The Duke was wearing another ostentatious outfit, looking quite blasphemous in a holy building.

Flama had a red fur hat and a red furry coat draped down to his knees. He wore leggings made of leather, and a leather shirt to match. His shoes were white boots that sparkled and it was impossible to miss him from a mile away. For whatever odd reason he was wearing sunglasses indoors, looking even more ridiculous.

Kylan pointed at him and said another inappropriate thing.

"GUYS! LOOK! WHY IS HE COSPLAYING!?!"

"I am not cosplaying you stupid nerd," Flama said in disgust. "I'm here for my wife."

Kylan looked at Seraphina.

"No you idiot," Seraphina shouted. "They need to make the military school's entrance exams harder!"

Flama took a few steps toward them and Eric went to the front of the group, ready to stop him.

"Run away," Eric said. "This man is so stupid he's dangerous."

"I told you and your friend that it was a misunderstanding. Isn't that right sweetheart?"

Princess Rhiannon said the Duke's most hated word.

"No."

"You mean yes," Flama corrected her.

"No, I meant what I said," his wife replied. "You never apologize to me. You never apologized to that poor family that lost their daughter..."

"I can't. My lawyers said it would mean an admission of guilt."

"What's wrong with you," Princess Rhiannon shouted. "Can't you stop thinking about yourself for one moment!"

"That's why I'm here. I was worried about you. I followed you here."

He took a few steps closer and Princess Rhiannon froze in fear. Eric didn't understand why a woman who seemed to be a powerful Weaver was terrified in front of Flama, who was nothing but hot air.

"Please let me return his sword. If it gets damaged, he'll die," she told Flama.

"I don't care! If he dies then all of this is solved! Give it to me!"

Flama ran for the sword, and Eric put up his fists to fight. Aster intercepted Flama and pushed him hard enough to send him flying into the wall. One of the candles hanging on the walls fell to the ground and lit Flama's luxurious coat on fire. Instead of taking his coat off and trying to put the fire off, Flama's anger seeped into the flames.

The fire kept going up his jacket, but Flama stood in a trance, and his eyes turned bright red.

"He's a Weaver," Eric asked Princess Rhiannon.

"No," she shook her head.

"Then just now he discovered the most dangerous path? How?"

"This is the Flaja Temple. Fire Spirit Temple," Kylan said. "Makes sense. It's probably why Phoenix brought us here."

"That has to be the smartest thing I have ever heard you say," Seraphina replied. "That old lady was right. The universe is unraveling. We are going to die here."

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Flama threw off his jacket on the floor and stomped to put out the fire. He glared at Aster in an attempt to make him burst into flames, but he wasn't knowledgeable enough on how to do it, and so he just looked like a crazed maniac. Aster knew that Flama's main goal was the sword, so he tried pushing him farther away from the group.

A gust of air pushed out from behind him, and Flama was lifted into the air. It worked to get him away, but all the candles went out in the hallway, and they stood in the dark. The only visible light was the glowing sword, making Princess Rhiannon the perfect target. Only Eric could see in the dark, and he hoped that Flama didn't figure out how to summon fire using friction.

"I can't see," Seraphina said. "Help!"

"Close your eyes," Kylan said.

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Just do it!"

Flama couldn't see until he closed his eyes, and then he could see the unseen. He wasn't fumbling in the dark any longer and stood in what now looked like a beautiful hallway, made of marble floor and with long illustrious columns. The ceiling had rainbow waves of the Ten Paths flowing through them, and the columns were made of pure light.

"This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," Flama said.

He took off his sunglasses and was taken aback by the grandiosity, and was too distracted to notice them get away. Since they closed their eyes, they were running through an entirely different land, and when they finally opened them, they were not back in the old temple. Kylan attempted to back by squeezing his eyes open and shut multiple times over and over, but it wasn't working and his brave face was gone for the first time.

"Guys, I think we're stuck here," he said. "What should we do Eric?"

"Me? Why me?"

"You look like you know what you're doing. I guess I was wrong."

Eric and Kylan started arguing, making the strange situation more dire. Princess Rhiannon was too worried about the sword to try going anywhere, and Aster was getting distracted again by the swirling lights. Seraphina looked around the large expanse they were in, which was empty, except for an old couple sitting on a bench.

"I'll be back, " she said.

She ran over to them, exchanged some pleasantries and Seraphina returned with good news.

"They know the way out of here. I think they're like friendly spirits or whatever. It doesn't matter, let's go with them."

Not all of them trusted the old spirits. It could be malicious but putting up a friendly disguise, but there was no proof. The old man and woman wore the same red and white robes that the people working the temple did, and the old woman held a cane. They seemed to be married, because the entire time, he never let go of her hand, and she always referred to him as her cute little paser.

"Please don't stray far from the path," the old woman told them. "It's so dangerous."

"We can take you to the stairs, but we aren't going through the door, we're not in the mood to visit today," the man said. "It's too loud with all those people!"

The old couple hobbled slowly, knowing their way through the expanse. They kept walking and went right through a large column. The rest of them stopped and didn't know what to do.

"I'm going for it," Kylan said. "You only live once."

"And you only die once," Seraphina shouted.

Kylan ran headfirst into the giant column of light and disappeared. He didn't come out, and the rest of them reluctantly entered, Seraphina the last to go. On the other side, they had appeared at the top of a large staircase, and at the bottom was a giant red arch with swirling colors at the center of it. Many spirits were flowing out of it, entering the other side, and Eric put together where they were.

"We need to leave, now, before we end up like Tiffany," Eric said.

He ran down the steps, and the others followed after, except for Princess Rhiannon. She spoke with them for a bit, curious about the other side, and when she had gotten all the information she wanted, she descended the stairs into the land of the living.

Outside of the temple, they were waiting for her about ten minutes. They were getting anxious and Eric was trying to think up reasonable excuses for how he lost a princess in another dimension.

"What happened in there," Aster asked.

"I was curious. I don't we'll ever get another chance like that," Princess Rhiannon replied. "Paciĝo and her husband were nice enough to answer my questions."

"Whoa. The actual Paciĝo! Do you know what means," Kylan shouted excitedly.

"Yes, I-"

"We ARE FATED LOVERS," Kylan shouted. "WE ARE GOING TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER PRINCESS RHIANNON!"

"I don't think that's right...you're quite too young for me," she replied.

Kylan turned to look at Seraphina.

"I don't date freshmen, I'm graduating in three months," she said.

"Darn! Guess we'll never know."

Seraphina looked at Eric and Aster and made her intentions clear.

"No thank you. That story is a lie. None of these people I have any interest in," she said.

"Yup," Eric said. "Totally fake, yes siree."

He nodded vigorously and didn't want to know if the story was true or not, but considering what had happened so far, it probably was.

"Let's just find Max already and go back to the lodge," Eric said. "I am so tired."

They quickly walked into the temple, happy to get away from the cold but inside the lobby was another problem.