the Matron. Do not make light of this one, the Firstborn is strong in this place.

"Let's just go," Ingrid said. "Tell me what we need to do." She glanced behind her, and saw Titania for the first time standing there. She had been there the whole time, following them around as they wandered the Firstborn's projection, advertising their position to the enemy soldiers.

The Matron said something in Ayaruan, then turned and glided away. The soldiers turned away as well, and then the portal to the Royal Palace closed. Ingrid followed them as they wandered through the twisting crystal chasms, occasionally glancing up at the strange eclipse in the too-black sky. They passed under crystal arches covered in fungi and over small creeks that appeared to be made of flowing blood.

"Are we going in a circle?" Ingrid asked.

"The path to the Queen's Prison is a twisting one," Vaska whispered. "You can quickly reach it from anywhere in this realm if you know the way. In fact, you can use the Plane of Darkness to travel great distances in the other world. Even without the Firstborn. She just... makes it very easy."

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Ingrid pointed up. "Could you fly up there? If you are outside the projection?"

"I have never done so," Vaska said. "I only once fully transitioned into this Plane and explored on my own. I always use the Firstborn's projection to move around."

The Matron led them to a vast structure made of black marble streaked with blood red veins. Low and wide, constructed like a long curve of arches. Beyond the arches the spores gradually became thinner, giving way to a solid black ground made of polished black marble. A second layer of arches separated them from a vast ringed pit, with five rings of arches descending in tiers. Long, gently-sloping stairs led from each level to the next. There was a pitch black half-sphere in the very center, surrounded by chains made of pure light.

Ingrid shivered as she pointed at the half-sphere. "Is that it?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"How," Ingrid said. "How did they construct this place?"

"That is knowledge known only to the Framers," Vaska said. "Perhaps this is how the Queen sees her own prison. This may just be her perception, her imagination."

They descended the last series of steps to the floor of the structure. Thunder and explosions rang out as soldiers fought shadowy lizards crawling down one of the walls using Lightning and Fire Elementals. As the group approached, there was a man watching them who Ingrid assumed was the King of Ayaru. He wore gold and dark-green finery and a jeweled crown on his head.

He grunted at the sight of Vaska. "You," he said in accented Imperial. "Tell me girl, how did you lie to our Light Elemental?"

"I did not lie," Vaska said. "Everything I did and said was on behalf of the Queen of Light."

The man's eyes went wide. "Twisted words," the King said. "Deeply twisted words."

"Let's just get started," Ingrid said. "What do I need to do?"

Follow me, the Matron's Elemental said. To the prison. We must fix the cracks in the seals.

The Matron led Ingrid toward that too-black sphere. It was like closing her eyes in a deep cave, as if her eyes simply stopped working and reported no light at all emanating from the surface of the sphere, a hole in her vision. The chains of pure light were fractured and appeared to have been dipped in oil, shining mother-of-pearl light which was absorbed absolutely by the prison but which reflected off the uneven obsidian tiles.

"Did you come to kill me?" the King asked Vaska. This seemed to make his guards uneasy.

"I did not," Vaska said.

"You have caused my kingdom so much pain."

"Teodor," Vaska said.

"King Teodor," the man corrected.

"I care not what childish titles you have given yourself," Vaska snapped. "Men name you King, and tell their whores jokes at your expense. Men name me Princess and nearly piss themselves."

The King had no response. His guards held their rifles uneasily.

Titania's sword began to glow and reshape itself into a flame made of sickly light. She reached forward with the flame and began to burn the chains. The fractures began to grow smaller and vanish. The Matron's Elemental did the same, repairing the chains on the opposite side of the half-sphere.

We are able to repair it faster than it breaks! the Light Elemental said. This will work. We can still save the prison.

"Teodor Aria, I had not expected you would take such extreme measures to try and repair the prison," Vaska said. She eyed a small crystal in her hand, half transparent yellow and half silvery and metallic. "Lightning," she said. "Allow me to speak to Glenice."

A small orb of magenta lightning appeared over the crystal. Glenice began to speak through the Colored Orb: "Vaska, what is it?"

"Open one of the portals please, and prepare the White Ravens."

"Now!?" Glenice said. "What about Ingrid?!"

"Just open one for now. I want to see how Titania reacts."

"Very well, the command is given. The Marines are ready."

"Vaska what are you doing?" Ingrid asked.

"What is the meaning of this?" King Teodor snapped.

Titania shuttered. Ingrid! she cried. Ingrid a portal has opened!

"Well what am I supposed to do? Stop you from sealing the prison?" Ingrid asked.

"Guards!" the King shouted, pointing at Vaska. "Kill her! Kill her now!" The men aimed their rifles, however Vaska vanished in a cloud of black smoke. Both men crumpled almost at the same time, with a shadowy dagger piercing their throats. The King yelped and began muttering something in his own language.

"I am very practiced at using the projection," Vaska announced after she reappeared. "I would advise against sacrificing more of your men, King Teodor." She was still holding the magenta Colored Orb. "Glenice! This is not a drill, open all the portals and send in the White Ravens. Now! Do it NOW!"

"Who?" Ingrid shouted over the chaos that began to erupt from the soldiers as they ran toward their King.

"An airshow act," Vaska shouted back. "Imperial Air Navy. Some of the best pilots in the world! Led by Natasha! Very inspiring!"

"An airshow!?"

"For our friends living in the Elemental Planes," Vaska said with a wink. She slammed her hands together and shouted: "Firstborn, ATTACK!"

The air darkened around Vaska, and shadows began to coalesce into the figure of a tall nude woman made of pale purple crystal. Indistinct, like the others of her kind, Ingrid instantly knew she was a High Daughter from the mask that covered her eyes and the crown on her head. Her lower legs ended in hooves like a goat, and she had horns on her head and even a tail, but was otherwise clearly a human woman. Tears of blood flowed down her cheeks. She held two swords made of pure shadow.

The Firstborn launched forward at lightning speed, stabbing the Matron's Light Elemental straight through the chest with her swords. Dark, oily blood exploded from it.

"Flee!" the King shouted to his guards as he turned to run away. "She can't hurt me! Save yourselves! RUN!" The soldiers stopped and then changed directions, running away with their King as he fled. This left Ingrid nearly alone in the pit with Vaska and the Matron, the Firstborn and the two Light Elementals.

More portals! Titania announced. Five, no six more portals! Ingrid! We must close them!

"How?" Ingrid said. "How can we close them while also repairing the prison?"

"You can't," Vaska said. "An unfortunate oversight in her contract, I think. Her task of repairing the prison takes priority, which means she will not attack you." She reached forward and kissed Ingrid on the lips.

"You... want to open the prison, don't you?" Ingrid asked.

"I have a hypothesis," Vaska said. "This is an experiment that will help me disconfirm the hypothesis. That's all."

The fractures in the chains of light began to grow. They buckled and twitched with the sudden change in tension. Finally they started to snap. The surface of the prison fractured and blood-red light poured out between the riven chains.

"The airshows in the Elemental Planes must be having quite an impact on the psyche of the sacrifices," Vaska said. "Seven pilots, seven fighter jets, seven portals. Spread out across the Empire, Taisia, and Ayaru."

"Won't this mean," Ingrid said, "that some of the crystals in the Empire will stop working? Won't this bring down the Bank in Heylin as well?"

"I did not anticipate this happening so soon, but I cannot possibly turn down an opportunity like this. Not now."

A hand made of pure, bleeding shadows erupted from the fracture in the half-sphere. It lurched forward and violently attached itself to Titania's face. She screamed.

Help! Help! Titania cried. Ingrid! Save me! IT HURTS!

"Do nothing yet," Vaska warned.

Ingrid watched, paralyzed. The chains continued to shatter, as both Light Elementals were now occupied. The Matron had fainted, yet her Light Elemental remained pinned to the ground by the Firstborn's swords.

Ingrid, Titania said, her voice peaceful, calm, delicate like wind chimes. Ingrid I remember. I remember what it was like, to be and to exist all those moons ago. Faith, hope, forgiveness, sacrifice, choice, discipline, charity. I remember it all Ingrid. I remember it.

"What do you want me to do?" Ingrid asked.

Kill me before I forget, Titania said. Vaska, Vaska was right all along, I think. Something is wrong with Mother. Something is wrong with us all.

"Fire of my spirit," Ingrid said. She held out her right hand, and white flames began to rise. "Water of my spirit," she said as she held out her left hand, and icy waters began to churn. Her two Elementals appeared, sipping on her spirit. Tall women made of Fire and Water, looking with pity upon the writing Light Elemental in front of them.

Cleanse! the Water Elemental said.

Purify! the Fire Elemental said.

They charged forward and attacked Titania. The Fire Elemental stabbed its massive white-hot sword through her chest. The Water Elemental washed away the black blood with waves of pure water. Titania screamed and violently flailed her arms about. The hand made of pure shadows retreated back into the shattering half-sphere.

Ingrid breathed heavily. "This is... very difficult," she said.

"It always is," Vaska said. "Just keep breathing, and stay awake."

Light. Brilliant, blinding light flashed in front of Ingrid. She covered her eyes, but it was not enough. Even through her eyelids, even through her arm the light shone. She could see her own bones, the blood vessels in her eyes, and the muscles in her arms outlined in that unyielding glare. Then it ended. The two Elementals backed off, allowing Titania to stand.

The mother-of-pearl light was gone, as was the oil-slick corruption on her skin. She was no longer a woman in heavy armor, but instead wore nothing, like the other Elementals. Tall, naked, wearing a mask and a crown and a spear in one hand. She walked toward Ingrid, who struggled to stay standing, and then knelt like a knight.

It must be human hands, Titania said as she handed her massive golden spear to Ingrid. A member of one of the Great Houses.

Vaska grasped one of Ingrid's hands in her own and they both placed their free hands on the shaft of the spear. "Let's go," Vaska said. "I believe my hypothesis is correct."

"Right," Ingrid said. Titania vanished and the spear began to glow with that same blinding light. They each stepped forward, their steps synchronized in a headlong sprint toward the Queen's Prison. The darkness retreated, bending inward but not fast enough. The tip of the spear pierced the shroud and madness erupted, shooting shafts of pure shadow all around. Ingrid and Vaska held firm, supporting each other as the darkness washed over them, bathed in Titania's light.

As the prison disintegrated, the eclipse in the sky shattered, revealing a brilliant purple moon behind. The pitch-black sky changed to purple, revealing countless flying cities in the sky.

Ingrid fall back into Vaska's arms. The bottom half of the sphere had cut a hole in the ground, and twisted clouds of darkness writhed out of that hole. As the air cleared a child climbed out of the pit. Ingrid struggled to stay awake.

She was just a child, wearing a frilly black dress and cute shoes. Her black hair was done up in an elaborate set of braids, her pupils were glowing blood red, her pale face was covered in freckles, and her eyelids appeared to be painted with black cosmetics. She put her hands on her hips and pointed straight at Ingrid.

"What the hell did you meat bags do to me?"