The streets of Arcadia were deserted. If not for the sound of the wind whistling through the broken buildings, it would have been silent. There might have been rumours about people rebuilding Arcadia, but they didn't seem to be true. At least not so far, Emily thought as she followed Arthur over a heap of rubble.

'It's hard to believe that this place used to be filled with life,' Emily said as she looked through one of the broken windows. A shelf that had once been fixed to the wall had fallen apart over the years; its contents are now dumped on the floor. 'What happened to everyone?'

'They died when the war ended,' Michael said from in front of her. When Captain Caldwell had told them that a friend of his was going to let them use his boat, Michael hadn't been what she had imagined. Instead of someone around Captain Caldwell's age, they had been introduced to a man in his early twenties. Unlike the sailors Emily and Arthur had seen around the port, he had a small build and shoulder-length black hair.

'How could so many people die?' Emily asked. As they had sailed into the abandoned port of Arcadia, they had seen the ruins stretching for miles. She couldn't comprehend how many people must have lived here at one time, let alone died.

'No one really knows what happened during the war. All we know is that Arden Vandemark came here but never returned,' Michael explained. 'Some say that he was the one responsible for destroying the city.'

'How could one person destroy an entire city, let alone one this size?' Arthur said, holding out a hand to help Emily down from the pile of rubble.

'That's what we're here to find out,' Michael said.

'No, we're here to try and find George and the crown,' Emily insisted.

'I could always go to the palace on my own,' he suggested hopefully.

'It's better if we all stick together,' Captain Caldwell said quickly, voicing Emily's thoughts before she had the chance to. She still wasn't too happy that Michael was with them, but it had been the only way to get to Arcadia. There was just something about him that gave her an uneasy feeling; he was so different from any of the other sailors they had met, Captain Caldwell included.

'Alright, where do we start?' He sighed, defeated.

'The last thing I remember was George walking down a hill towards the city,' Emily said as she thought back to the vision she had had the night Lewis had been captured by The Dawn. That was almost four weeks ago now. Part of her couldn't help but wonder where he was now and what he was doing. Was he thinking about her as well?

'Is there anything more specific that you saw? There are hills to the east and north of the city? Michael asked, pausing to peer through a broken window. 'This is fascinating.'

'Not a lot; it looked as though there was a main street heading into the city,' she replied.

'Ah, that would have been the councillor’s street,' Michael explained. 'It leads to the centre of the city, where the palace is located.'

'Why would George be going to the palace? Arthur asked.

'We don't know he was going there,' Emily pointed out as Michael led them into a narrow side street.

'Even before the fall of Arcadia, there were rumours of objects of great power being kept in the palace, such as weapons,' Michael said.

Was it a weapon that George was searching for? Could Michael be doing the same? They hadn't been in Arcadia for more than a couple of hours, and she was already regretting the decision to let Michael come with them. Glancing at Arthur, Emily saw him looking back at her. He didn't need to say anything; she could already tell that he was thinking the same thing.

'What sort of weapons are we talking about?' Arthur asked, exchanging a worried glance with Emily.

'Things that had the ability to change precursor powers, enhance them, or even stop them,' Michael said. 'This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the precursors. For more than a century, Arcadia has remained almost untouched by people. The only ones who dare venture here in the name of research seldom return.'

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'Well, now I feel even better,' Emily muttered so that only Arthur could hear her. 'This is it,' she said as they emerged onto a wide street. To her left, she could see the hills rising, with a large tower at the top. Looking in the other direction, she saw the long street lined by huge houses. At the far end was a huge, fortress-like building, a pair of broken stone towers either side of a large archway.

'The palace,' Michael breathed excitedly. 'The painting doesn't do it justice, even in this state.'

'Painting?' Emily and Arthur asked at the same time.

'It was passed down through my family,' he said, setting off towards the palace. 'Apparently, my great-grandfather stole it from the palace the night he escaped Arcadia.'

'Wait, your great-grandfather was from Arcadia? That was why you wanted to come here?' Emily asked. The only other person who had relatives from Arcadia was Sebastian, and he had never known much about the city.

'Partly,' Michael admitted. 'As I said earlier, this is also a fantastic opportunity for us to learn more about the precursors and to find out how they met their downfall.'

Michael seemed so enthused by the moment that Emily decided to stay quiet, looking around the huge courtyard filled with rubble instead. On the far side, there was a huge archway leading into the palace. Whether the doors had been weathered away or destroyed with the city, she didn't know; either way, the palace didn't look very inviting. Even after more than a century, its design was still sleek, seeming to radiate the cold feel it gave off.

'I can't believe it after all these years,' Michael muttered to himself as he looked around. Behind his back, Emily and Arthur exchanged a bemused glance, the latter raising his eyebrows as Michael wandered off.

'Does he seem a little strange to you?' Arthur spoke quietly.

'I don't like it,' she muttered, moving across the entrance hall before Michael could disappear out of sight. Michael was standing in the mouth of a dark corridor, examining a portrait that was hung from the wall.

'Maybe it's time to leave,' Arthur suggested.

'We promised him we would let him come to the palace,' Emily reminded him, moving after Michael as he set off down the corridor.

'And we did,' Arthur said. 'We didn't say how long, though.'

'You heard him, though. If George came to Arcadia looking for something, then this is where he would find it,' Emily said.

'No one knows what George is after, though. For all we know, he could be looking for a nice three-bedroom house overlooking his creepy old ruined city!' Arthur said. Behind them, Emily heard Captain Caldwell and a couple of his men chuckle. Great, now even they were laughing at her. Why couldn't Lewis be here? He would know what to do.

'You're not helping,' she snapped, striding after Michael. She had grown used to other people laughing at her when she was growing up in the castle, but she had never felt threatened before. Even when she had been alone in the city on the night she had met Lewis, at least a little part of her felt safe.

Unfamiliarity. That was it, she realised, squinting in the darkness as she tried to see where Michael had gone. She had always had the familiarity of the castle or the city. When she had left Tristan, it had been Lewis who had helped her. He knew the world around him. Now she was in the middle of a ruined city that bore no resemblance to the world she knew. No one here knew this world.

'We need to get out of here,' she said, voicing her thoughts before she had the chance to process them.

'What?' Arthur and Captain Caldwell demanded

'We need to go. Now!' she insisted, turning around and attempting to push her way past them.

'What about Michael?' Captain Caldwell asked as he caught her arm.

'I don't know! We just need to leave,' she shouted, trying to pull free from his grip. He didn't let go.

'Emily, calm down. What's going on?' Arthur asked.

'Let go of me!' she demanded, ripping her arm out of Captain Caldwell’s hand painfully. As Arthur tried to grab her other arm, she threw her elbow back, her shout confirming that she had hit him in the face. Without sparing a glance behind her, she took off, sprinting back down the dark corridor towards the entrance hall.

Emily had barely made it into the entrance hall when there was a flash of light before her eyes. A second later, a sharp pain split through her head, sending her vision swimming. It was this place; she had to get out, she thought as she stumbled forward blindly. In the distance, she heard voices shouting, but none of them seemed to make any sense. They were just noise, adding to the pain in her head.

'No! Leave me alone!' she shouted, her hand over her eyes. No matter what she did, she could still see the bright lights in front of her. It was like they had been imprinted on the insides of her eyelids, foggy and swirling.

For a moment, the fog seemed to freeze, the pain subsiding slightly. Then, as if her skull itself was splintering, a thousand screams filled her head. Under her, Emily's knees buckled, and she dropped to the floor, her hands clasping her ears in an attempt to drown out the screams. In front of her, the fog swirled as a face appeared. At first, she thought it was George, but when she looked closer, she saw the wrinkles of age. 'Join me! demanded the man, his voice rasping over the screams.

'No, I don't want to,' Emily moaned, pulling away as a foggy hand reached towards her. 'Leave me alone!'

'Join me, and you can live forever,' he said, his fingers only inches away from her.

With a deafening bang, the hand snapped back into the fog along with the face, its call for her to join him echoing in her mind as the screams stopped.

Slowly, Emily removed her hands from her ears. The pain in her head had subsided so that it was now just a dull ache. As she opened her eyes, she saw the blurry outlines of the derelict entrance hall that belonged to the palace. Unable to focus, she slipped sideways, her limbs retracting on their own until she was lying in a foetal position. Then there was darkness. Nothing but darkness.