"Selena, was it?" Venice asked.

The moon spirit smirked at him addressing her and wagged a finger. "It’s normally advisable to greet a High Spirit with some semblance of formality, young man," she scolded. "And here I thought I taught you manners."

As Lola observed the spirit’s body language, it came across with an unusual sense of familiarity. Her manner of speech and behavior toward Venice struck a cord. "Are you kidding me?" the Buhund exclaimed.

"This is not a joke," Selena asserted. "And I would think that when you were given the ability to talk that Venice would have bothered to teach you some manners as well."

Lola snarled. "What? You play around with someone’s memories and you expect them to be happy to see you?"

Venice slapped his palm to his face. "Oh for the love of—"

"Venice, who is this woman?" Aurora asked.

Selena’s grin grew wider. "In my previous life as a human I went by the name Carol Champa; otherwise known as—"

"Grandmother," Venice groaned. "How much more were you going to beat around the bush? Honestly, the High Spirit of the Moon Tsu was just erased in our last battle. Now isn’t the time for this levity."

Selena sighed. "I haven’t seen either of you since my ascension. I couldn’t resist the urge to toy with you at least a little bit, but I suppose we have more pressing matters to deal with."

Betty approached from the nearby auto-caravan. "Indeed we do, cher," she remarked. "That chain-wielding hag slipped away while you were all focused on healing Sam. It’s a heckuva concern that her powers remained, as it means Mikaboh wasn’t destroyed."

Amah looked blankly at the old Sage. "Of course he wasn’t. He’s something far more ancient than any of us. Felling him would never be so simple."

Doug got to his feet, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "So what brings you here? The Spirit Order doesn’t typically send an emissary to greet Sages unless there’s urgent business to be dealt with."

Selena laughed. "Not even a hello, Rose? You’re not wrong, however. I do come with information regarding the imbalance of this world."

She held out her hand, and with a puff of smoke a large, leather-bound book appeared in it. Without hesitation, she opened it and quickly began to thumb through it. "The Ledger of Death, borrowed temporarily from Imah and Grim," she explained. "The Spirits of Death found that several deceased souls listed here were not found in the Fields of Beyond and that there was no record of their reincarnation being processed."

She slowed her scrolling through the book, turning it outward to face the group as her finger pointed to a name listed at the top of her current page. All of the names were written in black ink, save for the name she was pointing to which was written in grey: Turin Sharma. "I thought you might recognize this one, Venice. And there are millions more, all of their names are marked in grey."

Selena turned the book back toward herself and continued flipping through it as she listed off more names. "Hikaru Sandara, Corvido Quinoa, Sitara Song (née Raag), Harrison Wesley, Davis Wesley, Quinn Wesley (née Carter)."

She closed the book, the ledger disappearing from her hands in another puff of smoke. "The only common factor we can find is that they all met their demise at the jaws of Bogba’el," she disclosed. "All of the Death Spirits under Imah have searched for their whereabouts but have found no sign of them anywhere."

Lola glanced up at Venice as if to ask permission to divulge what they’d seen. The carpenter averted his eyes, weary and reluctant to agree.

"Are you telling me that you have no idea where my sister’s and my nephews’ souls are?" Carter fumed.

"We know where absolutely none of them are," Selena replied. "This investigation began before Amah was sentenced by the Grand Spirits, and we have found no leads."

The Buhund turned to the Sun Spirit. "You knew?"

Amah looked down. "Yes. Igah and Imah brought it to my attention after you released the Sun, Moon, and Stars. It is one of the major contributors to the imbalance the worlds are currently experiencing, but I didn’t know—"

"Why didn’t you just tell us?" Lola thundered. "Why can’t you or the rest of the Spirits ever be direct?"

"I didn’t know that your loved ones were on the list!" Amah roared back. "I lost so much of my strength bringing you back from the dead that I spent months in the Sky Kingdom recuperating! All simply because I couldn’t bear to see your friends suffer the way I did when Spitz died."

The sun spirit’s face was flush with despair and embarrassment. "You expect us Spirits to be perfect, to be all-knowing, but we’re not Gods. After all I’ve sacrificed and the punishment I’ve endured to bend and break the laws of nature for you, couldn’t you assume for a moment that I wouldn’t hide something so important from you."

As Amah buried her face in her hands, Uzhu exited the auto caravan and made her way over. With a furious gleam in her eyes, she took hold of the silk scarf draped over her shoulders and swung it in Lola’s direction as it wrapped tightly around the Buhund’s mouth. "Enough! Did you forget that she just lost her brother?"

"The matters the High Spirits deal with are often very complex and volatile," Selena explained. "Sometimes we can’t know everything, and sometimes we can’t disclose everything; to do so would cause chaos and panic."

Lola pawed the scarf loose from her snout. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Venice took a deep breath. "We know where they are."

Everyone looked at them in astonishment. "I’ve been encountering them in my dreams … all of them," Lola elaborated. "I didn’t realize what it meant at first."

"The Chakram linked our minds temporarily, so I was able to enter her dream as well," Venice added. "What she says is true."

As he spoke, the Chakram in the side of Lola’s harness lit up with a familiar violet glow. "Indeed," it spoke. "The dream the young Buhund saw and shared with us is a view of the dreamworld beyond the mists of the realm of sleep—untouched and undistorted."

"This isn’t good," Amah remarked. "They can’t reach the fields of beyond from there."

Selena shook her head. "The gateway that connects the material and spirit worlds with the world of dreams was sealed eons ago. I don’t even know where we’d start looking for a way to free them."

Ruark’s metal arm clattered as he walked toward them. "You should focus on ensuring Mikaboh is stopped, first and foremost," he interjected. "The only reason Lola was able to foil him was due to the musician’s magic boosting her strength. That strategy won’t work a second time."

"And what would you suggest?" Amah inquired.

The Spellsword reached into his jacket with his flesh and blood hand and retrieved an ornately wound scroll. "I would like the chance to discuss that with you in private."

The sun spirit nodded softly, directing him, Uzhu, and Selena to follow her as they walked wearily toward the center car of the auto-caravan.

"So …" Wesley’s voice pulled Lola’s attention away from them.

The Buhund turned her head back toward the ex-soldier. His eyes begged for an explanation. "You met Quinn and my boys?" he asked.

Lola paused. "We did," she replied. "Your sons wanted us to give you a message."

"A what?" Wesley responded in disbelief.

She looked back up to Venice, a sadness welling up in her chest, and sighed. "Their exact words were: ’Can you please tell Dad and Uncle Robert that what happened to us wasn’t their fault?’"

Breathless, Wesley’s cheeks went red, he fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands. He began sobbing loudly.

Carter put his hand on Wesley’s shoulder. "Will you pull yourself together, Marion?" he implored.

Jakea grabbed Carter’s hand, removing it from the ex-soldier’s shoulder. "Let him grieve, Uncle Robert," she insisted. "You should let yourself grieve as well."

Carter held his hand over his eyes and after a ragged breath began to weep.

#

Lola raced from the group, straight toward the caravan’s center car after Amah. "Lola, wait!" Venice called as he ran after her.

She clambered up the center car’s steps, seeing out of the corner of her eye that Venice, Aurora, and Rook were trailing behind her. "Why are you running off?" the carpenter begged.

"Things just got way too intense," she replied. "All these heavy things—all the tears, dead parents, dead children—I can’t handle all of this."

Amah’s voice reached her ears as she made her way past the top step she noticed. "This is overkill," the sun spirit insisted.

Lola looked up to see Ruark displaying an unfurled scroll to the three spirits. "Overkill or not, you don’t have time to train all of them," the Spellsword argued. "You’re already smack dab in the middle of a war with the Mikaboh the Empty One and your eight Worldly Sages’ magic has barely awakened. This would guarantee their magic would progress quickly enough to combat him. Even just from the legends, I know well enough he’ll come back even stronger than before. Your Sages need all the help they can get."

Amah’s hands fell to her sides, balled with anger. "Athena will seal them in the Stagnant Garden if we do this!" she protested. "I’ve already been responsible for one soul losing its ability to reincarnate."

Selena gently took Amah’s hand. "I will appeal to her," the moon spirit reassured her. "This is a dire moment. An exception needs to be made."

"And besides," Ruark added. "We wouldn’t be using Athena’s essence for the spell, so there would be no justification for continuing her grudge."

Amah stomped her foot. "And how will it end? With all eight of them sacrificing their souls to seal Mikaboh, just like the last time? Sealing him is not a permanent solution! It is not worth what they’d surrender."

"If they’re fully awakened, the Chakram may be able to destroy him. It’s an advantage you didn’t have ten thousand years ago, isn’t it?" Ruark replied.

Venice stepped up next to Lola, appearing as perplexed as she did by their conversation. He cleared his throat loudly, catching the attention of the Spellsword and the three spirits. "What on Lumea are you talking about?"

"What part of ’in private,’ did you not understand, Fireweed?" Ruark sniped.

Everyone paused. "Why ’Fireweed’?" Lola asked.

"Because much like the plant, he’s obnoxiously tenacious," the Spellsword replied. "Can we have a moment to continue discussing this without you lot here?"

Aurora poked her head into the car. "If it’s about us like I heard, then I think we have every right to hear it," she interjected.

"So what’s all this about us being sealed in the Stagnant Garden?" Rook asked.

"It’s not like it’s entirely unpleasant," the Chakram added. "You basically just sleep for eternity."

Amah raised a hand to direct them away. "Give us five minutes to finish debating this and we will include you in the discussion. Until then, get out!" 

#

The center car’s door slammed closed loudly behind them. "Someone’s got a bug up her rear," Rook remarked.

"I guess this is how she processes grief?" Aurora suggested.

Lola glanced over toward the rest of the group to see everyone else recuperating from the previous battle. The sun hung higher in the sky, indicative of the mid-morning.

Sam and Doug sat nearby, the old Sage leaning against his knees as he sat on the grass. "Their names were Disha, Fareed, and Ezhil Patel. Ages ten, eight, and six respectively," he remarked to the Parkahund. "They used to play with you when you were a puppy, often visiting my shack against their parents’ wishes. I’ve never forgotten about them, even for a day."

Sam warbled loudly as he nudged the Sage’s arm with his snout. "Even your forgiveness, and their family’s forgiveness, won’t lift the weight I’ve lived with," Doug continued. "Listen to me, a sixty-five-year-old blubbering like a teenager."

Sam rested his head on the old Sage’s shoulder. "Roaron," he grumbled softly.

The door to the rear car flew open with a bang. Betty exited carrying a large basket of assorted foods as Balrog bounded along behind her, thumping boisterously as it did. "You got to give me somethin’," the chest protested. "I’m about to die of hunger."

"You can’t die of hunger, cher. Yer a demon chest," she replied. "If I give you a dinner roll, will you stop yer bellyaching?"

The chest’s lid swung open eagerly. "Put it in me."

Rolling her eyes, Betty retrieved a small bun and dropped it into the chest. Balrog slammed shut and began chewing obnoxiously. Betty turned away from the demon chest and walked in Lola’s direction. "You, little lady, need to eat something," she dictated.

"You shouldn’t be feeding her all that bread; dogs don’t digest wheat," Doug interjected.

"Then she can eat around the bread," Betty countered as she retrieved an enormous piece of dried fish from the basket.

Lola inched forward. Her stomach growled. "I guess I am pretty hungry."

The Buhund caught the fish in her jaws as Betty tossed it down to her, chewing it viciously.

"And a pork bun for you," the old woman remarked as she tossed a pastry to Venice.

The carpenter scrambled to catch the bun, barely taking hold of it. "I imagine that spell you unleashed took a lot outta both of ya."

Venice looked down to see Lola attempting to fit the entire piece of fish down her throat, loudly gnashing away at it. "I think I just lost my appetite."

With a jolt, the sky above suddenly turned black and the world in the distance fell away. Familiar swirls of stars and galaxies speckled the abyss they now found the campsite floating in. Lola looked around in astonishment as the fish’s tail hung out of her mouth.

"You have already undergone one rite," Ruark’s voice called. "Now it is time for another."

Everyone’s attention was drawn to a scrap of land opposite the caravan. Amah and the Spellsword stood side-by-side. Ruark had removed his jacket and undershirt—countless symbols and markings covered his bare skin, glowing with a soft, gold light. Scars covered the area under which his prosthetic arm was strapped in place, running down the side of his torso. "I will begin with the origin of my people," he dictated.

"In the days after the Dire Wars during a time when the World of Lumea had begun to heal, there lived a great scholar. Through her studies and endeavors, she was able to preserve several of magics and sciences that had almost been lost to the Days of Fire. Much was still lost, yet the rebuilding world owed her much for recovering many things that were almost lost forever. She was humble about her work, feeling that it was her duty to retain the knowledge that had caused the Dire Wars and the Days of Devastation in order to prevent another calamity from befalling Lumea.

"In her practice, the scholar looked up to Athena, the Grand Spirit of Wisdom; admiring the knowledge she’d amassed and her endless pursuit of further enlightenment. Flattered by the tributes the scholar regularly held for her, Athena eventually departed her post to visit her; taking human form as she did. There was much mirth when she visited as the Spirit and the scholar talked for hours while she showed Athena her vast collection of books.

"In an absentminded moment, Athena accidentally cut her finger on the page of a tome, leaving behind a single drop of her golden blood. She apologized profusely to the scholar and thought little of it at the time after she reassured her. Soon after she departed, the scholar looked back through the tome Athena had cut her finger on and removed the page corner where her blood had dried.

"In her curiosity, she crushed and refined the scrap of parchment, finding a spell in her tomes that was able to retrieve a tiny portion of Athena’s essence from the dried ichor. She combined it with another spell that fused the Grand Spirit’s essence into her husband and herself … greatly amplifying their ability to use magic and granting them an extended lifespan. The scholar and her husband had five children over the years and found that the benefits of the spell had passed onto every one of them, although each had an affinity for one of the five earthly elements.

"Shortly after the birth of their fifth child, Athena discovered what the scholar had done. Feeling betrayed that her ichor had been used to make the scholar and her husband into something unnatural beyond what humans were intended to be, she confronted her about her actions. The scholar apologized but defended herself, claiming that she had intended for her husband and herself to use their magic and longevity to protect the world and prevent another Dire War. Unmoved by her admission and explanation, Athena denounced her for tampering with the balance of nature through her actions. Before departing she declared that as a result of her actions, all of those born from her bloodline would have their souls sealed in the Stagnant Garden upon their death and never allowed to reincarnate into another life.

"Undeterred from their goal, many years later she and her husband set their children out on journeys to numerous corners of the world, sending with them the mission that they were to maintain order in the world at all costs. Each of the children went on to found one of the Five Tribes of the Da’i Kii."

Lola swallowed the fish’s tail with a loud gulp. "Why are you telling us this?"

Ruark held up the scroll he was holding earlier and unfurled it. Unfamiliar arcane symbols covered the parchment, spiraling from its center outward. "Because this is the spell that the scholar used," he replied. "I carried it with me, a gift from my mother. It is likely why the Luce Verans placed my coffin in the sealed chamber as it is dreadfully powerful magic."

Lola tilted her head as she glanced at him, looking up to Venice for some hint of what the Da’i Kii was suggesting. The carpenter’s gaze was fixed intensely on the Spellsword. "Geez, stare harder, why don’t you?" she remarked.

"I was just looking at his markings and trying to connect where I’ve seen them before!" Venice snapped back, flustered. "They look very familiar."

He looked down to see the pork bun was no longer in his hand. "Whatever you gotta tell yourself," Lola replied with a full mouth.

Amah sighed and smiled. "What Ruark is suggesting is that he use the spell to make all of you the new Da’i Kii."

"If you don’t mind me asking," Jakea interjected. "The Spirits already augmented our magic. Why would we need to be made into Da’i Kii as well?"

Selena appeared in a flash of silver light between Amah and Ruark. "The Rite of the Sages tempered the magic already within the eight of you the world selected," the Moon Spirit offered. "However, your magic will still need time to reach its full potential. It took a large portion of Lola and Venice’s magic, combined with Aurora’s audiomancy, channeled through the Genesis Chakram to fight back Mikaboh this time. He is cunning and will undoubtedly return with a way to circumvent that strategy a second time. Therefore, we must expedite things."

"This spell’s augmentation runs down to the core of your soul … unlike the Rite of the Sages, which only augmented your chakras. It’s dangerous, as you will gain potent magic all at once, but it will accelerate things to let you outmatch Mikaboh and his forces," Amah continued. "We came too close to being overwhelmed. It’s very risky, yet an opportunity that I would like you all to consider."

Doug stood up, visibly unamused by the display. "Even if you have the spell to do it, you seem to be overlooking the fact that you’re missing a key component: Athena’s blood."

Ruark took the scroll in his artificial hand, holding up his flesh and blood hand and snapping his fingers. A vial of viscous, golden liquid appeared in his hand with a puff of smoke. "Not exactly the same ingredient, as it’s not the blood of a Grand Spirit, but a powerful spirit nonetheless," he remarked.

Lola’s eyes wandered from the vial to Amah, noticing the sun spirit’s left index finger was wrapped with a bandage. "You will be a new kind of Da’i Kii. Made from the blood of another Spirit, with their permission, Athena’s grudge will not carry to you," the Spellsword explained. "However, the spell will not be cast without your consent. There is no reversing this once it is enacted. Make your choice."

The group was silent with contemplation. Lola looked up to see Venice staring at Ruark again. "They’re Ju’mon Bhasha symbols, Fireweed," Ruark commented. "You won’t be able to read them no matter how much you stare at them."

"I’m not really appreciating that nickname," Venice grumbled.

"So it would be just the eight Worldly Sages, right? For the sake of everything?" Aurora asked.

Ruark laughed hardily.

"Get to the point, Iron Key," Selena scolded.

Aurora appeared dumbfounded. "Did I say something wrong?"

"You did," Ruark replied. "I wasn’t just addressing the eight Worldly Sages; I was addressing every magic user here. Everyone from the two elder Sages to the magic-canceling mutt. You need an army of powerful magic users, and I’m going to give it to you."

Everyone shared a collective glance, hesitating to respond. Lola sat down, contemplating what to decide. Images of the fight they’d just survived ran through her mind—the narrowly avoided hazards, the losses they had endured. The sight of Tsu’s face shortly before he was erased from existence had burned itself into her mind. "This comes with a price. What is it?" the Buhund demanded.

"In addition to your magic being unleashed like the opening of a floodgate, you will live an unnaturally long life," Amah replied. "As with the original Da’i Kii, your lifespans will be extended beyond the limits of normal material beings. Any loved ones you have that are not Da’i Kii, you will outlive."

Lola looked back to Venice, Aurora, and Rook. "I don’t think that’ll be an issue for most of us," the rooster remarked.

"Well, I mean, my dad …" Aurora trailed off. The musician fiddled with her fingers. "If he were here, he’d scold me for being irresolute over him," she chuckled morosely to herself. "I’ll do it."

The group behind Lola began murmuring in agreement. She turned her head back farther to see Sam dragging Danny out of the Caravan. "Are we seriously doing this?" the Buhund asked.

"It’s our best option, cher," Betty remarked.

Lola turned back to Ruark. "All right," she exhaled. "Do whatever you’re going to do."

Ruark nodded, turning the unfurled scroll to face himself and holding it up to his eye-line. As he let go of it the scroll floated in mid-air in front of him. With the fingers of his artificial, hand he traced the symbols on the page, spiraling left from the center outward. "I don’t exactly have the alchemy kit for this, so I’m probably going to have to improvise."

He drew two large shards of greyed, unpolished metal out of his pocket. With a dull, gold glow they drifted up into the air from his hand, warping and bending into an egg-shaped capsule, a small slit open at its top. Ruark opened the vial in his right hand and emptied the golden ichor into the capsule. The opening closed and the crystal vial vanished from his hand with another puff of smoke. "This is going to be loud," he warned.

Drawing in a deep breath, Ruark moved both of his hands alongside the capsule and started chanting softly in an unknown language. As he murmured the incantation, the metal began vibrating rapidly, the vibrations growing more frequent by the second. An offensive buzzing echoed across the camp as the capsule started to glow a bright red.

Lola fell to the ground and held her paws over her ears in an effort to block out the painful sound. "What is he doing?" she asked loudly.

She glanced up to see that everyone else was attempting to cover their ears. "What?" Venice screamed back.

"What is he doing?" Lola repeated loudly.

"I can’t hear you!" the carpenter repeated.

With a loud ding of metal, the buzzing stopped. The capsule erupted into a flurry of silver flecks, leaving behind a shining golden core as it disintegrated. "Lesson of the day: you can heat metal by rapidly vibrating it," Ruark explained. "Now, open your hearts and your minds!"

The golden core floating between the Spellsword’s hands cracked and fragmented into several shards that flew away from him. Moving in unison, the shards whizzed toward the group. As they approached, they broke off formation, each shard curving in the direction of a different target.

Lola rose at the sight of a single shard headed for her, backing away uneasily as it closed in. It aligned itself with her heart and collided with her form. She could feel its warmth traveling past her physical form to the very core of her being, a rush of energy spiraling from her center as it reached her soul. "I feel like I’m going to overload," the Buhund declared.

The spark of flames from behind her caught her attention. She turned her head to see Venice stomping out fire around his feet in a panic. "Why did you set the ground on fire?" Aurora demanded.

He desperately tried to extinguish the flames. "I don’t know! It just happened!"

Ruark approached. "Calm down, otherwise you’ll only spread the fire further," he instructed.

Mindlessly, Lola dug her back feet into the soil and kicked a large clod of dirt onto the flames, dousing them completely. Venice let out a sigh of relief for a brief second before the flames flickered back to life. "What kind of fire is this?" he begged.

"I told you to calm down!" Ruark scolded. "The more you panic, the more the flames will grow. Your natural chi has just been augmented and released. Your emotional state for the next few days will greatly affect how it manifests. So take a deep breath and calm down."

Closing his eyes, Venice inhaled and exhaled deeply, the flames dying down as he did.

Lola felt a twinge of panic at the Spellsword’s words. "Wait, so does this mean if any of us panics our magic can go out of control?" she blurted.

Just as she spoke, the Buhund let out an involuntary wretch and a beam of white light spilled out of her mouth onto the ground. She coughed loudly as it subsided.

"Nobody else panic, please," Ruark instructed. "We don’t have time for a contest to see who can get the most worked up."

Another jolt of energy echoed around them, and they suddenly found themselves back in the same field they were in before. Selena had vanished, while only Amah and Ruark remained. "Over the next few days, as you all adapt to this change, Ruark will be tasked with guiding your progress," the Sun Spirit instructed. "Even still, we must take our next steps in spite of your recuperation."

"What are our next steps?" Lola inquired.

"I haven’t the slightest clue," Amah replied. "There’s no way of knowing exactly what Mikaboh is planning next. Even though his end goal is clear, there are many, many ways that he could disrupt and destroy the fabric of reality."

A ball of silver light descended from the sky, solidifying as the form of Selena. In her arms, she carried a pigeon with several draconian features—an elongated beak, four red eyes, a spiked reptilian tail, dragon wings, and several sharp teeth hanging out from its mouth. "I’m glad that only took me a minute. Athena was a great deal more helpful than I anticipated," the Moon Spirit panted. "Also, I happened to intercept this little lass on the way back.”

"Coo," the bird in her arms uttered in a deep, monotone voice.

"What is that thing?" Lola asked.

"You’ve never seen a dracopigeon before?" Selena countered.

"That’s a dracopigeon?" the Buhund replied. "It looks horrifying!"

The moon spirit shrugged. "Well, yes, they are rather unsightly. However, they’re fairly tame and a great deal more reliable than standard courier pigeons. I believe she was on her way to you."

With a flutter of its wings, the bird flew from Selena into Venice’s arms. It dug its head into a pack on its chest and retrieved a small bauble wrapped in paper. As Venice took hold of the item, the bird took off again into the air. "Coo," it called back in the same unnervingly deep and monotone voice.

"So, you spoke with Athena?" Amah queried.

Selena nodded. "She wasn’t happy about you creating a new group of Da’i Kii, but was willing to be reasonable about the decision … since her blood wasn’t used in their creation. I also relayed the information about the missing souls to her, Ganesh, and Alignak. They could think of no plausible solution at this time."

The Sun Spirit’s face fell. "Just as I expected," she remarked. "I couldn’t assume undoing this imbalance would be simple."

"Athena did, however, give a suggestion," Selena offered. "The Oracle Spirit, Pythia, the only other survivor of the Gaean family of Spirits, may be able to give some insight. The most difficult part would be finding her since she went into hiding during the Dire Wars."

Lola huffed in annoyance "Okay, so how are we supposed to find her?"

Amah shook her head. "Once again, I haven’t a clue in the slightest."

While they were speaking, Venice had unwrapped the package the dracopigeon had left with him, finding a crystal ball no bigger than his palm inside of it. "This is an odd thing to receive from a customs agent," he remarked.

With a spark of light, the orb began glowing. "Are you lot there?" a voice called.

Lola and Amah turned toward Venice. The Buhund recognized the voice as Olivier, the parrot librarian from earlier. "We’re here!" Lola answered.

The crystal ball flickered slightly. "Very good. I had Biancardi send this crystal ball to you via a dracopigeon so that we could more directly communicate with you," Olivier responded. "We have a good amount of information to relay to you and this seemed more direct than writing a letter."

Mali could be heard hissing in the background. "Ah, yes. Quicker communication is a boon as well," the parrot agreed.

"Olivier, not to be rude, but do you have any information on a Spirit named Pythia?" Amah inquired.

The conversation fell silent for a few seconds in spite of the crystal ball still glowing actively. "I have Biancardi and the library pigeons retrieving any documents we have about her," Olivier responded. "Is there anything specific you need to know?"

"Just where she is," Lola replied.

"I’m uncertain if we could provide that exact information," the parrot offered. "However, we may be able to find you some clue to her whereabouts."

Lola wagged her tail. "We appreciate it."

"That’s the first time I’ve seen your tail wag in days," Venice commented.

Lola glared at him side-eyed. "Not like I’ve had anything to wag about."

The rustling of pages echoed from the crystal ball for a few moments. "This may be a start," Olivier remarked. "Have you checked her shrine in South Gaea? There’s an odd bit of text about it here; ’Light, Fire, Water, Air, and Sun … my words you must heed, from this parchment as the scholar reads. Inside the mountain above the South Gaea sea, in times of peril, you will find me."

Everyone paused. "That was oddly specific," Rook remarked.

"Was she even trying when she wrote that prophecy?" Lola groaned.

Aurora leaned back in contemplation. "She didn’t say what mountain, though."

Amah pinched the bridge of her nose. "There’s only one along the South Gaean coast that directly faces the sea. Climbing it, however, will not be easy," she explained.

"Biancardi, what is so important that you’re hovering over my crystal ball like a cat stalking a mouse?" Olivier queried.

"Specist," Sants growled from across the group.

"I need to talk with D’Fiamma," the customs agent murmured.

"You could have just asked," the parrot sighed. "Whichever one of you is D’Fiamma, Biancardi wants to talk with you."

"About?" Venice inquired.

"Venice … Can I call you Ven?" Biancardi began.

"No," the carpenter seethed.

"Very well. Venice, as your friends informed me you were a refugee orphan to Prithvi, I searched your name across Terran census records," the customs agent began. "Given the time shift between the rest of the world and Prithvi due to the Empty Sky, I estimated your birth year based on the age you appeared, minus fourteen years. Although the D’Fiamma name is very popular in West Terra, I found only one record of a Venice D’Fiamma in your age range. You were born in Zaffiro under a Lion Moon. The records even indicate your immigration away from Terra when you were two years old. What’s more, there are connected records about your family."

Venice stared blankly ahead, speechless. "You had one older brother, Arezzo D’Fiamma, aged four at the time of your immigration. Your father’s name was Rovigo D’Fiamma, and your mother’s was—"

"Maria Alessandria D’Fiamma," Venice interrupted.

"Maiden name Pietra," Agent Biancardi finished.

"That horrible woman is my mother," Venice wearied. "Do the records say anything about my father or brother?"

"Unfortunately, no. All I have are the records of your name, birth, and immigration out of Terra," the customs agent answered. "I have some contacts who work for a travel firm in the area that’s been around for several decades. I can check with them and see if they have any records. I’ll have to get back to you about that."

"Do you three have any other information to give us at this time?" Amah asked.

There was a brief hiss. "Mali says no," Biancardi replied. "We’ll be in touch."

The crystal ball’s glow subsided. "Did any of you ask him to look up that information?" Venice inquired.

Everyone present shook their heads.

"For the time being, I think we should focus on finding Pythia," Amah advised. "The trip there will take us a day or two, but scaling that mountain will take us weeks at the very least."

"I’ll get the caravan started, then," Doug remarked as he walked back over to the vehicle.

Ruark stepped next to Amah. "You may be underestimating how quickly you’ll be able to scale that mountain with a group of Da’i Kii."

"Oh, put a shirt on," the Sun Spirit miffed as she walked toward the caravan.

Lola took a deep breath. She looked to the rising sun on the horizon, then back to her friends as they gathered back inside the vehicle.

"You ready?" Aurora asked as she climbed the middle car’s steps.

The Buhund turned back to the horizon. "Gaea is southeast of here, right?"

Aurora shrugged. Venice was patiently waiting for her to finish walking up the car’s entryway so he could board. "It is," Venice confirmed. "At least according to the map Doug’s been consulting."

"I’ll meet you guys there," Lola remarked.

With a wide grin, she took off running at full speed toward the horizon. "Lola, no!" the carpenter called after her.

Next Chapter: (Book 2) Epilogue - Key to a Waking Nightmare