"Oh? Am I disturbing something?" The young woman who had just arrived asked as she arrived in the throne room.

"It is fine, Ms. Genie. We were just finished with our discussion." Jeneck assured the robed woman.

"Really? Hmm. Shame," Genie Bel — another of Ouranos Alteria's champions — sniggered as she gestured with her robe-covered arms and the black void behind her folded in on itself leaving nothing but empty space as if the gate had never been there, to begin with.

"I assume you are already aware of the situation?" Jeneck, as unperturbed as ever, quickly cut to the chase.

"Which situation?" Genie moved forward with fluid movements to stand in between Darna and Kassandra and turned back to Jeneck. "The disappearance of the lords?" She raised her arms into the air. "I don't know anything"

"Cut the crap. We don't care about what you don't know." Zune's voice rasped out immediately, glaring at Genie threateningly.

Genie tilted her head and grabbed her chin quizzically as she looked at the figure that stood next to Kassandra. "Oh, might that be Zune? I hardly noticed you. You have to be careful, or a gust of wind might blow you away any day now."

Zune's head was completely covered by sandy bandages, but all in attendance could feel the hate emanating from her body. Darna knew that its aura alone would have been enough to kill any low-level player. She had seen far too many cases like it before.

A cryptic smile formed on Genie's face as she slowly shook her head. "You really should care, though. The fact that I don't know — that tells you a lot, does it not?" She shrugged her shoulders and turned to Melucard. "Oh, and Captain? I saw that subordinate of yours when I was in the Augury Chamber. The snake one."

Melucard's eyebrows shot up. "Which one? Serpens? in the Augury?"

Genie shook her head. "No, the other one. The one with a daughter."

"...Cassiopeia?"

She nodded her head. "That's the one."

"She's not a snake."

A lofty smile broke out on Genie's face. "Of course she is. Lord xXPaleXx called her one all the time." She waved her robe-covered hand around. "Anyhow, that daughter and she were performing divinations. It was distracting."

Melucard crossed his arms. "...Did they know you were there?"

She grinned airily. "Of course not."

"We should avoid drifting too far away from the subject, Ms. Genie," Jeneck interjected. "Captain, you can discuss Ms. Genie's peremptory behavior at a later time." He reassured Melucard and turned to robed mage. "Except for the disappearance of the lords, I would very much like to know what you have learned about Agartha's current location."

Genie sighed lightly. "Very well," She said and looked towards the silver-adorned throne. "I don't who brought Agartha here, but the throne hasn't been used," The others turned towards the throne. Unlike what one would expect from a throne room, the throne wasn't the centerpiece. Instead, the large round guild table situated in the middle of the hall held a much more striking presence. This was mainly due to Ouranos Alteria's hierarchy. Despite there being a throne, Ouranos Alteria didn't have a king. Instead, they had a few members who would be voted on from amongst the lords to be the guild heads, who handled all the administrative tasks. All the major decisions would be voted on by all of the lords, and when a vote couldn't decide upon a matter — a duel would. But the throne still had its uses.

Jeneck's mask had taken on a completely neutral expression once again. "...I see. So the lords are not the reason behind this."

"Then it must have been the administrators." Darna took a step closer to Genie, standing almost half a head taller as she looked down at her. "They're the only ones with the power to do something like this."

"Perhaps," Genie moved right in front of Darna. "...Perhaps not." She tilted her head upwards and bent forward, observing Darna's face closely. "Are you feeling sleepy?"

Darna gave her a confused look. "Sleepy? No, I'm fine."

"...Really? Ah," Suddenly turning around, Genie moved to the center of the throne room next to the guild table. "Well, anyhow, I believe we aren't in Lemuria anymore." She moved her arm in the air and the space above the table turned reflective and wavy. Soon, a picture took shape in the air, depicting an endless night sky filled with stars. "I thought the magic of where we are felt different when I woke up, so I performed some experiments."

She turned around to the others and spread her arms wide. "This is how the sky will look at night. But none of these constellations exist in Lemuria— or any of the lesser realms." She declared. "I tried creating a gate to the other realms, but it was impossible even for me."

Darna observed the projection closely. She didn't recognize any of the constellations.

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"Are you sure that this isn't Lemuria?" Melucard asked as he stared at the starts.

Darna looked at him. He wasn't the type that cared much about such things, so she wasn't surprised at his question. But she knew the constellations. That picture of the night sky wasn't right.

"There are other possibilities," Genie shrugged her shoulders. "None are very likely and would require power on the realm of gods. Granted, the same goes for this scenario, but it is still the most likely case considering the circumstances. Unless someone is trying to deceive us, that is. But a being of that level trying to trick us is..."

"If they were that strong they could just have wiped us ut immediately." Kassandra crossed her arms across her chest.

Jeneck held the chin of his mask. "Indeed, there is not much motive for them to deceive us. It is an unrealistic scenario. And it is not the way the Administrators would act."

Genie smirked. "I meant to say it would be quite amusing."

"Demented witch..." Zune mumbled to the side.

Darna looked at Genie in surprise. "You really think this is someone trying to trick us?"

Genie shook her head. "By no means. It would be interesting, but unlikely." She moved closer to the others and the projection that hung above the guild table disappeared. "The administrators and players aren't from Lemuria. The idea of traveling to another world shouldn't be foreign a concept. I believe I mentioned having tried opening a gate to the other realms. The reason I couldn't open a gate was simple; there was simply no connection to any of the realms to create a gate through." She paused and turned towards Darna, pointing her robed hand at her. "Speaking of. Still not feeling sleepy?" Genie asked, her eyes filled with interest.

Darna looked at Genie for a few seconds, her eyes opening wide as she finally understood what Genie was hinting at.

Anxiety growing inside her, Darna held her hand up in the air in front of her as it began to glow a bright gold. The golden glow faded after a moment without anything happening. Darna's face was filled with confusion and shock. She urged the glow to return to her hand once again, but it slowly faded away once again without any effect. "I can't do it." She mumbled. "I can't open a doorway. My connection to the celestial realm is cut." She couldn't stop a hint of fear from being present in her voice.

Darna was a level 200 Celestial Paragon who gained her celestial power from her connection to the celestial realm. Leaving her without that supply of celestial energy was like leaving a common vampire without a source of blood.

Melucard looked at her with a concerned look. "Why didn't you sense it before now?"

Darna looked back at Melucard with bewilderment. "Because I still have a connection." She answered. "I can feel myself receiving power...but it's not from the celestial realm. I hadn't noticed before, but the energy I'm receiving is different. Similar, but different." She then turned to look at Genie instead. "This is why you asked me that?"

Genie moved her hand into her robe and produced a bottle made out of dark-colored glass out of it as she slid over to Darna. "Correct. Without a connection to the celestial realm, you should already have been showing signs of withdrawal. But this is better." Genie handed the bottle to Darna as she said, "Fill this," Darna hesitantly accepted the bottle and opened the lid. "If you are still receiving energy through a connection, it means that there is a realm like the celestial realm in this world. Similar enough for you to somehow receive your power from there instead."

Darna nodded her head and stuck her finger inside the bottle and began to fill it up with her golden energy. The dark glass of the bottle quickly took on a bright hue.

"While this does lend credence to the theory that we are in a different world from Lemuria, I believe we should still take precautions to prepare in case an enemy were to attack us. When it comes to the protection of Agartha, it is better not to leave it to chance." Jeneck spoke as Darna filled the bottle and gave it back to Genie, who promptly placed it back into her robe.

"You're right," Melucard said. "But we have to know who disappeared and who are left to plan any kind of defense. You said Oris was on her way?"

Jeneck inclined his head. "Correct. Ms. Oris should be here shortly."

They didn't have to wait long. They had started discussing the defense of Agartha when, only a few minutes after, they could hear rumbling outside the throne room doors. Not long after both doors slowly opened with a creak and a large stone figure entered the hall.

Oris, the higher earth-elemental known as Agartha's Guardian, had a massive body that stood over ten feet tall and consisted mainly out of large boulders that had a disproportionate but human-looking shape. Occasional spots of moss grew on the body and small green-glowing cracks spread throughout the boulders that made up its body. On the vaguely head-shaped rock that made up the skull, two eyes shone with an ethereal dark-green color. Another green-glowing crack on its face that resembled a row of teeth made up its mouth.

With slow, heavy steps, the colossal creature moved towards the others who stood at the center of the hall, every step reverberating throughout the throne room. When it stopped, it turned its head around to look around the room before stopping to look at Jeneck.

"Where...Are..Lords...?" A deep and unbounded voice, as if of a mountain sighing, emerged from its mouth.

Jeneck looked back at Oris with his hands behind his back. "We don't know. Ms. Oris can not sense any of their presence in the city?"

Oris slowly shook its head. "No...Lords..."

"Then, what about the other players?" Darna asked.

"I...Know...Not" Oris answered and raised its large arm. "More than...Half..Agartha...Gone.."

Kassandra walked over to Oris and patted its large arm. "Calm down. Now isn't the time to panic. This isn't your fault."

Oris's head turned to look down at Kassandra quietly.

Melucard — who stood right next to Darna — leaned closer to her and whispered, "Oris looking anxious to you?"

Darna simply shook her head slightly. "I can't tell..."

He nodded his head — reassured. "Thought so. I have no idea how Kas does it."

"Ahem," Jeneck cleared his throat to catch everybody's attention. "We will have to confirm it at a later time, but from what Ms. Oris has said it is apparent that the lords are not the only players to have disappeared. There are 743 players in Agartha and 276 Lemurians. If more than half of Agartha's residents are gone, considering the circumstances, there is a high likelihood that the remaining players have disappeared as well."

"I already have my agents searching the city. They haven't found any players yet." Zune said.

"Then we will leave that to your subordinates," Jeneck said. "We will leave exploring our surroundings for later. For now, we ensure that Agartha is well and safe from an outside attack."