Each of the bright stars slowed as they reached the ground, and then popped like bubbles to reveal small groups of people. They fell everywhere and sometimes far away from us on the lake. It was captivating and beautiful to my eyes. Almost enough to forget about the curse.

It's not like he cursed me, but this world seemed to have a problem with us. I just didn't feel like it was something like the System that made it happen. This was something more natural imposing an order on all things. We were just unfortunate to suffer.

I kept my eyes open wide to search for those I expected to be first within the stars. I suddenly felt a burning in my eyes, and had to furiously blink them before they felt better. Apparently, there were more parts to this curse than just the emotional.

Time stretched as the stars fell and I didn't see my children. I even began to worry that he wouldn't bring them over, since they weren't humans. There was the odd switch in my brain, the shadow wasn't a he or she, but it kept trying to make it a him.

Gah, it was so distracting a thought that it took longer than I thought to get rid of the frustration. I completely missed a star landing near me, and their soft glow.

"Mother?" I knew what her voice sounded like, or I had thought I did. Another thing so different about having actual ears and not just reading sound. It was melodic and made me cry with a whirlwind of emotions from this cursed flesh.

I had to take a deep breath before turning to the group I knew down to their pattern of life. The six pairs of eyes looked back at me, and each looked as different as they looked the same. Though I couldn't help, but smile at the very human appearance of Kalos.

He was still large and imposing, but now his metal shell was just a tanned skin with silvery-white hair everywhere like a beast. Except on his face where a square face met a sharp nose and bright blue eyes. Of all of them he was the most different, and it made me laugh.

Once it started it just didn't want to stop. Thoughts of how silly he looked with those wide eyes, was just too much for me right now. Until, I was wrapped in a soft hug, and felt the warmth of thin arms. She wasn't old looking anymore, but she still felt like she knew better.

"Mother, why are you crying?" Her voice just as pretty as Pyra's, filling my heart with a different kind of warmth, and I felt the mana within me reach out to her. I hadn't realized that my laughter had fallen into tears again. My emotions had been a mess, but I realized that I had been afraid they would be left behind. Even though the demon had promised I could walk the world with them.

Those words just didn't get past all the swirling chaos that was my thoughts now. It was constantly getting worse as I talked to it, but now I felt at home. In the arms of my child I could feel some bit of comfort and a feeling of being home.

Wiping my eyes, I stepped away from Solus to get a good look at her. For the most part she was the same, just younger looking and without the glowing veins or eyes of light. Wait, no there was a faint light in her eyes, and her skin was glowing where she had touched my own.

A part of my new mind was thankful that everyone was brought over with clothes of some kind. Even if they weren't armor or weapons, it was enough to be 'decent'. Which I now knew had to deal with bodies again. Great fun this curse.

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"Just glad to see all of you, and while I will fill you all in on what has happened. For now I need to give you a warning, one I wish I was given right away." I took a deep breath, hating the fact that you couldn't just talk without needing air, "This is Earth and only the humans and us are coming here now. We all have new bodies with strong emotions, so be ready to deal with them. The elemental balance won't help." I had to pause again, stupid lungs.

Pyra just nodded her head, looking completely calm until she froze.

"What about Marshall?" She asked slowly, her face going blank. I blinked, I had forgotten about that Beastkin man. He HAD done alright as a companion to her and Yana on the trip, but I didn't think about him in all this.

"Well, he is a Beastkin, so he will be staying in the Realm as it collapses. That was the wish and deal of their king." My own anger at the situation returned, but I stomped it down with a vengeance. I understood that deals were to be respected. But, the idea that one person, no matter how powerful, could decide for everyone without them getting a say. Well it gnawed at me a lot, and from the look in Pyra's eyes...well it was worse for her.

"Who." It was full of various directions to answer, and I was content to give at least two.

"Apparently a Beastkin named Remus, I think he came to my dungeon once, and the Demon over there is transferring people." I pointed a finger at the creature, and noticed that it was looking a bit thin. Like literally thin, as in I could see through it when it was dark enough outside that I shouldn't.

So, I followed Pyra over to the creature while considering his words and actions.

"You are going to let children die." It was statement, and not a friendly one.

"I...I doing what I can for all. But,... yes some will." Even it's voice sounded thin, was it spending itself? But why?

"Save them." Again a command, not a question. She was definitely angry, but something was off here. Was there a bigger reason it wasn't bringing everyone? Was it not possible?

I looked at the sleeping form of Sara with narrowed eyes. Now that my brain was spinning, I couldn't help but go over every interaction I had with the Demon and Sara. Things hadn't added up, but I passed it off as things beyond my understanding.

"I...I cannot do as much as you want...I do want I can to fulfill this promise." A promise, a deal, the story I had obsessed over from the moment I read it. The dragon was dying and made a deal with a girl. She brought it back INTO the Realm to save it.

"You are the Realm." I realize with a start, "Your actual body is the foundation of the Realm! That's why you are dying now, you have been dying since the deal you made with Sara." Thoughts, ideas, and more suddenly burst into my mind, but the reaction from the creature was...mirth?

"Ah, I wondered if you would piece it together. Yes, I was always sleeping within the Realm. Overtime, and with mana they made land, sea, and sky upon me." It's words trailed off as a large cluster of stars fell.

"I can't do anything to help can I? It was always only going to be so many people you could save." He had said the curse of flesh was something that couldn't be fixed with magic. They were too much magic to be changed by it, and so no amount of mana would stop him from dying.

"You were a pleasant accident in my world." It, no HE responded, "I saw the potential to fulfill my promise to my kind and Sara, and I took it. You will be a great light in this broken land, and I hope you have a great adventure." Something cracked from within the darkness, and I saw him starting to dissolve. It was like the beast sometimes did within the Realm, their mana returning to the world.

So I reached for the sparking energy and pulled it within myself. It wouldn't be him, but it wouldn't be allowed to go to waste. I had always felt joy at being called Mother by my children, but I had never thought how I would feel to one I could see as my parent.

He wasn't perfect, nor did I understand why I felt he was my parent. But, it stuck within me until I began to cry again. This whole world I could explore, and yet I wanted to return to Realm that I had felt so at home within.

The energy moved with me, and I felt it travel within my heart. Within it a realm of it's own waited, and out here a world of my own to explore. I knew Pyra was in shock from the few seconds, and I knew they would all need time to understand.

For now, I would rest and then see who would follow me into the world beyond.