I waited at the bottom of the stairs. Luca darted between rooms as he gathered his stuff. My pack ready and my mind set, today we faced Discord. The northern border capital of Tetrad. It was the only active border around Tetrad, our relationship with the neighbouring country Vitriol was always shaky. Discord was an important line of defense. At least that’s what I had overheard a lot of nobels talk about. In terms of politics it seemed to be the fashionable thing to discuss.

Adjusting my bag I heard Luca stomp down the steps, an excited look in his eye. "Ready to head to Discord?." He asked, as he reached the ground floor. I grinned, “Ya, ready when you are.”

He nodded, “Then we should head out I guess.” He scratched his head. I pulled out the atlas, putting it on the table . "We have a few options to choose from in entering Discord." I set it on the table, flipping to Discord's section.

"We have the front gate, the Blood-gate war memorial, the center square, or the survey tower. That's all the book has pictures of." I said, flipping back and forth between the pages.

"The opening gate and the center square probably will have too many people." Luca mused. "And the survey tower is just outside the gate." I added, leaving the page to the war memorial. "Then our decision is easy." Luca said, pointing to it.

I nodded, "We have everything?" I asked, looking around the room. "I think so." He said offering his hand.

“I'm just happy to have an escape plan for once." He chuckled. "Breaking into the biggest cities in Tetrad is a lot easier when you have a Wanderer."

I smirked, “You don’t want to get arrested again?”

He rolled his eyes, “Let's just go.” I laughed, taking his hand. “Sure.” I prepared the image in my mind, shutting my eyes.

"What are you guys doing?"

My eyes flew open, Broc standing in the room staring at us. Luca pulled his hand back, both of us standing awkwardly giving Broc guilty looks. He stayed, waiting for an answer. "We're playing a game." Luca stepped up, shutting the Atlas.

Broc frowned, stepping closer to the table. "Can I play?" He asked, with a smirk. Luca looked stunned by his response. "Sure." Luca echoed, his eyes darting back and forth.

Broc was watching us both carefully, especially Luca. "How do you play?" Broc asked, locking a knowing glare on Luca.

"It's really complex, it's better to just jump in and learn." Luca gave a nervous grin, motioning for Broc to take a seat. I blinked at the converseration, unsure of how I should react. Should I play along?

Broc's smirk dropped, he leaned over at Luca "Cut the crap Luca, what are you hiding." Broc's frustration, a sudden switch in his tone.

"What makes you think I'm hiding something?" Luca bit back, not breaking eye contact. Broc laughed, "I don't know, the whispering, the cagey excuses, whatever this is." He said motioning to us. Luca hung his head, giving a loud sigh, "We're going on a short trip. We should be back by tonight."

Broc turned away, shaking his head, "I didn't want to worry you." Luca called, his frown growing. Broc raised his eyebrows,"Why are you going on a short trip?" He looked at me rather than Luca. I stuttered at his question, tightening my fists,"We have to warn the last capital." I met his gaze determinedly.

"So he's roped you into this." Broc shook his head in disbelief. Luca shut his eyes, "That's not what I'm doing, I-"

"Do you really want to expose her to the same danger that you throw yourself into?" Broc roared at Luca. Luca faltered for a second, guilt flashing across his face. I bit my lip, an anger building up inside me. Broc didn’t have a right to be mad at him. I wasn't ignorant about this.

"I know what I'm doing. I'm not afraid."

That's fine Phyn but-"

"No you don't understand. I want to fight."

"Phyn this is seriously dangerous stuff." He argued.

"Maybe but, either way people are coming for me. I deserve the right to fight back." I wouldn’t back down. "I know but-" Broc stopped, looking between me and Luca, studying our expressions. His eyes softened on mine, sympathy slapped across them.

Broc hissed a sigh, raising his hands in defeat, "Who am I to stop you." He growled, stepping back. "You won't listen to me anyway."

Luca stared at him, surprised, he opened his mouth to speak but stopped.

I opened the atlas again, turning back to the page. "Where are you going?" Broc asked, sitting with his head in his hands. "Discord." I answered, taking the sternness out of my tone.

"That's farther than a day's walk."

"We're not traveling on foot." Luca smirked. Broc lifted his head with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

Luca grinned, "I'm not the only one with a gifting here." He looked back at me. I blushed slightly, shrugging my shoulders. Broc raised his eyebrows.

"I'm a Wanderer." I said ending the suspense. Broc's expression dropped, "Your kidding." He muttered surprised. I shook my head, "Not at all."

Broc nodded, digesting my confession, “That’s incredible.”

I nodded, hiding a grin. “We should get going.” Luca interrupted.

Broc nodded dully,"You two come back in one piece okay."

"I'll make sure he gets back safe." I said confidently."We'll be back by tonight." Luca assured him. Luca took my hand and I looked back down at the atlas. Shutting my eyes, we disappeared.

The cottage interior melted away. The ripping feeling landing us in front of a large rectangular stone, smoothed out and polished it was covered in names. The Blood-gate war memorial, It was as chilling as ever. The names of every fallen soldier from the battle of blood gate, staring back at you, defining the massacre. Rows of graves surrounding us on all sides.

"Sobering, yes?" Luca muttered, breaking the deathly silence. "Yes." I said quietly,taking a step back from the rock. It brought back the reality of this, these were real people. Reality was grim.

“The battle with the greatest number of casualties during the great war.” I remarked dully.

“Still Discord triumphed, winning a losing war.” Luca added, stepping back from the memorial. This battle was their biggest glory, they wore it like a badge. They should have lost that battle.

I shivered at the wind, it was colder here, signaling the coming season change. The leaves, beginning to get the slightest bit orange.

"What's the plan?" I muttered against the chill, pulling my limbs closer.

"Well what I usually do is find the grand palace, break in, find whoever's in charge, spew out talk of impending doom and hope they listen." Luca scratched his head. "It's probably not the best course of action but I don't know what else to do."

I shrugged, "I don't have a better plan."

"Okay then, I guess we stick with it ." He gave a half grin, failing to hide his nervousness. I moved my eyes east of the memorial, "It's been a long time since I've been here."

"Me too." He echoed, as we started down the pathway.

Any memory of this place was distant. I didn’t stay anywhere long but this place was especially unfriendly. I never had a desire to stay here.

Starting on the uniform stones that led as a path to the city. The streets were far less bustling than either Euphoria or Mirth. A few people passed by, not acknowledging us. Everyone visibly carried a weapon. It probably made us stick out badly that we didn’t. Eyes looking at us with suspicion as we made our way into the heart of Discord.

"Not very warm, are they?" Luca remarked, keeping his voice low. "They know we don't belong." I whispered, sticking close to him. "That might make things harder." He muttered. I nodded, knowing very well that I attracted danger.

"It'll be fine." I said, not fully convinced. Every citizen here was armed to the teeth, all we had was a flare and some arrows. I didn’t know if Luca had any weapons but either way we were vulnerable.

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The buildings loomed over, simple and practical in decoration.

It made the streets feel lifeless. Discord held a determined fighting spirit but a cold and unfeeling one. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, looking tough was probably a good idea.

Turning the bend, their grand palace stood out frankly against the other buildings.

"Intimidating, isn't it?" Luca mused, admiring it. Standing as a single towering fortress, more fearsome than extravagant. A solid slab of rock, it looked impenetrable. Not for me. I smirked, staring it down. They couldn’t stop a Wanderer from breaking in.

"Let's go poke the bear." I said, starting my pace again. "Let's." Lucas's voice rang from just behind me.

It felt too quiet on our way to the palace, you could hear the wind whipping through the streets. We had seen a few people pass, but not what you'd expect to see in a major city. Even Lattice was more lively than this. I bit back a nervous feeling.

"Do you think we should've seen more people by now?"

Luca shrugged, looking just as confused as me. "Yes." He echoed, scanning our surroundings, "The streets are dead." He muttered. I frowned looking behind my back. “Something is wrong." I muttered, the pathway getting narrower.

"It might be a good idea to get off the street. Is it possible for you to get us inside?" Luca asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. I bit my lip nervously. "I've hardly been inside their grand palace." I admitted, reluctantly. "I don't know if I can form a good enough mental image to get us inside."

"We’ll just be direct and go straight for the gate, or wait..." Luca said, throwing his pack off his shoulder. He pulled out a little notebook and went flipping through it like a madman. "Or what?" I asked, waiting for his response. "I think this is from inside the palace." He said holding up the book for me to see. I took it to study it. The picture of Discord's flag hung on a wall above a long table.

"Will it work?" He asked, looking up, hopeful. I nodded a slow yes, "I think so." I muttered, preparing myself. Luca swung his pack back on, "Great then." He grinned. I took Luca's hand, meeting his determined gaze. "Here we go." I breathed.

I shut my eyes, the nothingness falling down over the streets of Discord. The inside of the room in the picture twisting it's way into our view. A dizzy feeling punched me in the gut. Luca stumbled for a second, an uneasy expression on his face. It wasn't my smoothest jump I had to admit.

"You good?" I asked, as he straightened himself up, "Yup." He said briefly, his voice sounding shaky. I gave him a weak smile as an apology.

I looked up, realizing the room around me. Several high looking officials stood around gawking at us. We stood at the center of some sort of meeting. My face went red at the room of eyes staring at us. I turned to Luca in panic. I didn't know what to do. This is why I didn't teleport into unfamiliar places.

Luca gathered his composure, he stood facing them confidently. "Good noblemen of Discord, I have seen your city burn in my dreams and if you don't heed my words that will be its reality." The room gasped in shock.

I dropped my grin slightly, "You think it was a good idea to say it like that. You could stand to be a little more diplomatic." I whispered. Luca dropped his confident look, showing me his nervousness, "I did come off a little insane, but we did just appear out of thin air, I was feeling it."

I shook my head, "Ya well, let's hope they respond to it." I stepped back, waiting for their reaction.

"And who are you?" A voice peaked around the others. A short white haired woman, pushed past the men, heading right for us. Dressed in almost full warrior garb, she stood about two heads shorter than anyone else. She wore the sternest expression of them all. Everyone stepped back, turning in attention.

"Um well my name is Luca, but I don't think that is really what you want to know." He answered.

"Your right Luca, I care more about where you get the audacity to threaten the mighty Discord while standing within her walls.''

I gulped, that was a clear misunderstanding. Luca’s eyes grew wide, "I don't mean to threaten your kingdom, I only come with a friendly warning. All four great cities of Tetrad will fall, I have seen our future. The window of opportunity to stop this is short."

"I think the real question is how they appeared out of thin air? Or is that just me?" A man's voice echoed from the opposite side. He sounded very pretentious. I leaned my head to see a middle-aged man with a well groomed beard. He was decorated so much with medals, I feared he'd fall over.

"You would be more concerned about frivolous details like that wouldn't you Edmond." The woman growled at him, putting her hands on her hips. "We have bigger problems." She hissed.

The room erupted in babbling conversation, everyone arguing with each other. Luca and I shrugged. This was getting ridiculous.

I gave a loud whistle, the whole room going back to silence. "We want an audience with your king, so if one of you could point us in the right direction?" I called out, frustrated with their pacing. "No sorry that won't be happening." The short old woman piped up again. I gave her my best glare, she didn't scare me.

"We can't take the chance that the pair of you are some sort of assassins. Seeing the King is out of the question." She huffed.

I rolled my eyes at her, "Do we look like assassins?"

"No but assassins rarely do. At least the good ones don't." She returned. I heaved a sigh of frustration, "We don't have time for this!" I clenched my fists.

"And we don't have time for you. I wouldn't test us, not the greatest war generals in all of Tetrad." She stood triumphantly.

I went to argue, my eyes catching a view of the hall outside the door. I had an idea. "Fine you win. I guess we'll go home then." I sighed, in a defeated voice. Luca turned his head in shock. The room went to murmuring again, discussing my abrupt conclusion. Luca frowned, questioning me with his eyes. I darted my eyes to the doorway, hoping he would understand. He furrowed his brow worse and I took his hand. I peered down the open door, visualizing the hall outside. Luca's eyes clicked in realization, just as we disappeared.

Finding ourselves outside the room, I could hear arguing erupt inside. Fighting over our strange interaction.

Luca laughed quietly, his eyes lighting up. I put my finger to my lips, motioning for him to be quiet. We didn't need to be discovered. He nodded, taking my hand, we scurried down the hall. Doing our best to avoid notice.

"That was genius." Luca whispered, excitedly. My face felt warm as I hid my grin. "Let’s see how long they buy it before we call it that." Luca shook his head. It made me blush more, I tucked my hair behind my ears, trying to stop such a reaction.

"We’re not out of trouble yet. We have a King to find, in the most security conscious capital of Tetrad. This isn't going to be easy."

"Nothing worthwhile ever is." Luca added, "We'll get it done, with both of our heads together, I have complete faith." His optimism made me feel more confident. We could do this.

Running by a staircase, Luca skidded to a halt, "Up, down, or stick with the floor we're on?" He looked at me for the answer. "I don't know." I put my hands on my hips. It was his idea to stop.

"Trust your instinct." Luca shrugged.

"How about you trust yours." I threw back.

"My instincts sucks." He complained, still staring at me. Was he really just gonna stand here and wait for me to decide? I frowned, "Fine, um..." I paused for a second, weighing my options. "Down?" I decided, warily starting down the steps. Luca followed suit, much more confidently. His assertion surprised me, I wasn't used to someone being so sure of me. It was a strange feeling but I liked it.

Getting to the floor below we entered the next level peaking through the doorway. "Coast looks clear." Luca said, looking out. I nodded, slipping down the hall with him.

We walked cautiously, still not seeing very many people. Since leaving the war general’s room we hadn't seen a soul. I was feeling unnerved "A palace shouldn't be this empty" I muttered. "I know." Luca echoed, looking just as worried as me.

A single guard swept quickly down the hall, his stern expression hiding a nervous energy beneath. Luca paused before walking right up to him. "Excuse me sir, but can you tell us what's going on here?" Luca asked the guard as he went to pass by us. The guard stopped staring at us surprised, "You don't know?" He asked, taken aback by our question. "No. That's why I'm asking" Luca resounded. The fear the guard was hiding overwhelmed his eyes. "God help you then." He mumbled, leaving us in a terrible confusion.

"That was unnerving." I echoed, watching the guard as he fled. Luca gave a nervous grin, "No kidding."

Getting back to our pace, we got to the end of the hall. Voices echoed out of the room, I had no idea if we were even close to where the king was, we stood outside the room listening. "Sire you have to make a decision." The first voice said desperately. My mind landing on the word ‘sire’, we may have actually found the King.

"How can I? Discord gives in to no man. I won't be strong armed into this." The second voice argued, in a commanding tone, certainly king worthy.

"You may not have a kingdom left if you fight this." The first voice retorted.

"But no power of my own if I don't."

I knocked on the open door, suddenly feeling bold. I walked straight into the small study-like room, Luca right on my heels. The owners of the two voices turned their heads surprised. A man with a light brown beard and well defined features, stood up at our interruption. An air of authority, he wore a black-gray over cloak, the colours of the city.

Another man, skinny and blond, stood opposite to him. He scowled at our presence.

I pursed my lips, not letting my confidence waver, "Hello don't mean to bother you but we have some important information."

The king stared at us confused, his advisor looking outraged.

"What is this? Who are you?" His eyes bugged out.

"Is it important because I have a lot going on as it is." The King asked, happy to shrug off his advisor's questions.

"It is deathly important." Luca stepped forward, locking eyes with the King. He nodded, motioning to the chair. "Take a seat then." He looked back up to his advisor. "Give us a moment."

"But sire-"

"I'm still in charge here Regius." He bit back, "Leave us."

Regius frowned with a sour expression, reluctantly leaving the room. Luca offered me the seat, pulling forward another. The King sat down himself, reluctantly heaving out a sigh. "And what sort of deathly important information do you two skinny youths have to tell me?"

"Thank you for hearing us out." Luca said, ignoring the touch of snarkiness.

"Both me and my friend here are Marked." Luca said motioning to me. "She's a Wanderer and I'm a Dreamer. I have had multiple, extremely vivid dreams of one event that is already set in motion. Something is coming for the whole of Tetrad. I don't know all the specifics just that it has to do with the renewing of an old alliance. Euphoria will fall first than Manic, Mirth, and lastly Discord. All four capitals will be laid to waste, their destruction irreversible. None of the other capitals have listened to me and there isn't much hope left for any of us but there is a chance Discord can be saved." Luca spoke, unwavering in his tone.

The king stopped for a second, suddenly giving an exasperated laugh, he threw his head back. "He's being serious." I growled, glaring at him for it. The King nodded his head, gaining his composure.

"I know that's not why I'm laughing." He said, "There is no saving Discord, either way we burn." The terror in the king's eyes shining through his grin. Luca and I turned to each other in shock. "You've merely made my decision easier. I can at least thank you for that."