There was no ground below the foggy pale-gold sky. It was as if the whole of existence was trapped within a clear pocket deep within a golden cloud. That empty space contained dozens of crystals, shaped like teardrops, floating without support or feature. The platform beyond the portal was flat obsidian with a jagged rim, like a massive inverted chandelier. Shane heard only the delicate drone of a finger circling the rim of a wine glass. Nearby there was a tower made of radiant gold, unimaginably tall, yet tiny within the void, giving context to those crystal teardrops. Relative to the Golden Tower, those crystals must have been as big as moons, or perhaps planets.

Felix clattered down onto the obsidian with a golden flash. Shane was already moving forward toward the gap in the jagged rim straight ahead. The ground below was very smooth and shiny. Shane began to walk in a rapid stride.

Beyond the jagged gap there were colorless crystal ramps leading down to more inverted chandelier platforms, made from clear crystal. There were many such platforms, but only one made from obsidian. Some distance away in space, there was yet another platform that was not perfectly clear. The vast surface, no doubt the size of a city, took on the appearance of a map. Blue, teal, green, and white tiles, arranged into oceans and continents and snowcaps. There was only one portal leading to the Elemental Plane of Light, but Shane reasoned that in some ancient time the map-like platform may have housed the location of another portal.

At the base of the golden tower there was a city constructed around a ring. Pyramids of smooth, mirror-like glass, reflecting the golden light, sprung from white-gold streets. Shane saw these wonders from a distance and it took a half an hour of hiking down crystal ramps to reach that ring city. The streets were lined with green parks, complete with trees, ponds, and flagstone paths. The way through the city was clear, one open boulevard leading straight to the base of the Golden Tower.

The base of the tower, like the trunk of a city-sized golden tree, was marred by a deep wound. Like a chasm tilted vertically, the base of the crack was very wide, and the jagged edges gradually tapered to a point high above. Within that shady chasm there was a dark portal.

Shane stalked inside, making note of the interior. It had an uncanny resemblance to the interior of the Purple Dragon's spires. Gantries, circular concourses, ramps, platforms, open doors shining with golden light, and two cone-shaped voids reaching up and down into oblivion. Cracks in the surface of the tower allowed spears of light to crisscross the upper void, but the darkness below was absolute. A single path, composed of blue and turquoise tiles and illuminated by white light, led forward to a circular platform suspended over the void. There was an Elemental there, Shane realized, but of a variety that he had not yet seen. The ghostly Elemental was made entirely from pale gold light, shaped into the form of a woman wearing heavy armor, armed with sword and shield. Like Titania, she refracted light into rainbow patterns on the turquoise tile floor.

Welcome. Mother has been expecting you. I will take you to her now.

The Elemental reached out and placed her hand on Shane's chest. The undulations of darkness and spear-like shafts of light began to shift, streaming past his eyes in an instant. A moment later he was high in the tower, standing on a turquoise platform, facing a huge hole in the tower walls which bathed the interior in golden light. A shadow loomed just ahead. Eight and a half feet tall, clad in a solid black satin dress which hugged her curves, with radiant golden hair, the Elemental regarded him with the face of a disappointed schoolmaster.

Felix clattered along the tile platform alongside Shane. They stood side-by-side, facing the Elemental Queen of Light.

"Your mistress has proven her skill at being obnoxious toward my other half," the Queen of Light said. She sounded like an older version of Titania, a delicate voice with hints of wind chimes. "The Divine Powers that we wield crave understanding. The same can be said for the Divine Power of the Sixth Goddess, which is guarded by the Queens of Spirits and Dreams. It is between these two cravings that we find tension.

"The ultimate expression of free will can be found in the sky, in the adventures of the hard-boiled flyer. The price of this freedom is an instantaneous death, a transformation into bloody gore. The highest spiritual discipline is required to survive. Flying machines inspire mortals to dream, to reach higher. Light, Dark, Spirits, Dreams, four Divine Powers converge on a single locus, and the Purple Dragon Tribe roams the Plane of Dreams, uplifting civilizations to the golden age of flight, brazenly skirting the restrictions put in place by my other half. And now we are forced to bargain with those critters for the soul of a single mortal. Ridiculous."

Neither Shane nor his companion responded to this lecture.

"But your Purple Dragon cannot bind your fate outside the Plane of Dreams. As soon as you crossed the threshold into the Physical World, you became subjected to the free will that me and my sister create. Before you receive my judgment, I would offer another path. Walk away, never return to the Plane of Dreams, live in the Physical World forever, and you will be truly free. Felix, the aircraft that the humans have invented far surpass your own. Allow me to paint..."

"Absolutely not," Felix hissed, interrupting the Elemental. He slashed his hand through the air in an exaggerated gesture. "I will return to the Plane of Dreams, and nothing you say can sway my mind. My brothers and sisters need me. The military needs me. My nation needs me."

The Queen of Light turned to face Shane specifically. "Shane, you are just an insect crawling on the cover of a book, unable to comprehend the concept of writing. There are no restrictions on the books that are permitted in the Physical World. Thousands of years of history, bound in beautiful leather tomes, housed in libraries the size of your cities. Cutting-edge technologies, a world of knowledge at your fingertips. Unchained magic derived directly from the Elementals themselves, without the rules and limits of the make-believe magic of your Realms. There is no reason to keep living in your fantasy dreamland. Reality awaits."

Shane could not help himself. His mind began to consider the words of the Queen of Light. But a sudden awareness took priority. He watched his own mind in the abstract, observing the paths his consciousness followed. Just how much of the universe did he not understand? He wanted to believe her. He wanted to see the great libraries the size of cities.

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But he also understood that this temptation was calculated with extraordinary precision. But if he refused immediately, she would know his refusal was false, would she not? Shane envied Felix, once again. His refusal had been instantaneous. He fully understood the calculating nature of the temptation, but instead of fearing the Elemental, he feared only for his fellow Paladins.

However, Shane felt for a moment that he had been born in the wrong universe. It would be such a simple thing to leave.

I didn't choose to be born south of the border.

The voice of a stranger, overheard in the din of a crowded, smelly tavern. When Shane heard that man, he condemned that line of thinking. But now he realized he was a hypocrite. Those men desperately wanted to leave their homeland in search of a better life, without accounting for the predators. Those predators, like this Elemental, had their own purposes, and they had accounted for all possible responses.

Shane glared at the Elemental.

"No nation has ever been built by people who are desperate to escape," he sneered. "We stand upon the sacrifices of our ancestors. I refuse your offer."

"As you wish," the Queen of Light said. "Felix. What is your highest ideal?"

"If you make a mistake, then you should die," Felix said. "Soldiers sometimes choose to make sacrifices on behalf of their brothers and sisters. There must be consent. No person should be punished for the mistakes of another. So many people, politicians, charlatans, thugs, they seek clever and arcane methods of gaining advantage now, while dumping the disadvantages onto others, perhaps deep in the future. I would say, then, that my highest ideal is to choose to sacrifice, for those who are worthy, in a world free of redistributed risk."

The Queen of Light nodded. "Shane, what is your highest ideal?"

"To be a part of a spirit that is greater than myself," Shane said. "When I read a book, I join a long tradition of men like me, men who looked to the future and saw their own mortality. They did not shy away from their duty, instead they chose to devote their one and only life to progress. They knew that others would carry on after they died, that the spirit would guide untold generations to come through the capricious fortunes of infinite time."

"Mortals," the Queen of Light began, "you are invited to kneel."

Shane and Felix both dropped to one knee. They held their heads low. The Elemental reached down with both hands, and Shane saw the index finger gently press against his cheek. At first he felt nothing. And then, he immediately started screaming.

Pain ripped through his body. He convulsed, unable to move from his position kneeling before the Queen of Light. He felt burning on his cheek where the Elemental was touching, and he smelled a smoky-sweet meaty smell of burning flesh.

"Mortals! Heed my command!"

Shane could not close his eyes. The light emanating from Elemental drowned out all else. Sensations began to be replaced by abstractions. His mind was taken to another place, a plane of endless rainbow-crystal light in every direction. But that pain never left. His body was being destroyed.

"Arise, and be!"

From right foot to his right cheek, all the way up his body, a vein-like explosion of pain. Shane felt the shape of that pain. Symbols, projected onto the surface of his skin, burning, marking his flesh forever.

"Free from inner contradictions!"

A release. Shane collapsed onto the teal-blue tiles. Felix, remarkably, did not fall over. Shane realized that he had been screaming the whole time, but he never heard Felix cry out. The man endured the pain in silence. Dazed, Shane looked over his right arm. His skin was streaked with shining veins, like a fine piece of pottery shattered and then rejoined with molten gold. Symbols were marked onto his inner arm, written in some unknown language. In spite of his ignorance, Shane could read that ancient text.

Arise and be, free from inner contradictions.

Felix knelt to the right. The left side of his body had been branded with gold. The left side of his face now featured that same fractured gold appearance, originating from his cheek and radiating out towards his ear and down his neck.

"You are invited to rise," the Queen of Light said.

Two Elementals appeared, flanking the Queen of Light. Female, standing about six feet tall, they each looked like the Elemental in the lobby far below. Golden plate armor ornamented with burgundy filigree, a white cloak, a half-helmet with dozens of vertical slits, gold-burgundy sword and shield. Shane clambered to his feet, and Felix ceased kneeling.

"Daughters. They carry my command burned into their flesh. Offer to bond with them."

One of the two Elementals approached Shane. He heard her voice in his mind.

I am a Daughter of the Elemental Queen of Light. By Mother's command, I offer now to bond with you. I will consume your spiritual energy, and in exchange you will have access to my powers. Do you accept this bond?

"I do accept," Shane said.

"I accept," Felix said, though Shane could not hear what the other Elemental was saying.

"You have fulfilled the task foreseen by the Purple Dragon," the Queen of Light said. She waved her hand, dismissing them. "Go back the way you came. The way is clear."

Once more the darkness and spears of light rushed upward, and Shane found himself back down on the bottom floor of the tower, standing beside Felix. They began the long journey back to the city of Twin Fates. Meanwhile, Shane's new Elemental spoke to him in his mind.

If you have need of me, simply summon me or command me to show myself. When I am not needed, I will return to the Elemental Plane of Light. So long as we are bonded, I will be able to arrive at your side in an instant. Now listen, for I shall now describe my powers. The primary purpose of a Light Elemental is to determine if a mortal is telling the truth. I can warn you when another mortal is lying. This power will work on any mortal, with two exceptions.

"Ingrid and Vaska?" Shane asked.

That is correct. The High Daughter of the Elemental Queen of Light can command me. By her command, I may ignore your commands and fail to perform my duties for a time. The Firstborn, High Daughter of the Elemental Queen of Darkness, provides mechanisms that allow Vaska to lie without being detected, at all times.

"Are there other powers I should know about?"

The second of my powers is forgiveness. I can forgive the bonds between mortals and their Elementals. I can negotiate bonds with Elementals on your behalf. In practice, this allows you to preempt Elementals from your enemies. However, there are exceptions.

"The High Daughters?" Shane guessed.

That is correct. A bond with a High Daughter cannot be broken, not without the intervention of Divine Power. This protection extends to other Elementals with the same bond. For example, the one you call Brigid is bonded to a Greater Daughter of the Elemental Queen of Dreams. You will not be able to forgive this bond, her bond with the High Daughter of the Queen of Water protects her.

"I understand."

The third of my powers is the ability to reveal Dark Elementals. If they reside at a great distance, then I will be able to reveal their relative direction and distance. Dark Elementals will not be able to harm you so long as you are bonded to me. I can also detect when another has malice against you, with the aforementioned exceptions. Finally, all Light Elementals are able to create barriers of light that can protect from some types of physical trauma. Your mastery of wind magic makes this somewhat redundant, however if you lose consciousness I will strive to protect you.

They had walked out of the tower by the time the Light Elemental had finished her explanations. Far ahead and above, across the span of crystal platforms and bridges, the inverted obsidian chandelier loomed overhead. From the reverse angle, Shane saw for the first time the plume of dark mist rising from the location of the portal. His destination, a return to the Elemental Plane of Darkness.