The festival of flowers was underway in the city of Heyl. The trees lining the boulevards of the ancient city were in full bloom. The pale purple flowers heralded the coming of spring, and the people were celebrating in the streets. Children stood on the rooftops, throwing handfuls of flowers down on the revelers. All eyes turned to face Ingrid's fighter jet as she flew over the city.

She looked down on them with pity. It was one last celebration before the world turned upside-down.

"Titania, it is time. Create a portal to the Plane of Light!"

Like the portals created by the Firstborn, A single line of pure golden light appeared in the sky far ahead. It spread into a rounded rectangle, large enough for a fighter jet to fly through. Ingrid pushed the throttle forward and began to raise the flaps. Ingrid felt a familiar sense of anticipation as the portal grew larger and larger, until they crossed the threshold.

A golden sky awaited beyond the portal, surrounded by a pale fog. There did not appear to be a ground below. The fighter jet flew through an empty pocket in that fog, a pocket of unimaginable size. Crystals the size of planets, as brilliant as the Emperor's wine glasses, and shaped like teardrops, floated out in that golden sky. Crystal platforms floated in the sky below, rimmed with jagged crystal spires like inverted chandeliers.

A massive golden tower loomed on the horizon ahead. The base of the tower faded into the fog, and the apex of the tower was shaped like a golden spearhead. A massive ring-shaped crystal platform surrounded the tower. A city, complete with parks, ponds, roads, and buildings that appeared to be constructed entirely from blue glass.

"There must be tens of thousands of people living here," Ingrid said. "There are not tens of thousands of Light Elementals. What are they bonded to?"

"Ocular demons," Ashe said from Ingrid's shoulder. "My sister's eyes."

"She will know we are here," Vaska said. "No radar contacts, the sky is clear."

Ingrid pointed her nose at the tip of the golden tower. She began to reduce the throttle as they flew closer, however the sheer size of the tower made it difficult to judge how far away it was. Ingrid rolled into a knife-edge maneuver and began to loop around toward the tower, glancing down at the city far below. The massive ring was at least fifty thousand feet down, by Ingrid's estimation. The altimeter simply read sea level.

The tip of the tower was covered with sword-like spines jutting up into the sky, each at least ten thousand feet tall. There was a gaping crack in the spearhead-shaped apex, leading into absolute darkness.

"That must be the fracture that my father saw," Vaska said. "She must be through there."

"She is," Ashe said. "And she is not happy that I am here."

Ingrid lined up with the fracture and cut the throttle to lose airspeed with full flaps and air brakes. She began to reconfigure the airplane for vertical flight. The sawtooth doors ground open behind the canopy, and the stick changed from three-axis to two-dimensional control. Ingrid felt deeply uneasy as she drove the airplane through the fracture into the golden tower.

Darkness consumed them. Vague, pale-yellow god's rays surrounded the fighter jet as Ingrid navigated down at an angle, following the light. There was a bright blue island in the darkness ahead and below. A tall, dark figure stood upon the center of that island of blue light. Ingrid slowly brought the fighter jet down in front of the figure. It was a tall woman with long golden hair and a black dress. The Elemental Queen regarded the aircraft with lifeless eyes.

"High Daughter of Stone," Ingrid said. "Summon an Elemental outside to help us get down."

Ingrid opened the canopy. Ashe fluttered off her shoulder and grew to full size even before she landed on the ground.

"The False Queen." The Queen of Light spoke with two discordant voices overlapping, one of them delicate like Titania, one of them sinister like the Firstborn. She turned her lifeless eyes to regard Ingrid. "Titania, why have you forsaken your inheritance?"

As Ingrid descended from her fighter jet on the arm of a Stone Elemental, Titania appeared nearby. A vaguely nude woman made of pure light, bathing the blue stone platform in a brilliant golden glow.

Mother, you are not well.

"You should listen to your daughter!" Ashe snapped. Ingrid stepped off the Elemental's palm onto the smooth, polished blue stones. The Elemental reached up for Vaska.

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"I am perfect," the two voices of the Queen of Light replied. "You are the False Queen Ashe. I do not countenance your presence in this place."

"You stole my power!" Ashe said. "You are not a Dark Elemental! Why have you tapped into my power?"

"This power is mine. I am a goddess. I have always been a goddess. I am the fifth goddess to join. This power is mine, not yours."

"It's a trick!" Ashe insisted. "The humans tricked you! We are not goddesses! We are Elementals!"

"I am a goddess," the Queen of Light said. The discordance between the two voices grew more prominent. "My order is perfect. My judgments are perfect. I am perfect."

Mother, this is madness, Titania said.

Vaska stepped down onto the island beside Ingrid. The Firstborn appeared at her side, wielding her shadowy daggers.

"We have come to end your madness," Vaska said.

"You cannot destroy me," the Queen of Light replied. "Not even the power of the Firstborn can harm me."

"I know," Vaska said. "I cannot destroy you. But she can." Vaska pointed to Ingrid.

"Foolishness," the voices of Light and Dark replied. "I am perfect. I cannot be harmed."

"It's true!" Ashe said. "If you really were a goddess, then you would remember splitting yourself in half! You would remember the template that the Queens of Fire and Water created for the rest of us."

Vaska reached into her pack and pulled out a metal mask. "This should protect our eyes."

You must remember, mother, Titania said. Remember faith. Remember hope. Remember forgiveness. Remember the light.

"Fire of my Spirit," Ingrid said. "Water of my Spirit. One more time. I need you. Please."

Billowing flames appeared to Ingrid's right, forming into a tall woman with a mask and a crown. She held a massive claymore in one hand, glowing within like a log left long in fire. She offered the handle of the claymore to Ingrid. Ingrid accepted it, and remarkably it was almost weightless.

It must be human hands, the High Daughter of Fire said. I will give you all the power I have.

The High Daughter of Water appeared to the left of Vaska, and offered a similar claymore of ice. Vaska grabbed it.

Ingrid offered her left hand to Vaska. The other woman grasped it tightly with her right hand.

"When you learn forgiveness," Ingrid said, "you must remember to forgive us. This is going to hurt."

"Pray to whatever the goddesses worship," Vaska added. "You are about to discover just how imperfect you are."

Holding hands, they charged the Queen of Light. Ingrid began to glow with a brilliant light, while Vaska seemed to darken the air around her. The twin swords of Fire and Water began to glow with their own blinding light, red and blue, and the Twin Fates of Titania and the Firstborn followed on either side.

Ingrid and Vaska rammed the two swords through the Elemental's chest. She slumped forward.

Then screamed.

Ingrid and Vaska both fell back. They released their hands, and frantically began to tie the metal masks over their eyes.

"High Daughter of Wind!" Ingrid cried, soundlessly against the deafening shrieks. "Summon a Wind Elemental. Protect our ears!"

The shrieks began to die down.

"Quick thinking," Vaska said.

The two swords were still stuck in the Elemental's chest when she began to glow. Ingrid got the mask over her eyes just in time.

Ingrid could see through the metal. It was faint, like looking through a heavily tinted window, but she could see through solid metal.

Vaska leaned forward and kissed Ingrid.

The light began to dim, then finally vanished.

"Hah!" Ashe exclaimed. "Hah! I have my power back! Fear me mortals! I am the Queen of Darkness! Hear my name and despair!"

Ingrid unstrapped the mask and turned to look at Ashe. She had not changed much. She still wore a white dress and that strange horned skull. The only real difference was that she grew to be as tall as the Queen of Light had been.

"Foolish immortals! I will be a scourge upon your world. Sweet twilight will wash the light from your world, bringing a wave of evil such as the world has never seen! Tremble! Grovel at my feet!"

"Well, be on with it," Vaska said, waving her hand dismissively. Ashe vanished in a puff of black smoke.

The Queen of Light was sprawled out on the ground. The swords of Fire and Water had vanished. Ingrid approached her.

The Elemental Queen had tears in her eyes.

"I remember... forgiveness. Forgiveness. Forgiveness." A single, delicate voice.

Mother, if you remember forgiveness, then you must forgive the humans who did this to you. See now the shape of the lie. You were never a goddess. You are like me, an Elemental, tasked with guarding a vast power. The humans envied your power.

"Daughter," the Queen of Light said. She reached out with both arms, and Titania reached down to lift the Queen upright. "Daughter, I forgive them. I forgive the humans."

Titania lifted her mother up onto her feet. She loomed over Ingrid and Vaska, but her eyes were filled with life. Filled with hope.

The vast chamber began to lighten. Then it began to glow. Tens of thousands of tiny lights, like stars, surrounded them, occupying the space of the tower, banishing the darkness.

Vaska gasped. "Light Elementals!"

That is correct. The ocular demons have been purified, they have returned to pure Light. They were more intelligent when they had access to both powers. They have lost much, I am afraid. Do not mourn for them, they must atone for what they have done.

"The sacrifices!" Ingrid said. "Queen of Light, do you know of the sacrifices? The people who have been tricked into the contracts that stole their lives?"

"I know of them," the Queen of Light said. "All of the contracts have been forgiven."

"Which means we just destroyed the entire world economy," Vaska said.

"Do not be afraid," the Queen said. "You carry the light with you."

"Titania?" Ingrid asked.

"No." The Elemental Queen reached out with one arm, pointing her finger beyond Ingrid.

Ingrid turned to see what she was pointing at. The fighter jet rested upon the blue stone floor of the platform.

"The fighter jet," Ingrid said. "The fighter jet is our light. The light that draws the eyes and hearts of humanity. Our inspiration. Our highest ideal."