Lily arrived at a small building nestled between two taller apartment complexes. The centauride approached the door to the house.

“I’m home!” She cheerfully called.

“Welcome home, Lilian,” a feminine voice said.

The young girl cantered past the coffee table, her sunny yellow-blond hair billowing behind her as she galloped past some documents with “OVERDUE” stamped on them. Her equine body plopped down on a cushion on the floor before a dining table. The walls were a pastel yellow with while molding.

“Daddy’s still at work?” Lily asked.

An older female centaur nodded. “He’s working overtime. He says he’ll be home by eight.”

“Okay!” Lily said. Beneath the veneer of exuberance, she longed for the chance to see him again. She then left the kitchen.

Later that night, Lily found herself unable to sleep. Her room had shifted from baby blue hues and pastoral pastel wallpapers to bloodstained red and images of coalblack leafless trees. She stood up from her bed, a module mattress usually used for centaurs that stand upright, with mechanics designed to lift the legs at specific intervals for those unable to do so passively. She then heard crying coming from downstairs and rushed outside her bedroom.

The hallway twisted and turned as Lily rushed towards the staircase on the other side. She galloped as fast as she could but the stairs were slightly further from her than when she started despite running towards it.

Her front hoof tripped on a loose plank of wood and she collapsed onto the floor. She noticed her other hoof was trapped in a tight hole in another of the planks and struggled to free herself. She heard more screams from below.

“Mommy! I’m coming!” the child cried out as she endeavored to free herself from the wooden fetter on her hoof. She turned back and noticed a shadowed figure. Clad in a top hat with a black suit and tie. He slowly approaches Lily. He holds a scroll in his hand, marked with letters that Lily can’t make out.

“Repossession…” the figure called. “You must be repossessed.”

A panicking Lily tries again to break free from the pink that had captured her hoof. When the figure was a few inches away, she successfully broke off a piece of the plank and galloped towards the staircase again. Her rapid movement eventually broke the lingering wood still attached to her body.

Adrenaline flooded her body as she accelerated to the ever-receding staircase. She could hear the anguished weeping of her mother. The doors she passed on the extending and twisting corridor began to be around by wooden crates and furniture beside them.

She soon made it to the end, before she could catch her breath, she saw that her pursuer was still chasing her and immediately descended the staircase to the first floor. She then saw a hallway branching off to the right and immediately turned toward it. She cast an afterimage of herself that ran down the other hall. The man in the top half chased the afterimage.

Lily, now granted a moment of respite, caught her breath through heavy adrenaline-laden gasps. She found herself in the living room, the coffee table she cantered past earlier had nothing on it. The walls were not colored red and black.

Lily soon saw a red liquid beneath eh door to the kitchen. Fearful of what happened, she cantered toward it and opened the door.

Her eyes widened in shock, but before she could scream in hoor, a pair of gloved hands grabbed her mouth. Her muffled screams grew more frequent as another set of arms covered her yes. She felt herself being dragged away from the kitchen.

“Mommy…” she cried. “Daddy…help.”

But no one could answer her pleas. Save for a voice. “Wake up,” the voice said. “It’s morning!”

Lily opened her eyes and saw her current home instead of the twisted parody of her previous one. She looked to her side and saw Lydia and Anemone.

“It was…” realization dawned on her that what she had just experienced was a nightmare. She looked around and saw that the other Colorturas had already awakened and left their beds. Meaning she had overslept.

“Sounds like you had a horrible dream,” the Arachne brotherhood said.

Nina approached the group. “Good morning,” the spiderling said while rubbing her eyes.

“Good morning, Nina!” Lydia said.

Anemone climbed out of her bed and helped Lily up from her. After Lily was up, the lycanthropic girl moved to place her hat on her purple ringlets.

“Do you want to talk about it?” The purple-haired girl said.

“About what?” Lily said as she looked back at the hole that served to house her each night.

“Your nightmare,” Anemone said.

“Oh, that?” Lily said. “Don’t worry, it was just a dream!”

“Are you sure? You were asleep for longer than usual,” Nina observed.

Lily yawned and stretched her arms. “There’s no need to talk about that. Besides’s Anemone also overslept.”

“I did not!” Anemone said. “I-I was just waiting for you to wake up first.”

“Sure you were,” Nina said.

Lily walked towards the hallway. “Come on. Breakfast is waiting!” she said cheerily.

Anemone sighed. She and Nina followed Lily to get refreshed.

✦✦✦

After breakfast, Lily arrived at the guildhall with Emily, Minerva, Nina, and Anemone. There they found Elisa and Scarlett were also there.

“Elisa!” Lily said to the porcine girl.

“Hey Lily,” Elisa said to the Centaurdie.

The younger girls chatted while Minerva and Emily talked with Benoit about possible quests.

“How is Rosenkreuz, Elisa?” Lily said in her usual excitable mood.

“It’s well, um,” “Elesa” has not obtained the opportunity to explore the town between shots. “It’s great!” She flashed a smile.

“Great!” Lily said. “You know we have moved here from Noir recently and I found it much better than the city.”

“You said you return to Noir often?” Elesa said. “Why is that?”

Anemone noticed Lily’s tired face before she turned her attention towards Elesa. “We often go back because for its faults it is still where we grew, as Magical Girls. We felt we should do our part to help the people there as well.”

“That’s right!” Lily said. “Just a few days back we helped a detective investigate a cold case!”

“Really?” Elisa said. “How did it go?”

Lily explained the recent excursion to Palimpsest Boulevard and Blackmint Way. Her expression and tone were unflappably exuberant as she exposited about the various horrors she found there. Nina, Elisa, and Anemone were a little disturbed by her ability to cheerfully describe the Tombraider’s operations there. Anemone stopped her before she could come to certain parts.

“That’s…interesting?” Elisa said.

“I know right!” Lily said.

“Lily,” Anemone said. “Nina’s trembling.”

“Am not!” a trembling Nina said. “I could’ve handed those bandaged freaks.”

The centauride looked at Nina. “Don’t worry, the Rouges and the Ebony Guards are already working on ending the sarcophagi. We won’t have to worry about them for a while.” She beamed a huge smile, blissfully unaware that her mood was at odds with what she had recently described. “Clover seemed to be a little down the day after. Maybe I should talk to her about it?”

“So, um,” Elisa said. “Why are you always so…cheerful?”

“What do you mean?” Lily said with a faint smile.

“It’s just,” Elisa said. “You always seemed to always look at the bright side of things.”

“Ever the optimist, she is,” Nina said.

“Of course,” Nina said. “If we can’t be happy all the time then…” She recalled her nightmare from last night, and the last thing she saw before waking up. A vivid memory of the last time she saw her parents. The other girls caught a rare glimpse of Lily staring blankly at them before she composed herself. “Then who knows what would happen?” she said, giggling.

“That is…” Elisa is a little surprised to hear that. “A unique way of looking at things.” The incognito porcine child star looked back at rumors she heard about her predecessor Betty Gale. “Say, what do you know about Betty Gale?”

“The missing actress?” Anemone said.

“Well,” Lily said. “She was supposed to star in ‘Metropolica Esmeralda’, and had credits in ‘The Moonlight’, ‘De Charlemagne, Avec Amour’, ‘Il Cavaliere Nero’, and ‘The Spiral’.”

“How did you know those titles?” Elisa said.

“Anemone loves going to the movies!” Lily said.

“You do?” Nina asked.

The purple-haired lycanthroped nodded. “I do. I have a preference for the ‘Fairy Princess’ line, specifically.”

“The ‘Fairy Princess’ movies?” Elesa said. “Did you see ‘The Girl and the Glass Slipper’?”

Anemone affirmed she did with a small hum.

“‘La Libertad’?”

“Yes, indeed.”

“‘The Girl from the Lunar Bamboo’?”

“Did you know that it was adapted from a Yanese legend?” Anemone said.

“Name one film from that series, Anemone can tell you everything you need to know.”

“Elisa” was more aware of these films than she let on, having worked in a few of them during her career. Her upcoming film with Scarlett is also part of the part of the canon.

“‘Metropolica Esmeralda’ is not one of those films,” Anemone said. “While it has similarities, it was created by Leonis instead of Vulpecula and also lacked many of the stylistic conventions associated with it as a result.”

“See what I mean?” Lily said with pride. “She knows a lot about films outside that series too!”

The conversation went on for a bit as the children talked about films and gossip about their actress. Though whenever the topic of Pearl Templeton is borough up, “Elisa” remained careful not to blow her cover.

✦✦✦

Nearby, Emily, Minerva, and Benoit talked about possible quests.

“Let’s see,” Benoit said. “The Skyfangs had already claimed a quest in la Prairie Inconnue. The Blackbolts had already dealt with a Georoc infestation near Eastshire. The Abyssal party had elected to take a quest to check out the former Tartantuopolis site. And Chiron and his fellow priests have just returned from visiting the House of the Wanderer.”

“So all the quests were taken?” Emily said.

“Afraid so,” Benoit said. “Sorry about that.”

Minerva and Emily saw Scarlett approach the counter. “Hello Scarlett,” Emily said.

The red-clad woman greeted her fellow adventurers. “I hope Elisa isn’t giving them too much trouble.”

“She hasn’t given Nina or the Colorturas any trouble at all,” Minerva said. “She seems like a well-behaved child.”

“I’m pleased to hear that,” Scarlett said. She turned to Benoir. “Any unusual phenomena lately?”

“Not that—actually, there is something strange going on near the theater.”

“The theater?” Minerva said. “What is it?”

“There had been three reported disappearances of folk near the area,” Benoit said. “But there was no trace of them there. A concurrent report showed evidence of a break-in that morning, but they couldn’t find anyone there. It all seems strange to me. The details of the missing people don’t match the usual profile of a robber.”

“I see, thank you.” Scarlett left the counter to make some preparations.

Later Scarlett and Elisa left the guildhall to head to the theater. Emily and her group returned to the Black Box.

✦✦✦

Pearl and Scarlett arrived at the theater. There they saw several adventures, filmgoers, and authorities crowded around a large hole in the theater wall. The magical porcine actress and her mother draw closer to the theater.

Pearl noticed blackened fluids being expelled from her arm and asked Scarlet to excuse her. Scarlett saw the obsidian liquids and nodded. Pearl left to find a place to change outside from the view of others.

While the young girl changes her appearance, Scarlett approaches one of the adventures. “Excuse me,” the red-clad woman said. “Can you tell me what happened here?”

“I wish I knew,” the red-headed man said. He had an antarian build, with a scorpion-like abdomen and a stringer tail. “Three people go missing and someone tried to break into the theater.”

“I’m back!” Pearl called out to Scarlett. The young girl is now clad in a green leprechaun-like costume, different from the feathered armor she previously wore. A disguise cobbled together from several discarded costumes from the theater. As Pearl detransformed, her height had also shrunk as a result, resembling a girl half her age.

A woman approached the antarian and noticed Pearl. “Aw, what an adorable little leprechaun.”

“What’s the verdict, Lisa?” the antarian said.

“The manager decided to keep the theater open, Paul. They now want people from the guild and nearby adventures to serve as security against further break-ins,” the woman said. She had the lamia’s telltale tail and wore a yellow jacket that seemed indicative of employment at the theater.

“Excuse me,” Pearl said. “Can you tell me about the people that went missing?”

“Sure, I guess,” Lisa looked at the young child and noticed she looked familiar. “But why?”

“I’m part of a ‘true crime’ fanclub,” Pearl lied. “My friends wanted to know about the recent incidents.”

“You seem a little young for something like that, little miss,” Lisa said.

“Forgive me,” Scarlett said as she worked to reinforce her daughter’s cover story. “She and her friend shad taken an interest in my line of work. I’m an investigator you see. My employer had assigned me to New Virginia.”

“Ah,” Lisa said. “Unfortunately we don’t know anything about these cases. The local ages and scryers deduced that three people had broken into the building, but even they don’t know where they went. Making it weirder, nothing was stolen from the theater itself except that section of wall behind you.”

Scarlett took some notes. “Do you have any possibly theories?” she said.

“Well, my coworkers mentioned that three people went missing around the same time. They might’ve been the culprits,” Lisa said. “But that they seemed to had vanished from a trace made confirming it difficult to say the least.”

“Is there anything they could’ve wanted?” Pearl, still disguised, said.

“Well little leprechaun,” Lisa said. “The scryers did find something in Auditorium B, but they kept it to themselves before leaving.”

“I’m not a leprechaun,” Pearl mutter under her breath. Her mind went to ideas for a more normal disguise for later.

“Where exactly did those oracles go after they left the theater?” Scarlett asked.

Lisa shrugged. “The guild said they went to nearby Firewater, about ten miles from here.”

“I see, thank you for your time.” Scarlett and Lisa left the theater. “They clearly knew something,” Scarlett said.

As they left, Pearl’s thoughts turned to Lily, she wondered about the centaur child’s unflappable exuberance.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, the Coloraturas are currently in school at the Black Box.

“All right, students,” an elderly Arachne said. He had a balding scalp and wore rimless glasses on his head. His red tie contrasted with his dark grey sweater vest and jet-black abdomen. “Today we will be reviewing the principles of basic spherics.”

The students collectively groaned. “Mr. Daniels, why are we talking about this again?” an Arachne boy asked.

“It is important to know the fundamentals.” Mr. Daniels said. He handed out a paper with various questions on the subject.

Raine had already written down her answers, while Rose slowly tried to recall the topic from memory. The lamia came across the following question. “What is the Elementalist’s Sphere of Lightning?” with the possible answers being “Noösphere,” “Astrasphere,” “Electrosphere,” and “Atmosphere.”

“That should be obvious,” Rose thought, but despite that, she struggled to recall the right answer.

Lily daydreamed about battling adventurers as a Sentinel, how her spear and light magic would prevail against stories heroes and the prise they offered her upon defeat. Her flight of fancy was interrupted by Mr Daniels tapping her shoulder with one of his legs.

“Focus, Miss Legato,” the teacher said.

Raine, Hydrangea and Anemone finished their test and turned their sheets to signal that to the teacher.

“As expected,” Mr. Daniels said proudly.

“Teacher’s pets,” Rose muttered.

A while later, the second part of the review came int he form of a practical test. The students were tasked with using their wands to channel their innate elements into spellcraft.

A female Arachne student conjured a small stone and hurled it at the target. It hit the second ring. Azalea created a small orb of water and used it to play a prank instead of hitting the topic, to Mr. Daniel’s wet displeasure. Clover used a bluster of wind to cut a line into the target while Streltizia manipulated the soil to bury it.

A male student then lobbed a fireball, but it missed the target and instead singed another student’s leg. “Hey!” she said. “You nearly set me on fire, Tom!”

“Sorry, Cassie,” the boy said nervously.

Anemone’s turn was next. She conjured a veil of darkness that eventually rendered the target invisible. She then took out her bow and nocked an arrow. The arrow hit the invisible target near the center.

“Show off,” Tom said. His messy brown hair did not go noticed by his classmates. Cassie glared at him. Her hair was pink with a yellow bow tying it into a pony tail.

Lily is next. She focused on the ring target.

“Go get them Lily!” Azalea said. “Light them up!”

The cenaturide takes a deep breath and took out her wand. She channeled it into a light spell and aimed it at her target. The ring began to glow with yellow power that faded into light before exploding into splinters. A large chunk landed right next to Mr. Daniels as he jotted down on his clipboard.

Soon the review was over. The arachne teacher dismissed the class.

✦✦✦

Later, the students at the nascent school are having their lunch.

“Man, why do we have to review basic spherics again?” Rose said. “Why can’t we move on to the cooler stuff?”

“Rosie,” Raine said. “You need to be more patient.”

“Why?” Rose said. “We’re Sentinels, we should be learning how to protect Emily better.”

“Heathcliff, Elizabeth, and Minerva want to continue our education,” Hydrangea said.

“Also,” Anemone said. “The guild is planning to help broaden the curriculum in a few months.”

Azalea finished her lunch. “I’ll be right back.” She swam away from the others.

Raine wondered what the mermaid was planning on doing. After pondering various possibilities her wings unfurled in fear. She sets off to chase the clionid before she gets herself in trouble with her pranks.

“Besides, we have extracurriculars as well,” Anemone said.

Rose slumped onto the table. “You have extracurriculars,” she said. “You’re teaching Charlotte how to use gravity magic, Raine is apprenticing under Sarah and Richard at their workshop, Azalea has her comedy workshop, and—”

“It’s okay,” Clover said. “There’s no shame in having nothing to do.”

“Yeah,” Streltizia said. “We don’t have extracurriculars…yet.”

“Yet?” Rose said.

“Well,” Clover said, “I am a little interested in divination. Even though I don’t think the Stardeck would be that good for me. Did you know that it is said that the sigils depicted on the cards correspond to constellations from the Messigners’ original worlds? I’m sure that…”

Rose’s head hit the table.

“To be honest,” Lily said. “I don’t have anything else to do after school as well. Unless you count playing with Nina.”

“Thanks, Lily.”

“By the way,” Lily said. “What classes do you think they are going to add.”

“It’s probably stuff like ‘Scriptures,’ and ‘Language Arts’,” Rose said.

“Rose,” Amenonie said. “We already have the latter.”

“If I had to speculate,” Hydrangea said. “It would be similar to the training offered by the guilds. As well as more advanced dives into the magical schools.”

“I’d doubt they would delve into Alkahestry though,” Anemone said. “Despite Emily and Tim wanting to revive the Golden Spear school, there are some hurdles they need to get past first.”

The conversation is interrupted by a yell. The six girls turned to find the source was Cassie and Azalea, who were for some reason stuck in a ball of gelatinous mass.

“Sorry,” Azalea said. “Guess I miscalculated a little bit, he.”

Raine was nearby, trying to melt the gel with her fire. Rico was also nearby, laughing at them. Cassie is unamused by Azalea’s attempted prank, and the mermaid herself is annoyed that the laughter the arachne boy had was at the prank’s failure. Eventually, Raine was able to free them.

The lunch period and the school day came to a close.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Emily, Elizabeth and Tim look at a new structure that emerged within the former. The structure resembled an ash-colored furnace.

“So…what is it?” Emily’s voice echoed to the fairy and martial artist.

The structure is located in the core room. Behind Emily herself, The purple-colors of the walls and floors faded into grey around the furnace-like object. Save for one line between it and the Core.

“It seemed to be a [Furnace],” Elizabeth said.

Emily manifests her avatara and has the puppet cock an eyebrow.

Elizabeth took the expression as a sign of opaqueness. “You know how Jingyu mentioned you were were a ‘half step’ away from Albedo?”

“Yes,” Emily said.

“This [Furnace] is definite proof that you had reached it,” Elizabeth said. “It is akin to a [Core] for non-Dungeons. Where mana is gathered in refined.”

Emily is left confused. “Then why is it here?”

“Hmm,” Tim said. “I’m kinda new to this myself, but if I may speculate, it might be a literal representation of your progress.”

“That would make some sense,” Elizabeth said. “[Dungeons] being [Alkahestists] is, because of both lack of public documentation and the,” she cleared her throat, “risk of retribution deterring otherwise interested cases, to put simple, uncharted waters. I’m sorry, but all we have to go on are conjecture and theory at this point.”

“Hmm,” Tim said. “This will mean we will eventually encounter shades.”

“Correct, the [Shadow], or “inner demon” would eventually manifest to test your resolve and your character. They would likely manifest in forms reflective of that. From the information the master had granted me, it could ranged from repressed emotions to fears. Several cases seemed to entail experiencing events with a point of divergence related to that.”

Emily’s avatara walked toward the collection of Elementalist’s Spheres. “These aren’t related to those right?”

Elizabeth nodded. “The assimilation of Spheres does make the collection of [Mana] faster, and increase the well, but it is but the beginning recording to my research on the matter. If Master Wu is to believed, then it is a small step in the long road ahead, but still an important one.”

Emily dematerialized her avatara. Her core’s voice one again echoed to the other two. “I see, so do we know when these shades started to appear.”

“I’m afraid not,” Elizabeth said. “All research into the topic that not yielded any recognizable patterns. It will come as it comes.”

“That said,” Tim said. “The Albedo step might not refer to literal shadows. Anyway, I’m going to practice some breathing Exercises. Wanna join me?”

Emily manifested her Avatar again. “I’ll go.”

“I’ve already transcribed Jingyu’s exercises in a small plate for reference,” Elizabeth said.

Emily’s avatara and Tim left the Core room.

✦✦✦

Later that day, Nina was playing with Evelyn, Charlotte and the Coloraturas. Rose slithered around lost in thought.

“You’re still hung up on not having an extracurricular?” Raine said.

“Of course I am!” Rose said.

“What happened?” Nina said.

“Rose found out that she and Lily are part of the going home club,” Azalea said.

The spiderling raised an eyebrow. Azalea whisper in clarification on her statement.

“Have you considered asking about activities after school?” Charlotte said.

An idea popped in Nina’s head. “Train me, Rosie!”

“What?” the lamia said.

“I still want to be an adventurer!” Nina said. “If you can train me, then I can easily impress everyone with my skills. They’ll have no chance but to bring me along with them.”

“That’s…not quite how it works, Nina,” Raine said.

“Besides,” Rose said. “What can I train you on? You’re not a w—”

Anemone cleared her throat.

“Magical Girl,” Rose corrected. “You don’t use a sword, and as for…” Rose looks down at her own tail and at Nina’s abdomen. “Biological powers, I know nothing about those. I’d be a poor teacher, Nina.”

“Aww,” Nina said.

“Don’t worry Nina,” Lily said. “I’m certain your moment is just around the corner.”

“But I want it now!” Nina said, frustrated. At that point, she noticed a shadow move in the nearby hallway. The children went out to check and saw Minerva.

“Mommy?” Nina asked. Minerva didn’t respond.

“Something isn’t right,” Hydrangea said.

The group of children followed her towards the nursery and school area of the Black Box, there they saw the Arion twins, as well as Rico and Cassie gathered there.

Charlotte moved toward her two friends. They found that Euryale and Stheno remained unresponsive to her attempts to get her attention.

“Alright children, who wants to see a movie,” Minerva asked. The various kids cheered, except for the ones that followed Minerva here.

“A movie?” Streltizia questioned. “But Emily hasn’t set a theater up here!”

“And the theater is closed at this hour!” Clover said.

Minerva led the mesmerized children away from the Black Box. The Coloraturas, Evelyn, Nina and Charlotte followed them, wondering what is going on. But only Evelyn was able to keep pace with their faster than usual strides.

“Hey Emily!” Rose said.

Emily didn’t respond.

“Did she have her Avatara out?” Clover said.

“Terrific,” Rose said sarcastically. She slithered away to try to find her. Lily and Raine followed suit.

The others tried to follow the group.

“Why are they so fast?” Azalea said. “I get they can cling to walls, but even the non-Arachnes are running faster than I could swim.”

Evelyn remained the only one capable of keeping pace with Minerva and the erratic group. “Minerva, what is going on?” the construct said.

Minerva ignored Evelyn and her question.

Anemone and Hydrangea cosndiered stopping them. Anemone decided to use she dark magic to stop them by pinning their sahdows, but as she nocked an arrows, Rico used a light spell to make a light source where the sadow should be and the arrow failed to land ona shadow. Hydrangea tried to freeze their path with ice blockades, but they simply turned around. Minerva and the entranced kids ignored the unmesmerized children, even as they tried and failed to snap them out of it. When they used other means of deterrence, such as Clover’s wins, they simply ignored it. Even Streltizia’s strength was not enough to stop them without risking severe harm to herself and others.

✦✦✦

Earlier, Emily cycles through several breathing exersizes. Her avatara assumes a stance and slowly transitions to a second one, then a third, and then back to the first.

“Seems like you got the hang of it,” Tim said.

“Thanks,” Emily said.

Time reminisced about his time at the Golden Spear school. “You know, I had found it weird that a martial art school had that as a class.”

“Really?” Emily said. “Come to think of it, fighting schools here don’t have meditation classes.”

“With what we now know of cultivation, the purposes of these exercises are clear to both of us.” Tim stated at Emily’s eyes.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Emily blushed and averted her gaze. “Um, Tim?”

“Sorry,” Tim said. “Was contemplating something. Shall we proceed?”

The two preformed a small cycle of breathing exercises. They feel relaxed as they slowly changed their stances and took in the crisp air around them.

A while alter, they heard loud banging.

“Huh?” Tim said. “I though this space was secluded, Emily.”

“It was.” Emily extended her arm. A wall receded to reveal Lily, Rose and Elizabeth.

“Sorry to bother you,” Elizabeth said. “But we have a problem.”

Rose led the group to the rest of their friends. They arrived to find that the Minerva and the mesmerized children are gone and Charlotte consoling Nina.

“What happened?” Emily said.

“Minerva’s acting weird is what happened,” Streltiiza said.

“She wanted to take them to the movies,” Clover elaborated.

Nina bawled for thirty seconds and turned to Emily. “Please… help me… save mommy!” she sniffled between every other word.

“Lizzie,” Emily turned to the fairy. “Can you check to see who else is missing.”

“Will do,” Elizabeth said. She fluttered away to check if the Smiths, the Hermandezes, Atsuko or her shinobi are still present. Emily meanwhile rushed towards the theater as fast as she could.

✦✦✦

Dawn creaked over the horizon. Emily snuck into the theater to look for Minerva and the erstwhile children. She searched the auditoriums and hallways. The screening rooms and the kitchen, but couldn’t find no signs of them. “That’s odd,” Emily said. There was no physical presence of them anywhere in the theater.

An hour later, she came a cross an image of an employee. A female fawn with brown hair. She then heard footsteps approaching and hid behind the corner. She peeked out from behind the corner and glanced the man that entered. It was an Arachne.

“Minerva?” Emily asked hopefully. She observed the man unlock the doors and noticed his masculine features. She was distraught to find it was not Minerva. The Arachne man took out a flashlight and turned it on. Emily retreated back into the corner with an “eep” and saw the picture of the fawn employee. Her torso was the only one visible.

An idea popped into her mind. “Here goes nothing,” she said as she began to change her form into the woman.

The Archane man approached the corner and saw a head pop out. “Jebedissa? What are you doing here?” the manager said.

“Oh, you know,” “Jebedissa” said, “Just keeping an eye out for intruders.”

The manager noticed the lower legs of the “employee” and that something is off. “Did you see any, Dissa?”

Emily shook her head. “None at the moment, sir.” She noticed the man had a different uniform, with adornments that marked him as the manager. Among with was nametag with “Buford Webb” emblazoned on it.

Buford looked around. There were clearly signs of another break in around here. A clatter was soon heard from a closet. Several items fell off, including a rich mahogany box.

“I’ll go get that!” the disguised Emily said. After all it fell closer to her.

“You best be careful with that,” Buford said. “That reel is priceless.”

“Will do!” Emily said as she picked up the box. She examined the contents and found that the reel was unharmed…and that it had “Metropolitica Esmeralda - B.G. Scenes” written on it’s canister. She touched the canister and noticed some strange black substance on it. A small drop of it got on her fingers as she moved the reel to ensure it was not damaged before putting it back.

“Jebedissa” handed the box back to Buford. “Here you go!” the disguised avatara said.

“Thank you,” Buford said. “Now go home, theater is not opening for a few hours.”

“Jebedissa” took the manager’s advice and left the premises. She is left wondering where did Minerva go.

✦✦✦

Later, at the Black Box. Heathcliff had did a role call in the wake of last night.

“Let’s see,” he looked around and checked off the Coloraturas, the Hermandezes, Atsuko and her shinobi, the dwarven Smiths, The Truces, and of course Elizabeth, Tim, Nina, and the Coloraturas.

Nina remains distraught about her mother leaving her like that.

“This feels rather strange,” Elizabeth said. “The [Construct] shouldn't even be able to leave the premises without an [Avatara]’s presence.”

“You mean those Nezumi-like kids?” Atsuko said.

Elizabeth nodded.

“Well, we can only hope Emily came back with answers,” Heathcliff said. He then heard footsteps approaching. “Well speak of the demon.”

“Did you find Mommy? “Nina asked Emily as her avatara walked in.

“No,” Emily signed. She dematerialized her avatara. Her voice then echoed to Elizabeth. “Who is currently missing.”

“Besides Minerva,” Elizabeth said. She then listed off several names. “..Evelyn…Euryale, Stheno…Rico…Cassie…” She soon finished listing off the vanished.

“About thirty total,” Tim said. “Most of them children.”

“Did you find them at the theater?” Rose asked.

“Not really,” Emily said. The film reel came to mind, yet whenever she tried to focus on it, something appears to cloud her mind, to make her perceive it as a rare but otherwise normal reel.

“Are you sure?” Hydrangea said. “There has to be something there that would’ve dwarf Minerva and the others.”

“Like a haunted film?” Azalea said. “That would be horrible, terrible even.”

“Azalea,” Raine said. “This isn’t the time for your puns!”

“Haunted film?” Emily said. The image of the reel became a little clearer in her head. “What is happening?” Emily thought.

Elizabeth sensed something is amiss with Emily. “Are you okay, dear?” she said.

“I’m fine, Lizzie…I think,” Emily said. “I think…I think something is clearly wrong with the theater.”

“You want to check it out then?” Esteban said.

Emily felt a subconscious pull. As if someone is trying to beckon her to the theater. “I think that is our only lead at least.”

The Coloraturas expressed some suspicions about the place as well. Rose floated the idea that a Strega could be involved.

The group deliberates on when to head for the theater. Meanwhile Nina scurried off to prepare for the trip.

✦✦✦

“Nina,” Emily’s voice echoes to Nina. “This could be dangerous!”

“I don’t care,” The spiderling said. “My mommy is missing and I want to find her!”

Sarah took a look at Nina’s equipment, “You two have been arguing for a half hour now.”

“But still,” Emily said.

“Emmy, please!” Nina pleaded with the Dungeon core.

Lily cantered in, “Hi guys, are we ready to go yet?”

“Not yet, Lily,” Sarah said.

Elizabeth fluttered in. “Heathcliff, Esteban and Atsuko are going to ask the guild for historical information on these disappearances.”

“Richard is also sitting this one out,” Sarah said. “He went to Eastshire to ask about similar incidents. Carla also said she is going to search the nearby forests.”

Emily turned back to Nina. “Are you sure you want to do this?” She was cognizant of Nina’s desires, and she had expected that Nina would want to save her mother, and to prove to them that she would not be a captive again. At the same time she can sense something within her mind telling to to bring her, she can sense a voice, an instinct that is not her own.

“Of course I’m sure!” the petulant child said.

Emily’s voice echoed to Lily “Can you help take care of her while we’re there?”

“Of course” Lily cheerfully said.

Emily, reluctantly, agreed to let Nina come with her.

✦✦✦

An hour later, Emily, Tim, Elizabeth, Sarah, the Coloraturas, Nina, and Charlotte arrived at the theater again. Aside form the obvious hole in the wall, it retained a veneer of normalcy and business went on as usual.

The group encountered Buford who is talking with some adventurers about “Jebedissa’s” absence. Emily sheepishly moves the group away from the manager as they start searching the theater’s public areas.

Soon, Emily felt a subconscious tug pulling her towards one of the closets. The “employees only” sign is enough to deter most, but something keeps nagging at her to do it. She checked around her for prying eyes and then opened the door. Within was the mahogany box she saw earlier this morning.

“Is this…” Emily thought. She took the box and hid it in her avatara’s frame before reuniting with the others.

The group reconvened in an abandoned screening room.

“Did you find anything? “Rose asked.

Emily provided the box. “I could feel this thing calling me.” She said…

✦✦✦

At the same time, A disguised Pearl and Scarlett also arrived at the theater. The porcine daughter and mother saw the arachne manager speaking about an absent fawn employee.

“It took a lot to get that intimation out of the scryers,” Scarlett said.

Lucia emerges in front of Pearl. “What do you think they meant when they spoke about ‘spirals in a spool of frames’?”

“A film reel, maybe?” the actress said. “But which one?”

Scarlett looked around and saw an open closet door. She then looked at the manager still ranting about the employee.

“Excuse me, sir?” Scarlett said.

“Excuse me,” the male arachne said. He then turned to the porcines. “Yes?”

Scarlett asked him about any special film reels he might have. The manager refused to answer at first, but after Scarlett and Pearl prodded him a little. The manager explained about the a specific reel.

“Recently, the theater had acquired a rare reel. A collection of takes of Betty Gale scenes from ‘Metropoliticia Esmeralda’.”

Pearl’s ears perk up. She had heard rumors about the film. As to be expected when the final cut feature her mother. “Go on?” the disguised child actress said.

“The reel had attracted some rumors of it being cursed. Some did include vanishments, but it was more commonly associated with madness. People going around thinking they were Betty Gale. We received it from a man from the Leonis studio.”

“I see,” Scarlet said.

Pearl wondered if there was a Strega inside the film reel. Before they could continue they saw a plume of smoke coming from one of the screening rooms. The pair went to investigate and found the source. An old projector with a pair of reels attached. A mahogany box is found nearby. The manager followed them and saw the box.

“It seems our suspicions were on point,” Scarlett said.

While the Manager tried to get the projector to stop, the porcines took a look at the screen. They saw images of the setting of the film, but with elements distorted. They saw Betty’s character, but in a static pose as props and other characters moved around her. More tellingly Pearl saw parallaxes in the screen. Something that should be impossible for a normal movie on a normal screen.

Pearl and Scarlett moved tot he screen. The manager took a look at them and asked, “hey, where are you going?”

“To the bottom of this,” Scarlett said.

The two approached the screen and touched it. Their arms extended past what should had been the tarp into another world. A Dungeon. A Strega. They leap into the screen, into the portal and set off to find the entity at the center of it all.

✦✦✦

Lily woke up in a strange place. She was surrounded by pistons and mechanical constructs filled with smokestacks. Buildings with gears sticking out of them, connecting to other gears on the adjacent buildings and above. The cogs are maintained by people resembling dwarves. They were pulling levers on the side.

The blond centauride’s head felt hazy, she remembered she was in a theater. She remembered who she was with, she remembered walking into a screed, but all that happened after that was a blur.

She walked around the bronze sidewalks. She saw more people pulling levels, more people pushing buttons on terminals on the walls, and more objects characterized by cogs and transparent plastics.

The young girl centered on the orange metal, and noticed she had stepped on a puddle of inky black fluid. She gazed at her reflection on the iridescent liquid.

“What’s this?” the young girl said. She saw part of it was stuck on her hoof and then looked over. A copper dome, oxydated to the point where it was green, loomed above the structure. She saw several leaky brass pipes receding into the dome. For some reason, the whole thing felt eerily familiar to her.

Lily suddenly remembered something. An old memory of her crying alone in an underground city. A subterra underground for an underclass. Where she was discovered by several children, Children just like her.

One moment of reminiscent begot another. The centaur child recalled encountering an ethereal talking rodent. She recalled the rodent transforming her into a Magical Girl. Then she remembered a diner where she and seven other children lived—a makeshift orphanage.

She looked forward, thoughts swirled in her mind. The fig in her mind began to lift and she recalled where she was in a flash.

With a cheerful smile, she galloped around the steampunk subterrane. She cried out for her friends, looking for signs of them among the lever-pullers and the button mashers.

“Emily?” she cried out. “Rose? Anemone?”

No one answered, no one responded. She took out her wand and summoned a flash of light. A pillar so bright that it would blind those who were looking at it, yet the people on the bronze sidewalks haven’t noticed. No one had turned, no one noticed the light, or so it seemed.

Lily turned around and noticed shadowy figures approaching her. Nearby were foldable chairs, their legs crossed each other, and their back and seat were a simple canvas. They muttered indistinct commands. Lily couldn’t understand them, but she could tell they were angry about her actions.

She knew what those figures were and knew they wanted her to play her part as an extra, but the young girl defied them, She summoned her spear and charged towards them. One of them was immorality skewered and reduced to an oil-like substance. The second fell shortly afterward.

With this fight, the young girl feigned another smile and cheerfully cantered on. Certain that they were inside a Strega.

A while later, she saw a building collapse to her left. A residential area began collapsing like a tree in the woods, she saw the falling building and galloped as fast as she could. Yet the rubble was too tall, too wide for her to evade the rubble. Its shadows encompassed her as it toppled. She panickedly looked for something to protect her from the falling rubble. She galloped as fast as she could as it fell.

At the last moment she took her wand out and tried to cast a spell, the building made contact with the street. Unlike the pillar of lights, the residents did notice that and ran away as fast as they could.

From the rubble, a hand arose. Lily had succeeded in protecting herself from the building’s wrath but struggled to climb out. She stood atop of a pile of rubble made from the building’s wreckage. One of the walls became a new ceiling, a layer that stood betwixt her and the outside. She placed her arm through an open window and tried to leverage it to pull herself up. Her equine body was too heavy for her tiny arm to pull herself by itself. The hole was too high for her legs to climb out of.

“Somebody!” she cried out, “Anybody! Help!” she whimpered. For the first time in a long time, she was truly alone. Her friends were missing too far to hear her pleas. She tried to climb out of the rubble for an hour.

She continued to struggle, to climb out of the wreckage. She considered trying to find another way out, but before she could retract her arm, she felt something had grabbed it.

“Hang on, We’ll get you out of here!”

The voice was muffled, but Lily could feel a sense of familiarity in it. She looked up and saw another arm grabbing hers.

“Brace for impact, this is going to get a little messy.”

Lily heard a second voice, but before could respond she heard something pierce the rubble. A bullet shot through a nearby window and pierced the foot of the pile. The rubble exploded with enough force to propel the centaur child through the window. She landed several feet away from the hole and saw Elisa and Scarlett were the ones who saved her.

“You’re here?” Lily asked. Her beaming smile was unwavering.

The porcine girl nodded. “You were investigating what happened here as well.

Lily nodded. “Some of my friends are missing.”

“Say no more!” Elisa said.

Scarlett looked around and felt a strange familiarity with the surroundings. “This is…”

Before the red-clad woman could finish, the three suddenly found themselves surrounded by a crowd of people. Among them, Lily could spot a tanned dwarf with silver hair as she looked on in shock.

The three heard the crowd mutter among themselves. “Did they slaw the witch?” “Who are these people” “Did salvation come?” “What if Tophet found out?”

Scarlett approached a strange spot and saw a glint where she expected it would be. A pair of glistening slippers were found in the rubble. She beckoned Elisa to the shoes.

“Wait are these—” “Elisa” said.

“These will come in handy.”

The actress took the pair and the tanned dwarf approached them. She sang a song introducing herself and the residents of this underground steam-punk town. Lily tried to beckon for Sarah, but the dwarfette was confused and asked who that was.

Scarlett saw a pink-haired fairy emerge in front of them. “Hello, I am the Good Witch. I heard that someone had slain the Dark Witch Adra'molech?”

Lily was confused. “Adra'molech? What is that?”

Scarlett and Elisa refused to explain the entity to her.

The fairy fluttered around the three. Lily recognize her as Elizabeth but much like Sarah, she was not recognized as Lily.

“You know my name kind stranger?” Elizabeth said.

Elisa stepped forward. “We’re looking for our friends, can you help us find them?”

“Your friends are missing?” the fairy said.

Lily explained what happened to Elizabeth, and asked for her aid in finding the others.

“So you want to know what befell your friends? I’m afraid I can’t help you but there is someone who might know?”

“The Wizard, right?” Scarlett said.

“Correct!” The fairy said. “He knows all that goes on within the Metropolitica Esmeralda and beyond. He knows everything that occurs where the skies are blue. He resides in the upper spires of that city. Do you know how to get there?”

“I do,” Scarlett said.

“Follow the gilded path, yes?” Elisa said.

The silver-haired dwarf noticed something familiar about the centauride and fairy both, but as she thought about it she was overtaken by a strange headache and something telling her that she must go with the group.

“You’re off to see the wizard, then. I have a few words for him myself,” Sarah said.

“You want to go with them?” Elizabeth said.

“Oh believe me Adra'molech might have been vanquished, but she is not the only thing holding us back.” She says as she struggled against the haze. “Besides, someone has to keep an eye on them. The gilded path is very treacherous.”

“I see,” Elizabeth said. “Well, I can’t deter you if that is your wish.”

Lily is a little relieved to know Sarah would join them.

“Before you set off,” Elizabeth said. “I’ve a gift for you.” She presents a bottle of small capsules to Lily. “If you ever feel tired, please take these pills.”

Scarlett takes the drugs. “Thank you,” she examines the tablets. She knows that there is something off about these pills, not that she was considering letting Elisa or Lily consume them.

“I must be off, with Adra'molech slain, her sister Tophet will surely be enraged. Please be careful dear travelers.”

The quartet set off on their travels. Lily wonders if the Wizard is the Strega’s core, the entity that held them and their friend hostage. Sarah grabs a hammer as she follows the other three down the Gilded Path.

✦✦✦

Lily, Elisa, Scarlett, and Sarah travel along the Gilded Path. Elisa and Lily whisper among themselves about the film they are seemingly in.

“So we are supposed to meet three other people along the way?” The centauride said.

The porcine nodded. “That was how it event in Scarlett’s version at least.” They looked at Sarah and her changed appearance. Her mechanical brass-and-tin-coated arms and body indicated that she might have replaced one of the fellows the party was meant to meet.

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard dialog from a nearby cornfield.

“…to wander around this field for hours. At least the plants are willing to lend an ear.”

Lily spotted Azalea and galloped to her. “There you are! Do you recognize me?”

The clionid looked at the smiling girl and made a quizzical expression. “You look kinda familiar,” Azalea said. “I knew someone like you,” she said teasingly. “She had blond hair, however?”

“Blonde?” Lily said. She knew her hair was blond, but the way Azalea spoke implied it no longer wasn’t.

Eliza walked toward her and noticed something in Lily had changed. “Now that you mentioned it…” she took out a mirror and presented it to Lily.

Lily was surprised to find that her natural locks and fur had changed colors from blonde-yellow to a chartreuse green hue. “When did that happen?”

Azalea shrugged. “I’d say I’m green with envy, but…” she giggled.

Lily turned her attention back to the matter at hand. She observed that Azalea resembled less a merfolk and more a life-sized doll of one made in its image. Seams sewn with yarn were visible on their sides, and straw jutted out from them. Her eyes resembled buttons and her hair seemed like it was glued onto a sack.

“I’m not winning any arguments looking like this,” Azalea said.

“Who are you, kind stranger?” Sarah said. “Never saw a talking scarecrow before?”

Azalea swam towards Sarah. “My name is Azalea, apparently mindless, apparently meant to scare off birds and critters while waiting for some friends. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a few girls my age?”

“Such as?” Sarah asked.

“Like a pink-haired snake girl? Or a minotaur and winged fawn? O-oh how about red-headed winged girl?”

“We haven’t seen them yet,” Lily lamented. “We haven’t found Emily, Anemone or Hydrangea either.”

“What about a feisty little arachne, a starry-eyed plant girl or a slight older purple-haired adventurer?”

“We haven’t seen them either,” Elisa said.

“Spear-wilding martial artist?”

Lily shook her head. “We found Elizabeth, but she was also…”

“I see,” Azalea said. “Well let’s go then?”

“You want to come with us?” Sarah said.

“I want to ask that ‘Wizard’ something,” Azalea said while giving a wink to Lily, a clear sign to her that she wasn’t mentally affected by the Strega. “Besides I wouldn’t mind having someone to hear my new material. I’m certain it is less corny than this field.”

Lily giggled at Azalea’s joke. The group of now-five traveled further down the Gilded Path.

✦✦✦

Later, Lily’s group traveled down the gilded path. There they find it ends on an elevator.

“This must lead to the higher floors,” Azalea said.

Sarah offered to operate the elevator. “Did a lot of tinkering in my day,” she said.

Her addled memory was still affected by the Strega’s curse. Azalea and Lily try to find a method to snap her out of it.

Lily then noticed Scarlett look at the twisted cityscape with a sense of nostalgia. She approached her and Elisa. “You knew a lot about ‘Metropolitica Esmeralda,’ huh?” the centauride observed.

Scarlett turned toward her ally. “Yes, I do.” She knew that “Elisa” had hidden her true identity from her new friend. She had in some way encouraged it. Both feared the potential problems that would be caused by a celebrity as young as her daughter being known as such among her peers. “I watched the movie a lot with my daughter.”

Elisa meanwhile remained transformed. Still clad in a Valkyrie-like armor. She wondered if she could trust Lily with the truth. For now, she decided to tell Lily more about the end. She looked at her friend whose hair and fur changed hue again, becoming a dark navy blue now.

“The film is about a young girl finding herself in a heavily industrialized city,” Elisa said. “She gathered several companions as she ascended from its depths to the luxurious surface. A walking scarecrow, a cyborg, and a timid beast. They were tasked to find the Wizard to receive that which they quested for.”

“The girl sought a way home, the scarecrow, intelligence, the cyborg, a heart, and the beast, courage,” Scarlett said. “Throughout the way, they learned about the plagues of the metropolitica and incidentally resolved them little by little. Gaining the notice and rancor both of the witch Tophet. She wanted to defeat the girl, assailing them with winged minions and traps. Their forces collided when the Wizard tasked them with ending Tophet’s life and stealing the boomstick she wields.”

Elisa continued the explanation of the plot. “Though they prevailed, three of the four were revealed to have that what they sought most. But the girl was still without a way home. They soon found out the Wizard was naught more than a mere mortal, one with skill in magic and technology both, but still mortal all the same. He acquiesced to the girl’s request and with the fairy’s help told them the shoes were the key.”

Scarlett finished. “With the magic words, the girl found her way home, but then the ending yielded a cruel twist. The girl fell asleep and was left unable to move, and Wizard had strapped her to a chair and replaced her flesh with metal. She was a Messenger, but there was no way back to the old world, and she was instead thrust into the throne, to take the place of the Wizard, with the Wizard changing into one suitable for the role. The hero-queen of Esmeralda, granted the throne against her will.”

Lily is shocked to hear that, she recalled vague details from the few times she watched the film, but hearing such vivid detail from those two caused her to tremble a little. “That is horrible,” she said.

“Indeed,” Scarlett said. “The director was inspired by two tales she said came from Messengers themselves, but rather than a happy ending where the girl was able to be sent home, they chose to reflect reality, Messengers, for all their fable power were unable to return from whence they came. The director and screenwriters had debated a lot over the ending.”

Lily then recalled a specific detail. “Adra'molech and Tophet were Witches right?”

Elisa nodded. “That was deliberate, the screenwriter had conflated people like you, like me, with the Strega we fight regularly, and cast the two sisters as tyrants of the horizon. In contrast with the Wizard that rules above and the kindhearted fairy that sent the girl on her quest from below.”

Lily stayed silent for a bit, she had little idea of the subtext there. She just assumed the film’s ending was happy for all involved, and that the girl had accepted the city as her new home.

Elisa and Scarlett silently suspected the reason why that reel housed the Strega. After a few moments, Azalea swam towards the group. “We’ve elevated the lift, it’s ready to go.”

“Is Sarah back to normal?” Lily asked.

The mermaid scarecrow shook her head. “That thing really messed with her mind.”

The party entered the elevator and ascended to the higher levels of the city, the top of the green copper roof that separated the underground from the above ground. As the elevator ascended, they saw a large constrict at the other end of the city’s depths. Fire belched out its maw as they saw groups of people marching towards it. Sarah looked at the construct with disdain.

“Even in death, Adra'molech stills…” she said.

Lily recalled the explanation of the plot and that the cyborg both longed for a heart and possessed one all along. “Sarah?”

Though she did not acknowledge the name as hers, she responded to it all the same, she had gotten used to them insisting on calling her by that she no longer minded. “Yes?”

“Why did you want to see the Wizard?” Lily asked.

“Well,” Sarah said. “You saw all these people living down there?”

“Yeah?” Lily said.

“They are our brothers, our sisters. They toiled underground, powering the machinery that makes the surface functional, and despite all these surface dwellers saw us with only disdain. Like we’re just cogs in the machine. Adra'molech claimed to offer salvation, but she simply had many of us killed. I want to ask why the Wizard stood idly by and let it happen.”

Lily looked at the dwarven cyborg with understanding. She wondered if she had sought a heart like the character or already knew she had one to start with.

The elevator soon entered the layer of copper, and the view of the underground was blocked by steel and brass pipes. Colors unusually in hues of violet, then indigo, then blue and green and yellow before taking on the natural orange color of brass. The elevator began to decellerate as it ascended through a layer of red-colored pipes, steam hissed loudly form them as a new city came into view.

The red pipes contrasted with the green-tinged buildings around them, buildings that looked shiny and new and well maintained. Those gleaming buildings were interspersed with raised railways and hovering vehicles.

Lily noticed she changed color again as they existed the elevator. Her now-violet hair fluttered as tey saw the facsimile of sunlight shining down on them. They knew they were in the upper layer of Metropolitica Esmeralda, a place where skies are blue.

“So this is…” Sarah said in awe.

The Gilded Path was in front of the elevator, much like it was on the surface. The group traveled down it to the place where the Wizard resided.

✦✦✦

Lily’s group soon came across a densely wooded area, a park with dense trees, there they saw several winged beings perched on the canopies. They glared at the travelers.

Everyone looked back at the winged beings. Sarah brandished her hammer. “Oh great, jet-servants.”

The mechanical beings looked down from the canopies. Their robotic appearance was accentuated with both metallic wings and jets at the end. They ascended to the sky.

“DEFILERS, MURDERERS, ELIMINATE!” one of them said in an electronic monotone voice. The machines then swooped down towards them.

Sarah swung at one of them with her hammer, the collision knocked it towards a tree. The now-pink-colored Lily bucked at another and forced it to clip a wing of a third off and send it crashing toward Azalea who dodged it.

Scarlet used her rifle as a wand. “Oh Anesidora, grant me the power to smite these heathens!” Spires of rock and stone pieced the metallic ground and soil and skewered some of the machines, but the rest of them dodged them.

“ADVERSARIES, OBSTACLES, REINFORCE!” a machine said. Soon more emerged from the nearby trees to assist them. They were left surrounded. They tried to fight off the machines, but they were overpowered.

Suddenly an arrow pierced one of the machines and sent to spiraling down. Another arrow collided with the head of another machine and caused it to collide with more. A shadow leaped from the canopy of a tree and slashed at another before nocking an arrow from her bow that hit another machine with near-perfect accuracy.

The purple-haired girl landed on the ground near the group. Lily and Azalea recognized her immediately.

“Anemone?” Lily asked the lycanthrope girl didn’t respond as she fired arrows at the machine, taking down several more.

“COWARD, WRETCHED, RETREAT!” the machines soon fled the area.

Anemone blinked and was suddenly confused. She saw Lily whose normally yellow fur and hair had become orange, and Azalea who looked like she was made of straw.

“Lily, Azalea?” Anemone said before she grasped her head in pain. “My head,” she said before collapsing. The other two Coloraturas rushed to Anemone and noticed she was heavily wounded by the machines’ attacks.

✦✦✦

Later, Anemone woke up in front of Lily. “Oh thank goodness, I knew you would be okay!” she said.

Anemone noticed her head stilt throbbed. The Strega attempted to assert its will over her mind. “Ugh, barely,” Anemone said. “What happened?”

“Do you remember ‘Metropolitica Esmerelda’?” Lily asked.

Anemone nodded. “I watched it a few weeks back, why?” she suddenly looked around and noticed the golden path beside them and the green building all around them. She then recalled what she saw before the Strega had brought them within its domain. The title of the film on the reel. “Oh.”

She took a look around. “If I’m the timid beast,” Anemone said, “and azalea’s the scarecrow…”

“I prefer laughcrow myself,” Azalea quipped.

“Right,” Anemone said. She looked at Sarah. “Is Sarah the cyborg?”

“As far as we knew,” Elisa said. “But we got her to come along before the elevator.”

Anemone mused on it. “I heard that the original cut had moved some scenes around and that the cyborg was repositioned to be the first companion. The final cut had decided to move her to the elevator instead,” Anemone said. “Actually, who was slotted into he role of the girl?”

Lily and Elise realized that they didn’t know. “Me I guess? Scarlett and I entered the domain near a crumbling building.”

“I was trapped in the rubble before they saved me!” Lily said.

“I see,” Anemone said. She looked at the porcine child and deduced she was here to investigate the Strega as well.

With everyone acquainted and assembled by now, the group traveled down the gilded path.

✦✦✦

As they traveled down the Glided Path, Lily and her party found themselves in an ornate garden. Various flowers adorned the hedges, most prominently poppies.

Scarlett took a look at the scenery and recognized it. A look of shock and fear washed over her.

“Something wrong?” Lily asked.

“This place, it is the Garden of Eternal Sleep,” Scarlett said.

“What?” Lily said with a yawn.

“It was placed as a trap…” Anemone said with a little tiredness in her voice. “By Tophet, the first…” she yawned. “Attack against the girl and her party.”

Azalea stretched her arms. “Well, it’s clearly…working. Does anyone need a pillow? I’m sure I could…suffice,” the altered mermaid fell asleep.

Lily galloped to Azalea. “C’mon, we can’t be asleep at a… a time like this!” She struggled to keep herself awake as she shook Azalea. A loosened piece of straw fell off the mermaid’s sack-like form. “Wake up!”

“We had been at…” Elisa said. “...for a while.” Her speech slurred a little as her consciousness waned. “Maybe we could take some..” She fell asleep and collapsed onto the ground before she could finish her sentence. Sarah was already knocked out by the garden’s effects.

Lily pleaded with Scarlett. “We need to wake them up!” she said. Her once eternal smile gave way to a rare look of panic.

Scarlett looked at the bottle of pills Elizabeth gave them. She didn’t even know what they did, but evidently, they had a purpose. Her grasp on consciousness grew more tenuous as she saw Lily struggle to keep herself awake and to wake the others.

Lily summoned a bright light to try to wake everyone up, but their eyes didn’t respond. Then she tried clanking her hooves on the metallic floor of the gilded path, to equal lack of avail. “Come on, Lily,” She said. “Keep yourself awake.”

Scarlett looked back at the pills. She recalled that she was not the first who played the role of the girl in the film, and also some of the rumors about her predecessor. “Perhaps…” she used much of her remaining strength to take one of the drugs and swallow it. She suddenly felt more energized and alert. She then looked at Lily, now too tired to move her hooves. She handed a pill to her.

“Swallow, don’t chew,” Scarlett said. She doesn't trust the drub, but she knows there is nothing else that could be done to keep them awake. The centauride obliged Scarlett’s request and swallowed the pill. Her tiredness gave way to a shot of energy. Scarlett then fed a pill to Elesa. The younger porcine girl slowly woke up and groggily looked around for a few moments. “Mommy?” she said.

Scarlett helped her up. “We need to carry them out of here,” she doesn't want them all to suffer the side effects of whatever drugs the fairy gave them. Lily took Azalea and Sarah on her back, positioning them so that Sarah rested on Azalea’s body. Elisa carried Anemone’s body on her own as Scarlett led them through the garden.

“How does that garden work?” Lily said as she galloped after Elisa and Scarlett.

“Tophet had enchanted it to place people in a comatose state for eternity,” Elisa said. “The fairy had awakened them up by dispelling the effects, but…” They weren’t sure if that salvation would come this time.

Scarlett led them through the garden, the three tried to avoid slumbering bodies on the floor and dislocating the unconscious Sarah, Azalea, and Anemone from their backs. They rushed through the garden for two hours before escaping its clutches.

Lily and Elisa panted heavily. They ran for two hours while carrying twice their weight in other people. Were it not for the effects of the pill, exhaustion would have knocked them out.

On Lily’s back Sarah began to wake up. “Man that was a nice nap,” she said.

Azalea and Anemone the woke up next.

Lily struggled to keep herself awake. “Sorry guys…but I have to…” her head was hung as her hooves locked in place. Lily had fell asleep. The SleepShell encased her and made it impossible for her to be fed another pill.

✦✦✦

Lily woke up in the middle of the night. There Scarlett, Elisa, Sarah, Anemone, and Azalea were setting up camp. Far away from the Garden of Eternal Sleep.

“Evening, sleepyhead!” Azalea said.

Lily rubbed her eyes. She saw that her hair and fur had changed color once again. “I guess cyan is a good color for this morning,” she said with a feigned smile.

Elisa and Anemone approached her. “We’re almost at the Wizard’s palace,” Anemone said. “If they are the Strega’s core then we simply battle it.”

“And if they’re not?”

“Well that would mean Tophet is the other likely candidate,” Elisa said.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Lily said.

“Hold your horses, Lily,” Azalea said with her usual puns. “Elisa and I want to tell you something first.”

Elisa turned her head. “Scarlett had taken Sarah out to arrange the meeting,” she said. “Can you keep a few secrets?”

“Sure,” Lily said cheerfully.

The porcine girl whispered into Lily’s ear. Her eyes widened in shock. “No way,” Lily said. “That can’t be true.”

To prove it, “Elisa” detransformed. A starry black cocoon formed over her. A minute later out came a shorter girl, she wore a simple dress and her pigtails were gone, her hair being done in six simple ringlets in their place. Her voice was also slightly higher pitched. “Hello, My name is Pearl Templeton. I’m sorry for lying to you.”

Lily, was surprised to hear that Pearly was her new friend all this time. She nearly squealed in fangirlish delight before Azalea covered her mouth shut. Pearl transformed back into her Witch form. “Can you please keep it a secret? People tend to be weird around me.”

“The nature of celebrity, and fandom,” Anemone said.

Lily nodded and calmed down. “But..It’s just…I’m sorry. I need some time to process this.” She cantered around muttering to herself how awesome it is to have befriended one of her favorite movie stars. She then rushed to Anemone and spoke hyperactively about the opportunity to ask her what it is like working in show business. To Pearl’s quiet discomfort.

“Maybe this is a mistake,” Pearl said.

Lily turned to her new friend and realized she was behaving poorly. “Sorry, sorry, shutting up now.”

“Now that she’d done being starstruck,” Azalea said. “Gather round I have a tale to tell…”

✦✦✦

At the same time, Scarlett and Sarah walked inside the palace of the Wizard. Scarlett looked around and saw various people going about their business.

“Finally we’re here,” Sarah said.

The two women approached the reception.

“We’re here to see the wizard,” Scarlett said.

“The wonderful Wizard of—”

“Yes,” Sarah interrupted. “Wonderful my ass,” she uttered under her breath.

“O...kay,” the receptionist said. He took a look at his book. “The Wonderful Wizard of…Yes, will see you in a few hours.”

“Good,” Scarlett said. “Thank you.”

“No problem, and your names are?” the receptionist said.

Scarlett gave her name and turned to the dwarf. “Your turn.”

“Well that is quite obvious,” Sarah boasted proudly. “I’m…I’m…” She tried to recall her name but was having trouble. Her head clouds up as she struggles to recall her name. Memories that are familiar and strange both. A blond dwarf, a pair of silver-haired spiders, a purple-haired young girl, a giant spider, a strange starlit maze. Memories that she was certain she didn’t have, and yet they had felt familiar.

“Miss!” the receptionist said “Are you all right?”

Scarlett rushed to her aid. Sarah began hyperventilating for a bit. “I-I’m fine, just a migraine is all. You still want my name?”

“Well,” the receptionist said. “We can’t finish the anointment without it.”

“Very well,” the dwarf said. “I’m Sarah, Sarah Ebony Smith.”

Later the two left the palace to gather their party before returning.

“Sarah Ebony Smith huh?” Scarlett said.

“That’s my name, please, wear it out,” Sarah said. “I’m going to need all the reminders I could get.”

Scarlett laughed. “I don’t think I know you that well.”

“Still want to give whoever did this to me a piece of my mind,” Sarah said. “So tell me about the ‘wonderful’ Wizard of ‘Yes’,”

“The Wizard was a simple charlatan,” Scarlet said. “He hid behind smoke and mirrors to project himself as an almighty being, even though he struggled to repel Tophet and let Adra'molech run rampant in the lower depths. He was a fraud, but he still had power.”

“How responsible was he for the pain and suffering of the lower depths?”

“Even before Adra'moloch came along, the script mentioned that he had built the city in its entirety. It was he who made the system that approached the people and it was he who made laws to ensure there were people positioned to run the machines, regardless of their health or well-being. Yet he was the victor in the end as he used the Messenger as a vessel for his ambitions.”

“That tracks,” Sarah said.

“I’ve been traveling with my daughter for quite a while,” Scarlett said. “Helping her take case of monsters like these, as such I know that this place isn’t truly real. It is an illusionary Dungeon created by malevolent entities only her and people like her could truly slay.”

“But is still reeks of Noir,” Sarah said. “Same rot, greener coat of paint. Guess I couldn't help but think of that a bit.” She looked at her brass coated arms. “Film ended with the Messenger turned into a robot right?”

Scarlett nodded. “The other three were similarly altered, made into metals statues so that they wouldn't impede the Wizard’s plan. The cyborg had their heart ripped from them. The scarecrow rendered mindless and the beast paralyzed by fear.”

“That sounds like a horror story,” Sarah said.

“The director wanted it that way,” Scarlett said. “I’m sure the same is true for this iteration’s ‘director’ as well.

“Here’s hoping our witch friends can give them the boot.” Sarah said.

They left the palace’s premises.

✦✦✦

“…and That is how I became a sad sack, and then not a sad sack, and then well just a sack I guess,” Azalea said.

Despite Azalea’s humorous interjections, Anemone and Lily were shocked by her story. Pearl was less so, after all, she was already aware of things of a similar nature long ago.

“Does that mean you were…” Lily said. “I had no idea.”

Anemone mused on certain things. “That would explain a lot of things,” she said.

“I heard that Whisper mentioned there was a terrible risk when we asked them about it,” Lily said. “Funny how it didn’t come into mind until now.”

“You said Rose was the only one who doesn't know this besides us?” Anemone said.

Azalea nodded.

Scarlett and Sarah arrived. “We got the ‘appointment’ set up. Ready to go.”

“Ready,” Pearl said.

“Um-mm,” Anemone said.

“Let’s go!” Azalea said.

“Wait,” Lily said. “Do you think the Strega…”

Scarlett noticed that Lily had become aware of a hidden truth.

“I don’t know,” Pearl said. “We haven’t encountered any fragments so far. They may be…”

“…oh,” Lily said. “I’m sure it will all work out in the end. It always does.”

“You’re forgetting what happened at the end of that story,” Sarah said.

“Well, we’ll just make a new ending then!” Lily said with unfaltering cheer. “We’ll save them, I’m sure of it!” Her determined smile touched Pearl.

“You think so?” Pearl said.

“We can’t write them off until we know for sure!” Lily said. “Come on, let’s go!”

Lily lead them back to the palace.

✦✦✦

Lily and the others arrived in the place where the Wizard resided.

“FOOLS!” bellowed a voice. “WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER!”

“Alright,” Sarah said. “Time to pull back the curtain!” Sarah saw a large rope and jumped at it.

At that point, The group heard a commotion outside.

“Stop, you’re not supposed to be—” a voice said before a tempestuous storm blew him away.

The group found Emily, Tim, Nina, Charlotte, Rose, Raine, Hydrangea, Strelitzia and Clover rush in after them

“There you are!” Emily said.

“Emmy!” Lily said. Sans Elizabeth, The group was reunited, and she also saw Evelyn with them as well.

Sarah jumped again. “Heave, ho!” she grabbed the rope and with gravity’s assistance pulled it down.

The large curtain had opened to reveal a large metallic thrown on it. Sitting on it was not a man, but a certain Arachne.

“M-mommy?” Nina said.

The “Wizard” was in fact a brainwashed Minerva.