Lieutenant Colonel Ervin Dren leaned against the rail of the balcony outside the command deck of the Luan. Jelka, the Capital of Ayaru, sprawled out below as the airship drifted in the winds. Most of the buildings on the street directly below had been demolished to make room for flak cannons and bunkers. Soldiers and military engineers scurried about with weapons and blueprints, construction workers drove trucks filled with iron ingots, and towering Metal Elementals shaped the skeletons of buildings. Dogs barked.

"Some of those buildings were built seven hundred years ago," Admiral Zef said.

"It's a damn shame," Ervin said. "The architecture of these buildings was superb."

A diamond formation of four fighter jets roared past to the east, leaving trails of white smoke behind them. They broke formation and began to deploy their flaps. The landing lights on the front were bright enough to be seen even in the afternoon sunlight. One by one they lined up and masterfully landed on the deck, leaving just barely enough space between them to park before the next airplane landed.

The Bank of Jelka was a large enough complex to warrant its own ancient stone wall. Shaped like a perfect circle many blocks across, the bank resembled a small city within a city rather than a single building. A triangle made of grass lawns and gardens, perfectly situated so that the three vertices touched the stone wall, separated the outer buildings from the main bank building in the center. It was at the nearest vertex that the High Mast towered over the stone wall, high enough into the sky for the Luan to attach.

Attaching the airship to the high mast required using all of the propellers to counteract the wind. An airman on the deck threw a metal cable to a worker on the high mast, who began to reel the airship in using a wrench. Ervin never quite grew accustomed to the primitive technology. Certainly the engineers could have devised a better method of anchoring an airship.

A small helium barge carried Ervin and Zef down to the surface. As Ervin walked down the marble stairway at the base of the high mast onto the great lawn, two men waited for him in immaculate suits. Ervin recognized one of the men as being Biagio, an advisor sent by the High Council of the Federation of Kanti to oversee the manufacture of fighter jets in Ayaru. He looked a bit too young for such an important position, and Ervin suspected he was sent to Ayaru to prove his worth. The other man Ervin did not recognize. Tall with graying hair and a neat beard, his clothes and jewelry were no doubt more expensive than any of the fighters on the deck of the Luan.

"Ervin Dren," the unknown man said with a slight bow. "Admiral Zef. My name is Marin Lovre, and I serve as the Chairman of the Bank of Jelka and the Ambassador to the Matron of the Light Crystal. Come with me, the others await your arrival."

Lovre led the three men along the cobblestone road in the middle of the gardens towards the glass dome in the center. First through crystal-clear glass doors and then through a stately lobby of polished marble, he led them finally to a chamber in the center of the dome with a massive circular hole in the ground, lined with a gentle spiral staircase. Glass tubes with elevators were placed on three points around the pit. As the elevator descended into the pit, it became too dark to see, and the four men stood in an awkward silence.

A dim light appeared in the darkness below. It was deceptively far away, because it moved toward them very slowly for a long time. Finally the glass elevator stopped and the doors opened into the natural stone terminus of the spiral pit, lit by burning torches. The massive opening of the pit was just a tiny speck of dusky golden light far above. Lovre continued by turning to one side leading them to an iron door in a stone hallway. The door was so large that it required a motor, powered by Fire Elementals, to open. Beyond was a ledge overlooking an underground city.

It was the first time Ervin had seen one of the secret underground cities of the banks. In the center of the city, suspended from the stone roof, there was an inverted glass dome glistening with the flickering flame of a Greater Fire Elemental, bathing the entire cavern in yellowish light. All across the city there were towers made of glass that spanned the space from floor to ceiling, overflowing with the green life of plants within. Great fountains of pure water, powered by Water Elementals, were strategically placed in every quadrant. The blockish stone dwellings were two-stories tall at most, with a glass dome on the roof and cloth banners hanging from the windows. Many of the people wandering the streets wore robes and masks of two colors: black, white, burgundy, and gold, in various combinations.

In the center of the city the quartet found their goal: another glass dome with crystal-clear glass doors. Another marble lobby awaited inside. In the center there was another circular pit, much smaller and very shallow, with a triangular depression at the bottom. There was an altar at one point of the triangle, with dozens of banners hanging around the rim of the pit. A woman in golden robes with a gold-black mask stood beside the altar. Beside her a second woman stood, made entirely out of light and wearing the semblance of a knight's armor.

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A Light Elemental.

Two other figures stood in the chamber. Ervin instantly recognized King Teodor, wearing ornate golden robes and a crown studded with crystals of various Elemental Planes. Each man in turn bowed deeply to the King.

The second figure was a stern old woman with a mean face and a trim military uniform. Zoja Eduard, the Minister of the Military. "Ervin Dren," she said. "Vanja's son. I am certain that I taught you how to use a spoon."

"And I am grateful for that Zoja," Ervin said. "My King," Ervin said with reverence, "why have you summoned us to this place?"

"I'm afraid that I have been summoned here as well," King Teodor said.

"We all were," Zoja said. "I'm guessing that all of us were summoned here independently."

"By who?" Admiral Zef asked. They all glanced at the Matron of the Light Crystal.

"It was not her," Lovre said. "She has been questioned by the Light Elemental and found to be truthful." Lovre produced an invitation, and the sight of the signature made Ervin shutter.

"That is my signature," Ervin said. "It is a perfect forgery."

The Matron screamed. She pointed behind the altar, at a disk of pure shadow that appeared suspended in the air. Even the Light Elemental looked frightened. "Not here!" the Matron cried. "This is not the place!"

She fled, vanishing around the wall behind the altar. The Light Elemental remained even as the black disk opened to reveal a dark sky beyond. Angry black clouds speckled with glowing blue and red light, like storm clouds at dusk. A figure made of shifting shadows slipped through the portal and stood behind the altar. Zef and Ervin both stood guard in front of the King with their hands on their pistols.

The figure walked around the altar into view. It was a woman wearing a pure black dress and a solid white mask. She was shrouded in a cloud of shifting, twisting shadows that seemed to suck in the light of the room. She spoke with several overlapping female voices in unison: "It was I who summoned you to this place."

"Name yourself!" the King commanded.

"I am called the Keymaker," the woman said. "I bring you a message from the Queen of Light."

"That is the Elemental Plane of Darkness," Advisor Biagio said. "The Bank of Kanti sometimes opens portals to that Plane, and I have witnessed it. The sky is unmistakable."

"Ask your Elemental," the Keymaker said, pointing to the Light Elemental at the altar.

This one speaks no lies, the Elemental said in his mind, her voice like wind chimes. Though I know not how, for I cannot speak to Mother myself.

The Keymaker casually tossed a handful of gems clattering onto the stone floor. They were turquoise-orange gems of the variety to summon Wind and Stone Elementals, however they were lopsided, with more turquoise than orange and without the common swirling pattern. "The Heylin Empire is growing too powerful," the Keymaker said. "Their alliance with Taisia must be stopped."

"As I have said before," King Teodor said with a nod.

"Careful," Minister Zoja hissed. "This creature forged our signatures, should we trust her?"

"The Queen of Light sees your plight, King of Ayaru," the Keymaker said. "She offers these six keys. Three of them can be used to open a portal to the Elemental Plane of Wind. The other three can be used to open a second portal once inside. You are to use these portals to launch a surprise war upon Taisia."

"That... that is forbidden!" the King said. "We agreed to never open the portals and use them in such a way!"

"You have permission from the Queen of Light until Taisia has been crushed."

"What happens if the Light Elemental at the Bank of Taisia is sent out into the field?" Chairman Marin Lovre asked. "What happens if they close the portal behind our soldiers? We could end up being trapped in the Plane of Wind."

It was a sensible question.

"I guarantee that none of the Light Elementals from any of the banks will leave their underground cities," the Keymaker said. "I have spoken and fulfilled my task. More sets of keys will be provided as needed. Crush Taisia, for the Queen of Light and with her blessing."

The Keymaker turned around and stepped through the portal. Then the surface of the portal fractured and the whole plate of darkness vanished.

"Did she speak any lies?" King Teodor asked.

She said nothing that was not true, at least in her own mind, the Elemental said. She is a mortal however, and I know not how she became bonded to a Dark Elemental of such power. Such a thing has not happened... since the days before this age, when men took the burdens of the Elements upon their own spirits.

"Is it possible for a mortal to lie to a Light Elemental with the aid of a Dark Elemental?" Zoja asked.

No mortal may speak untruths without my knowledge.

The King sighed. "Admiral Zef, do you think it is possible? Can you launch a surprise attack on Taisia using a portal to the Elemental Plane, like the one she was using?"

"My King," Zef replied, "it would be a small matter."

These crystals are not bound, the Light Elemental said. Should I bind them? If they become lost, I can recover them if they are bound to me.

"Yes," the King said. "Bind them immediately, and thank you. Minister Eduard, prepare a task force in secret. Dren, begin practicing opening portals from within your fighter. They need to be large enough for airships to pass through. Biagio, travel to the Federation and speak with the High Council. If they wish to veto this, I will respect their wishes."

"I will go at once," Biagio said.

"Chairman Lovre," the King said. "Bury this."