Night had fallen again and Azul has still not returned nor sent any message. They understood that she must have had to spend the day in the colony but she had promised to send a message.

{Here it is!} Dorian explained, {She must have made a mistake in the sending process. From the sounds of the message she sent it out before sunrise.}

{Thank goodness,} Selina sighed in relief, {I was worried something happened to her.}

{Hold on, there is a second message. This one must be from the Black Knight.}

{What does it say?} Selina asked.

{I am coming,} Dorian read.

Coming? Howard was immediately on edge. They hadn’t prepared for the possibility of the Black Knight or anyone else from the Crimson Colony coming on such short notice.

{Does it say how soon?} Howard asked.

{No. That was all it said,} Dorian replied.

The door to the room opened suddenly to reveal Sanders.

Selina jumped slightly. {give us a warning before doing that,} she complained, {I didn’t even sense you coming.}

“Sorry about that,” Sanders apologized, using normal speech instead of telepathy, “I came to tell you guys something important.”

“What?” Howard asked, matching Sanders’ speech.

“Goodbye,” Sanders replied, “You are doing wonderful on your own, and if I heard the minds of those coming correctly, you don’t need to worry about anything. I have helped you come this far, and it is about time I returned home.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Selina asked in sudden panic, “you can’t leave now! This is when we need you most-”

Sanders held up a hand. “I can’t become too involved and I should avoid using my magic here more than I need to. Even if I stayed you have all become more powerful than the help I can provide. You don’t need me anymore.”

Howard was hit with the sudden powerful realization that he had been holding onto the idea of using Sanders as an escape route in an emergency, but he could not deny what Sanders was saying. When it came to war, Sanders would be useless. He only seemed to be able to truly help with the small things. Things that only required his telepathy and portals.

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“What about your tree?” Selina asked.

“You guys can keep it for housing guests so you don’t have to bring guests into your sacred tree or grow them their own trees,” Sanders replied, “Don’t worry about it too much.”

“Did you tell the others?” Howard asked.

“I left a note written in English. Only you guys should be able to understand that in this world,” Sanders explained, “I thought I owed you an explanation and a chance to ask final questions before I just disappeared.”

Selina still looked torn. “But, what will we do about the war?”

Sanders chuckled. “It wasn’t just me that could help you with this, right? Right, Dorian?”

Dorian stepped forward. “Nova told me exactly who you are. It was an honor working with you, Wild One.”

“Just call me Sanders,” he replied, “That is a name some old guy gave me. We don’t get along that well.”

Dorian seemed like he wanted to object, but gave in. “Of course.”

“Well then, I’ll be off,” Sanders announced and vanished as he sent them a small wave.

After he had been gone for a short time, Selina turned to Dorian. “Wild One?”

“Yes. He is someone foretold in prophecies in my homeworld. Someone with a wild, uncontrollable power who will change the fate of the universe. He is something like a hero, because the prophecies stated that his wild power would enable him to break the laws of the universe itself.”

Howard shuddered despite himself. “No wonder Veda didn’t like him.”

“That also explains why he was so resistant to using magic,” Selina agreed.

{Guys, we have visitors,} James reported. He must have been near the border of Concordia, {Azul is with them, but she looks a bit nervous.}

{It’s the Black Knight,} Dorian told him, {She sent us a message but we got sidetracked.}

{I’ll go and greet her,} Selina added and quickly left the room.

“Wasn't that a little fast?” Howard muttered to Dorian.

Dorian shrugged. “I still don’t know how long it takes the messages to travel in most conditions.”

Howard nodded. “We should get ready too. From what Sanders said, we will need whoever our visitors are if we intend to win this war, whether it comes down to actual battle or not.”

“What do you suggest we do?” Dorian asked.

“Sanders already gave us the answers.”

Dorian paused, then smiled. “You’re right. I will head there now and make sure nothing weird was left there.”

Howard headed down to the secret room behind the waterfall so he could spy on the conversation Selina had with their guests when they arrived. It was expected for the Sage to be by their fountain at all times.

He arrived just in time for the guests to enter the Ceremony Hall and catch sight of Selina.

A woman with sapphire hair and eyes stepped forward. {Greetings first Sage of Concordia. I am Zandra, ladder of the Crimson Colony.}

She had brought one woman with her, and two men. All of them had the telltale red eyes of those with Dream.

{It is a pleasure to meet you,} Selina replied with a smile, {To what do we owe the honor of this visit?}

{I found your message very intriguing, so I decided to come for more information,} Zandra replied.

The woman suddenly turned her gaze to the waterfall and Howard froze. It was as if she not only saw through the waterfall but through him as well.

{What is it, Koko?} Zandra asked.

{Someone is watching us,} Koko reported., Her gaze had not left Howard as she spoke.

Zandra’s eyes narrowed. {Come out.} she ordered. She did not shout, but there was power in voice.

Howard sighed and parted the waterfall so he could step through. {I am Howard, the second Sage of Concordia,} he revealed, {It is a pleasure to meet you.}

For a moment Howard thought he saw a satisfied smile on Zandra’s face, but when he looked again her face was like that of a stoic leader.

{Two out of three?} she told them, {I feel honored. Where is the third?}

{Preparing a place for you to stay if you should need it,} Howard answered honestly.

{That all depends on how things go. Shall we begin our discussion?} Zandra asked.

{Why don’t we go to the meeting room first?} Selina recommended, {We may want to talk for a while and it is much more comfortable there.}

{Lead the way.}