Chaos ensued as the dragon knight and the bird knight disappeared in a flash of white light, the others in the room using their arms to block out the onslaught of radiance from their eyes.

Once the flash was gone, the remaining knights stood awestruck, staring at the Star Crystal.

“What just happened?!” Lady Storm whispered, her voice quivering. “They just poofed! How do we explain this to her ladyship?” She cried, her voice growing an octave.

Renfred, stood by, staring at the Star Crystal from beneath their cloak as if willing the two knights to materialize back into the spacious room, afraid to say anything lest they make the situation worse. Askerian was supposed to guard the stone, not touch it. Oh how they warned him not to touch it.

“We won’t need to.” Varier replied, gazing deeply into the Star Crystal, his voice calm.

“And why not? This is serious!” Storm threw her arms in the direction of the Star Crystal to emphasize just how serious the situation was.

Seraphina pitied Storm, she didn’t want to imagine what the knight of thunder and sky was thinking. None of them would ever want to have to explain that an experiment went wrong and two of their leader’s knights were missing. Lady Ardent would definitely go into the stone herself to get them back. That was something they couldn’t let happen.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the familiar look on Varier’s face. “You’re seeing the future again aren’t you?” Seraphina prodded the seer, taking note the way his eyes had changed into a milky color.

Her words caught Storm’s attention. “You mean it? They’re okay?” She drew closer to the crystal.

“They are and they will be. It’s just I’m not sure how long they will be in there. However, no one is to touch the Star Crystal in the meantime or afterwards.” Varier replied calmly.

“We can arrange that.” Renfred spoke confidently.

Askerian stared down the bluish blade of Rain’s sword. He had to hand it to her, she was definitely fast. The fact that she was one-third his height however, felt more like an insult than threat.

He backed up slowly, placing two of his fingers on the cold metal and pushed it downward, making it obvious her threat was empty. “Relax.”

Rain inhaled sharply. “How dare you?”

“So you can turn into a small bird as well as a large one huh?”

“I can do a lot of things Askerian.” She replied angrily as she sheathed her sword.

Askerian couldn’t help but notice how similar she was to the lady she served. “You seem rather close to your leader.”

Rain looked away. “In our own ways, we all are.” A look of sadness dawned her features.

The white nothingness shifted around them again, both knights taking in the changing array of colors above their heads. It reminded Rain of the trips through the Celestial portal, in the way that each color twisted and pulled together.

The sky came to a still with a light blue hue that bled through a canopy of tree branches and leaves, sunlight filtered through in beams that hit the ground below their feet. They found themselves in the middle of a large village. Victorian style buildings were spaced out in an orderly fashion around a wide cobblestone road that led up to a huge Victorian building at the edge of the village. On each side of the cobbled road, vendors and market stands stood in place, though they were vacant. Surrounding the outskirts of the buildings stood a small wall that surrounded the village, made of cobbled brick and topped with black wrought iron.

The village was decorated in white balloons and bows that hung from each street post, the sent of flowers floated heavily in the air, the doorstep of each house was lit with white lanterns. Rain gasped softly. “I remember this! This is the day Lady Ardent and King Alexander—” Her words were cut off as the sound of a loud bell rang out over the square.

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Askerian covered his sensitive ears with a start. “The blood blazes is that?” He shouted angrily.

“Come and I’ll show you.” Rain bit back, not sure whether she was right or not. She had a haunch of where they were, but it could just be that and nothing more.

She led Askerian down the cobbled road, past all of the market tents. “Why does this look familiar?” Askerian mused, still cupping his ears.

“Because it is.” She retorted.

As they trekked onward, Askerian glanced across the cobbled road to find a particular building, and froze. “Wait… what is that? There should be a crater where that building is sitting...” He stared at the building, confusion marring his features.

“No actually that’s where that building use to sit.”

“Used to? You mean to tell me that…”

“I thought we did tell you. Each of the islands in the realm used to be a part of Gaia. And the hospital and alchemy lab, well this used to be it. We’re in Alexhand.”

“What are you saying? This doesn’t make sense.” Askerian protested as he continued to follow the bird Knight’s path.

“If my haunch is right, we’re inside the stone you just touched.”

Askerian laughed darkly. “We’re inside a stone. Sure. Then explain what we’re seeing, because the last time I was here, I was chasing your leader and there was a crater and destruction and that building wasn’t there. Did we go back time? Or is this another Celestial trick?”

“If I’m correct,” Rain hesitated, before stepping around the corner. A large crowd of people stood across the way, a large church towering above them, the bell ringing loudly in a sweet melody as it swayed back and fourth from the inside of a bell tower.

A small stairwell led up to the entrance where a happy couple stood, greeting the crowd in the decorated courtyard. A large stocky man, with tanned skin, black hair that cascaded down onto his shoulders in curls. His eyes a mixture of blue and green set underneath a pair of thick eyelashes. He was dressed in a black suite engraved in golden bear claws. His arm was secured around tiny feminine frame, a woman dressed in a white ball gown with a veil adorned on her auburn hair.

“These are Lady Ardent’s memories.” Rain finished as Askerian stared ahead.

His mind going back to the painting on the wall of the hall of Memoirs. “Impossible! She looks—”

“Like a human.” Rain finished for him. She sighed. “This was back before she used her wishes to build the realm.”

“How do you know this?” Askerian turned then to the elf, his eyes narrowed.

She gestured with a nod of her head in the direction near the happy couple.“Because I was there.”

Askerian’s gaze landed on a small figure, as the memory of Rain stood proudly near the door way to the church, offering congratulations to the newly weds.

Before either one of them could speak, the world shifted again. This time the buildings froze in place the, wedding decorations disappearing like ash, the villagers blurred by and faded before the world stilled once more. The stillness was earie, then the terrifying call of a dragon pierced the air.

Askerian recognized the sound, his heart pounding in his chest as the pain in his back ignited. Ignoring the pain, he drew his sword, ready to face the incoming threat, Rain echoed his movements, drawing on her bow. “ Please don’t tell me.” He hissed.

“Etah.” Rain whispered. Her heart pounded behind the blue lace armor protecting her chest. Anger wove it’s way forward as she realized she would be witnessing the moment Ardent’s life was shattered beyond repair. Let the beast come, she would fight it. “I’ll kill it.” She seethed.

People rushed past the duo in a chaotic mess of Alexhandian colors of black red and gold. Askerian about lost his mind when one of the villagers ran right through him. “The Dragon shift was that?!” He yelled.

“That confirms it!” Rain yelled over the screams of the crowd. “These are memories. And we’re about to find out what happened all those months ago. This monster hurt Lady Ardent and we’re going to find out how.”

The memory of their leader shouted above the crowd, calling out to the people to enter the village hall. “This way! It’s going to be okay!”

There were several people helping to lead the villagers to safety. Golem stood at the entrance to the village hall, ushering people in. Lady Storm passed out jars of red liquid, most likely healing or protection potions. A woman with a long green glowing sword strapped to her back, darted about checking the Victorian homes for stragglers, her dark hair flowing behind her.

A man in a violet robe set up a barrier around the town hall, Violet orbs sitting around each corner as he placed the final one, the purple field of protection rose up around the building, keeping all evil out.

A man in golden and brown armor followed by another man in black trousers and a sword at his hip, picking up villagers as they fell to the ground, watching closely at the children and elderly. A young ninja in red and black garments, followed the rear of the crowd.

Then the dragon finally reared it’s green head, landing on top of the church. The church was to the left of the town hall. With one final warning, Etah gave another earth shattering roar.