The searing light from the door faded, yet a strange, tingly feeling remained as all around groaned and rubbed their faces. Their eyes opened, and a blurry, faintly blue and gold-colored room met them (though, it was little more than blobs of color to them). The soft sound of whistling breezes echoed through the room even though there shouldn't have been any wind, and it was as warm as a pleasant summer day. Even though it seemed a little eerie, something about this room comforted everyone enough that they let themselves rest; their shoulders slumped, and their weapons stowed away.

Those blue and yellow blurs and blobs sharpened into a proper room before them, one that held a shiny gold floor while pale blue light spewed from its cracks. Streams of clear magic poured from the sidelines, and left ripples around marbled blue walls decorated with golden arches in the vague shapes of doors. A large hole laid in the center of the floor, yet a geyser of blue magic poured out from it and obscured the bottom it held below—if there was even a bottom to it at all.

It was a pretty sight, but it brought one question.

"Alright, did we make it?" Chihiro asked as she stepped forward, hands on her hips and eyes peeled. "'Cause I'm not seeing an oracle anywhere around here."

"Well maybe he's just getting himself ready!" Flynn chuckled as he brushed off his shoulder and puffed out his chest. "Surely a super smart dude like him knows having Skylands' best and bravest pilot in his quarters is quite the occasion!"

Eruptor scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Maybe we took a turn in that weird voidy place? I couldn't make heads of tails of where we were going there."

Raising a brow, Chihiro turned around and shrugged. "I thought it was pretty straightforward, well, when my brain wasn't spinning around in my skull, anyways. Besides, it didn't seem like there's anywhere else."

"I can assure you, this is the Oracle's residence," the high priest interrupted as she stepped forward. "Just be patient, for he will arrive any moment."

Chihiro frowned and tilted her head. "I don't know. Did he know we were coming?" she whispered. She stumbled over and peered into the floor's gigantic hole. "Maybe I should drop him a line."

"Oh, I can reassure you that I am well aware of your presence, heroes of Skylands!"

A chuckle echoed from within the chamber's heart, one that reverberated and echoed, but not with volume. It was tranquil, almost alien in sound. More importantly, though, it alarmed Chihiro enough that she stumbled back!

She lifted her head and gasped as the light from the floor grew brighter, but soon faded enough that some kind of silhouette—one round and bumpy with long tentacles, and another, longer stalk of some kind stretched from its top—formed in the pillar!

The silhouette pressed forward as a single blue eye stalk with a yellow and red eye inside of it poked through the pillar, and it peered down on Chihiro. A round blue body covered with cyan and purple bumps that paired with a slightly-smiling mouth emerged next, and a series of tentacles like a squid's with green undersides came last as the light faded entirely. Though odd in appearance, a kind of divine aura radiated from this being. It was as if the power and knowledge of entire generations wrapped itself into one existence and shone from them like sunlight.

The strange being chuckled and nodded towards Chihiro, yet lifted themself up as she stepped backwards and bowed.

"I am Octavius Cloptimus, the Oracle of Skylands' beyond," the being said as he stretched out a tentacle towards Chihiro. "I have watched over Skylands since its infancy. I've seen empires rise and fall, civilizations fall to their destruction and rise from the ashes, the births, lives, and deaths of quintillions, and from it, I have learned almost everything there is to know about Skylands and more."

Chihiro hastily nodded and raised her mouth open, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. She just stood there, eyes wide in awe as the only part of her body that could move.

Behind her, the others fell to their knees (or whatever they could) in a slow wave as they bowed towards the Oracle. Those who didn’t bow at least offered him a respectful nod, or backed away in sheer awe.

All but Nemir, that was, who merely strode up by Chihiro's side and gave the Oracle a friendly nod.

"Ah, wise Oracle Octavius! It has been quite some time since I last consulted you," Nemir said with a tone like he spoke to an old friend and not a near-deity. "When I first came to you for guidance, I was as green as the spring shoots, a young man still grappling with the burdens and responsibilities of kinghood. I'm not sure I'd be the man I am today if not for the wisdom you gave me."

The Oracle chuckled. "Ah, good king Nemir, the wisest king Molekin Mountain has ever know in its generations. It truly is a pleasure to be in your presence again." The Oracle smiled and shook his head, tsking as he did. "But, you needn't thank me. I merely offered you knowledge, but it was your studiousness and vigilance that turned it to wisdom. If anything, you should take pride in yourself for your hard work."

"Oh, my!" Nemir chuckled and took a step back as he glanced aside. "To hear that from someone like you—"

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, you're smart and you like to toot your own horn," Flynn butted in as he barged through. Crossing his arms, Flynn quirked a brow towards the Oracle. "But, are you really as all-knowing as you say you are?"

Nemir clenched his teeth and shot daggers at Flynn! The Oracle's laughter stopped him before he could curse Flynn out. Nemir stepped backwards a bit as the Oracle smiled at him, though he still shot quite a few nasty glares at Flynn as he did.

"Do not fret, Nemir," the Oracle said, as if he knew exactly what Nemir thought in that moment. "I understand beings will have their doubts about me."

The Oracle moved towards Flynn as he floated down just a bit until they were somewhat eye-level.

"To begin with, I know the names of all of you who stand in this room now." The Oracle's eye peered down. "Of course we have you, Flynn Lightcycle, the young portal master Chihiro Hatsuki, who hails from a world far away from where we call home, as well as my acquaintance Nemir…"

The Oracle's eye moved to the back.

"To your back, we have the Elder Elementals. BB-12, the star roboto-ball player; Fatimah, the master of magic; Essex, the stalwart whale; Etna, the tamer of flames; Eben, the shaper of the earth; Ochiul and Armura, who together form a most legendary duo; Tree Rex, the guardian of life; and none other than Prince Abejape, youngest son of the ancient Hymenopteran bloodline and the reigning monarch of the skies."

The Oracle moved his eye down below to where the rest of the ancient portal masters resided as the Elder Elementals gasped and glanced at each other.

"Of course, we can't forget the portal masters that fought valiantly alongside you, either. Sihiri, who gave up her peaceful life to protect the ones she loved; Vatra and Vaayu, who fight to save the innocent lives they weren't able to save before; Luz and Fintster, the brothers who fought for the safety of their family; Inochi, who wishes to protect the natural world's harmony; 'Enehana, who uses their vast wisdom to protect those from the very things they made; Jorden, a humble woman with a heart as strong as his muscle; and Dej, the traveler who fought Arkeyan tyranny every step of his journey."

The ancient portal masters shied away from view. Some of them whispered in timid shock, others blushed and played down their accomplishments, and a few just basked. Still, their surprise downplayed itself as the Oracle's eye moved to the Skylanders.

"And the heroes of today, the Skylanders. Trigger Happy, a gremlin with a past as enigmatic and chaotic as he himself; Spyro, the young hero of prophecy with a legacy stretching across worlds; Gilligan, a name quite fitting for his marine background; Vesuvius, a lava monster who's weaponized his species' explosive disposition for the better of all; Finnley, both a fighter and a lover; Cynder, who fights to atone for atrocities committed when she was not in control of herself; Shizuka, the elven ninja who seeks the secrets of her past; and Celeste, the hybrid who controls the weather at her wills."

The Oracle passed by the Skylanders' stunned glances, and his eye set on where Cali and the high priest laid.

"And lastly, we have California Jane, one of the most famous adventurers of her time, and Aikaterine, current high priest of Molekin Mountain." The Oracle chuckled and turned his eye back to Flynn. "Does that put your worries to rest, Flynn?"

Flynn hummed and flicked his ear as he glanced back up at the Oracle. "I mean, you can read about some guy's achievements in any book, and I'm sure my achievements as bravest, best, and not to mention humblest pilot of all Skylands have reached quite a few ears. But, how can we know you know all this stuff you say you do? Do you really know everything there is to know about everything?"

"Alright, so I see that you require a bit more evidence of me." The Oracle nodded and cleared his throat. "Well, if you wish to know evidence of my all-knowing knowledge, how about I list off a few facts about you?"

"Go for it, buddy! I'm sure everyone'll love hearing about my adventures!"

A smirk formed on Flynn's face as the Oracle cleared his throat.

"Very well then," the Oracle began, oblivious to the smug look on Flynn's face. "Flynn Lightcycle, you make up songs about your adventures to sing in the shower, you sleep with your favorite wrench at night…"

Flynn popped his eyes wide. For a moment, it seemed as though his normally-sunset orange fur turned a bright scarlet instead! His ears twitched as a couple chuckles came from the back of the room, and he clenched his teeth and stormed up.

"And though you claim that you’re saving yourself for all your admiring followers alike, in truth, the reason you've never entered a relationship is because you've been nursing feelings for a Mabu named—"

"Alright, alright, I get it!" Flynn thrust himself in front of the Oracle and frantically waved his hands. "You're all-knowing and stuff, you can stop now!"

"Very well then."

Flynn coughed into his scarf and shuffled away. behind him, Nemir stifled a laugh of his own, almost like he relished in Flynn's brush with the Oracle's skills.

This mattered little to Chihiro, for she took her position to the front once more. "If that's out of the way," Chihiro took a breath in and out. "Then—"

"I am also aware of why you came to consult me," the Oracle said as he swirled around. "The final Arkeyan Emperor-King, Arkilles, seeks a way to Arkus as a means to revive his empire, and plunge Skylands into the depths of tyranny once more. You wish to stop him, but with no map to guide you, you're at a loss as to what to do next."

Chihiro's eyes fluttered and she rapidly nodded. "So, you can help us, then?"

"After all, wise Oracle, you know everything about Skylands' past," Nemir added as he stepped in. His teasing looks from earlier traded hands for a more serious one as he clasped his incorporeal hands. "Surely, you understand the grave danger that lies within Arkus's walls, and what it would do to Skylands to have him take his empire back once more?"

"Indeed I do, Nemir," the Oracle nodded. "Getting the information is of little trouble for me, and I can easily help you with this problem. But" — the Oracle's eye narrowed as he glanced among their ranks — "I sense something else troubles you as well. Some of you are grappling with the fact that your present is now the past, others are troubled by the resurgence of such strong foes, and one of you was shaken by recent events and is trying to find themself amid all of it."

Chihiro winced, glanced, and grabbed her vest almost on instinct. She glanced back up at the Oracle, but he just chuckled and spun around. "How, how did he know?"

"I know almost-all, after all." The Oracle spun around once more. "So, in light of this, I propose a little test to earn this information."

"A test?" Flynn spat back and snarled as he crossed his arms. "Why d'you need to test us for this, anyways? You just know what's gonna happen since you know all and stuff!"

"I'm with Flynn on this," Cali added from the sidelines as she stepped from the crowd. "If you know all that there is in Skylands, why do you need to test us?"

The high priest grabbed Cali by the wrist just before she could break from the crowds. "Do not question the Oracle, young one!" the high priest tsked. "If the Oracle sets you up to a test, surely it's for the best! That's the adage we've adhered by for generations, and he's never failed us in that regard!"

"Thank you for your confidence, Aikaterine, but they do deserve some insight as well." the Oracle held a tentacle to himself and cleared his throat once more. "You see, I have a bit of a plight myself, one I wish for you to aid me in."

"A plight? What kind of problems would you have?" Flynn scoffed. "You know everything!"

"Correction—I know almost everything. I know all there is to know about the past, and to some extent, the present as well." For the first time since they first saw him, the Oracle's face fell and he shook. "However, the future's ever-twining threads are an enigma to me, an ever-churning fog I cannot pierce."

The Oracle smiled once more and clasped his tentacles, and that eerie aura of power radiated from him once more. "So, I wish for you to help me with a test. I will send you all through several trials, and attempt to predict the decisions you will make. If I do this, the data I get will surely aid my attempts in scrying the future. Once you complete these trials, I will give you the information you seek."

"Alright, what kind of trials are we looking at, then?" Spyro asked as he flew up from the back of the group. "Fights? Time trials? Obstacle courses?"

"I am afraid I cannot tell you the exact contents, or else it will bias the data." The Oracle shook his head, but a smile remained on his face still. "That being said, I will assure you that if things grow too dangerous, I will bring you back here as safe as I can—and it will be very safe, for this entire dimension bends to my will and wishes."

Spyro frowned, and beckoned for Chihiro, Flynn, and Nemir to join him as he flew to the back of the group. By the time the three of them arrived, Spyro already huddled in with the rest. They all squeezed tight as they spoke in barely-heard whispers and glanced between themselves and the Oracle. A few arms jabbed, a few feet shuffled, but it seemed they were stiff as statues aside of their mouths and these small movements. Perhaps it fit, considering what laid ahead of them.

"I don't know if I trust this guy," Eruptor whispered as he shuffled in closer. "I know he's an all-knowing and all-powerful oracle guy and stuff, but" — Eruptor shuddered, and the lava that bubbled from his veins popped and crackled like fireworks — "he gives me the creeps!"

"I'm with Ruptor on this one. Something about him doesn't seem quite right," Terrafin added.

"Listen, I know he's strange," Spyro whispered as he came in closer, "but, like it or not, he's our best bet if we want to stop Arkilles, or Kaos, or whoever he is now! It's not like we can storm his front gates and steal back the map again! If we wanna get to Arkus before he does, we'll have to do it!"

"How do we know he isn't lying to us? You can't exactly trust weird overly-powerful deity dudes!" Cynder snapped. "How do we know he isn't setting us up for something?"

"He seems trustworthy enough to me," Stealth Elf added. "If he was acting suspicious, I would've seen through it in an instant!"

"And he knows so much that he could've hidden it from you!"

"Yeah, Cynder's right!"

Spyro winced and craned his head towards Tree Rex's group. "Well, what do you all think?"

Nemir stepped forward and held out his hand, and his footsteps demanded silence as they clacked against the marble.

"I'll start by saying that the Oracle is almost akin to an Ancient in power," Nemir said. "If he wished, we'd be zapped to ashes the moment we stepped foot in his realm, and yet we’re still standing. He has not steered anyone wrong before. I trust that he has no ill intent."

"And if Nemir believes him, I do as well," Sihiri chimed in.

The other ancient portal masters nodded, and the Elder Elementals did as well while they stood above the Skylanders. Cali and Flynn still grimaced a little below them, as if they weren't exactly sure themselves. Their hesitance stewed a bit of unrest in the Skylanders as they shuffled around, but their unease ceased as Spyro turned to the Oracle.

"Alright, Oracle," Spyro asked. "What exactly will you do if things go south?"

"It is simple, really," the Oracle said as he clapped his tentacles and summoned a blue light underneath him. "This realm is a realm entirely of my making and control, and I can do with it as I please. In the event that something should happen to you and you need to retreat" — the Oracle clapped his tentacles again and the light faded — "I will summon you back here, and use my powers to heal you of all injury."

Spyro frowned and flapped his wings as he turned to Chihiro. "Chi, what do you think?"

Chihiro hummed and rubbed her chin. "Well, we do need that information on Arkus, and it's not like we'll be able to get it anywhere else—not easily, anyways," she started while a more pensive look crossed her face, "and this guy's so smart and powerful that I believe he has complete control over this domain. Plus, he was able to tell something was bugging us, so maybe whatever knowledge he has will help us there, too!" Chihiro smiled and banged a fist against her palm. "I think we should do it!"

The Skylanders glimpsed and glanced around the room, but reluctantly nodded as they caught sight of Chihiro's smile, and next Spyro's as he beamed back at her. If their leaders had full confidence in this, surely they should as well, right? That seemed to be the prevailing opinion, and besides, the Elder Elementals and ancient portal masters had them outnumbered anyways.

So, they joined Spyro and Chihiro.

"Alright, we'll go for the time being," Cynder reluctantly said at last as she trailed out of the group. Her eyes narrowed, and a shock of lightning flashed in them as she glanced at the Oracle. "But make no mistake, I'll personally shock you to death if you are planning something!"

"I will hold you to that promise," the Oracle said before he swept out of the way.

The Oracle clapped his tentacles, and the hole in the floor sealed up while the three decorative spaces ahead all warbled and shifted. Soon, they became proper doors right before everyone’s eyes!

One door was red and gold, and covered in ancient-seeming runes and carvings; the second was a periwinkle color and embedded with gems in the colors of all Skylands' elements; the third was a sleek, shiny white and coated in luminescent rainbow glitter; still, each one came with an eerie feeling akin to that of what the Oracle himself radiated. Was it the mystery of the trials itself that propelled this feeling? Was it the mystical feeling this strange dimension held? Whatever it was, it billowed from the doors like smoke from a fire, and spread across the rooms as it chilled the warm feeling of its surface.

"The Elder Elementals and the ancient portal masters will take the first door," the Oracle said as he gestured to the red and gold door, "the Skylanders will take the second…"

The two groups spread in lines towards the doors, and Chihiro trailed after Spyro as he headed towards his door. A soft push from the Oracle's tentacle froze her in place! It was not from magic, but from simple shock, for chills ran down her spine before she shook them off and turned to the Oracle.

"You don't go with them, Master Chihiro," the Oracle said as he nudged Chihiro towards the white door. "This one is for you."

Chihiro nodded, turned around, and shuddered for a moment more as she reached out to the door and ran her fingers against it. It had no lock or knob, but the surface was light enough that a gentle push flung it open. Rainbow and white light poured out from the doorway! The same light came from the other two groups' doors as they gasped, yet otherwise they stood silent, as if they judged the path before them one last time.

Finally, it was the Elder Elementals and the ancient portal masters who left first, for they waved farewell to their companions as they entered the door. The Skylanders went next, and waved to them for a moment before they nodded to each other and entered their own door. They all left quickly, so Chihiro just gulped and raced inside.

The doors all slammed shut behind them, and the sound echoed in a shaky reverberation around the room.

The Oracle, Flynn, Cali, and the high priest were only left to watch. The eerie silence of the room came once more, for it seemed a lot lonelier without the company. Flynn and Cali both glanced at each other, next the doors as they winced, but it was Cali who stepped up first.

"So," Cali began as she raised her hand, "what exactly are we supposed to do?"

"Nothing," the Oracle said as he waved his tentacles. A console formed before him, and he beckoned for them to come. "You will wait here while your friends attend to their trials. Since you are not attending, I may explain the purpose of these trials to you."

The Oracle chuckled as the three of them drew forward, and pulled up one screen of the console. There, the Elder Elementals and ancient portal masters walked through an endless white void in crystal-clear quality, a sight that seemingly amused the Oracle as he raised his brow. The light around them brightened and flooded in the screen until it was little more than a glowing square. The light brushed against the Oracle’s face, and he glanced back down at Flynn, Cali, and the high priest before he quickly turned his attention to the console.

"You see, the nature of these trials is as such that…"

§

Luz groaned and rubbed his eyes as beams of sunlight poured over him. The sun was bright and harsh, way more harsh than Luz remembered it being. He waved his hand to try and dim it a bit; he just wanted to sleep, dang it!

Every bone in his body ached, his whole body grew heavy and cumbersome, and he didn't know why. Wait, heavy? Since when did he feel heavy? As a ghost, he was as light and nimble as a feather, and able to float with ease! In fact, he could do it right now… If he wasn't so tired and if the sunshine wasn’t so harsh. He waved his hand again, but the sun shone even brighter, almost as if it scolded or taunted him!

"Alright, alright, geez!" Luz shouted out as he pushed himself up while the feeling of thick cloth hit his body. "I'm getting" — Luz opened his eyes and his face fell — "up?"

Luz's eyes fluttered again, and he clutched that thick cloth as he sat up in utter, stunned silence. He laid in a simple room with a single bed, some clothes hung on a windowsill to dry, and only a few tapestries hung from shelves for decoration. Actually, judging by the thickness and the animal fur textures they had, those tapestries seemed more like blankets? The straw-thatched roof let in mottled dots of sunlight from its tiny gaps, yet the warmth of the outside world poured in and heated the adobe floors and bed around him. Just how did Luz get in this place? He wasn't sure, and he didn't exactly feel comfortable staying here, even if this furry blanket was comfortable.

"Just, where was I, anyway?" Luz asked as he stumbled out of bed and rubbed his eyes.

He was sure that he was somewhere else, with someone else, no, some other beings, there were more, he was sure… Or were there? Every time he tried to think about what happened, his head spun and he started to lose his footing. It was like something locked away his memories and threw away the key! He frowned and glimpsed down at himself, but wait, something else was wrong too!

"Wait, I have a body again?"

That wasn't right. Everyone had a body, right? Still, the sight of Luz's own flesh left him trembling, as if something about it was eerily wrong. He still wore his clothing, at least! At least, he thought these were his clothes, yet the style felt wrong in a way he couldn't name. He stood in a strange place he couldn't quite remember, he couldn't remember a thing, and the sight of his own body left him shaking! Just what was going on here?

Well, whatever it was, the first step to finding that out was getting out! He stormed towards the open gap in the wall that he assumed was a doorway, but before he could leave, he ran into someone and fell on the floor! The armor chestplate he wore cushioned the blow, but the surprise left him stunned still.

"There you are, Luz! I thought you would sleep for an eternity!"

There before Luz stood a woman tall and skinny like a vine with flowing golden hair as long as she was tall. Her skin was the same shade of brown that Luz's was, but while Luz's nose was large and round, hers was long and thin, and her lips were a bit larger compared to his own. Her face was angular and sharp unlike his round and chubby one. She wore a long and loose white dress with golden triangle patterns weaved into it, and her arms crossed as she tapped her foot and revealed the golden sandals she wore.

"Come on, the sun isn't going to shine forever!" the woman shouted as she bent down just slightly and urged Luz from the floor. "You've got a big day ahead of you, so—"

Just as the woman reached out towards Luz, however, he panicked and pushed her hand away! He hadn't really meant to, but it moved by itself. After all, he was in a strange place, and a woman he didn't recognize stood right before him! It was normal that he'd freak out! Luz winced and glanced back up at the woman.

He expected scorn, yet that wasn't what greeted him when she stared. No, she seemed concerned, almost, as she fell to her knees and patted his face!

Luz grunted, rolled backwards, and hit the wall once more. "Wait, who are you?" Luz spat at last. His hands grappled at the air around him, as if he reached for something—but what it was, he wasn't certain. "What is this place?"

"Luz, are you sure you're feeling alright?" the woman asked in turn as she stepped forward. "How do you not even recognize your own mother?"

Mother? So this woman was his mother? Something about that didn't feel quite right, and just the sight of her sent a feeling of uneasiness down Luz's spine. He couldn't quite recall anything else, so he was in no position to question things, either.

The woman swept forward and clasped Luz's face in her hands once more. "Luz, are you entirely certain that you feel alright? The—"

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Luz spat out with maybe a little more aggression than he intended. Luz forced a smile as the woman glanced at him, and held a hand to her face. "I'm just kinda tired."

The woman frowned for a moment, but shook her head and turned away nonetheless. "In that case, there's food waiting for you on the table. Come with me."

The woman rounded the corner and disappeared once more, but Luz didn't follow her just yet. He frowned, rubbed his chin again, and glanced over his room. Was it really his room? Was this really his home? Was she really his mother?

He tried to think, tried to recall something, but a sharp pain hit his skull the moment he thought even the slightest, and he fell to his knees. He frantically rubbed his head as if that would somehow whisk the pain away, and thankfully, its surge faded quickly. Luz's arms fell limp at his sides as he panted. The faint remnants of pain stung against his skull, and beads of sweat crossed his nose.

Luz pushed himself up as his breathing slowed, dusted off his clothes, and sighed as he passed through the door. "Well, no use questioning it," Luz mumbled as he walked into the next room, his head held down the entire time. "Might as well go eat."

Luz lifted his head as sunbeams stretched into the room ahead. They revealed a simple table filled with meats, berries, and loaves of bread where his mother sat. To her side sat a man more like Luz in facial features, but his skin was a shade or two lighter, his body was more bulky compared to Luz's fat, and his hair was short, carefully groomed, and a deep brown the color of rich earth, as opposed to Luz's mop of messy golden hair. He donned a loose shirt and pair of pants, his mustache twitched as he ate a slice of bread and some berries, and a sort of warm feeling like summer sunlight radiated from him. Something in Luz's gut told him this was his father, yet that premonition still didn't feel right to Luz.

Luz glanced down at himself and frowned deeper. There was a long, loose white shirt and pants draped over him, but Luz wasn't really sure he was wearing this before. Was he? His head spun again, so he shook off the dizziness and stumbled over to the table.

He scraped a few berries, grabbed some meat, and nibbled away as his parents talked about some big battle, or some nosy neighbors, or something. A flask of water rested to his side, so he sipped it down in turn. He couldn't quite manage more than a few sips before he laid it down along with his barely-eaten meal. He wasn't sure why, but he just wasn't particularly hungry today. Strange, the food itself looked appealing enough, yet just the sight of it left him sick to his stomach.

"Luz, is something bothering you?" his father asked.

Luz shook his head and smiled. "Nothing, father."

Luz's father raised a bushy brown eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. "You've been staring at that food like it's rotted before your eyes!"

"I'm just tired, that's all."

Luz's father gulped down another slice of bread and raised a brow. "Well, if you say so. Speaking of, weren't you and your friends going to do something today? What were their names?"

He had friends? Luz wanted to say something, but at the same time, he couldn't quite recall their names, either. When he thought of friends, he thought of some vague figures—humans and those non-human alike—but, just that thought and his head spun!

So, Luz only nodded in agreement. He fixed his eyes on his food as he took small bites of it once more, in hopes that it would keep his father's attention off of him.

"So, did you hear about what the Arkeyans did to Gandones?" Luz's mother asked.

"Oh, I heard alright! Those poor beings, they didn't even stand a chance! The Arkeyans razed their entire village to the ground before they could even fight back…"

Hearing that, Luz raised a brow. He barely smelled smoke, yet nothing around him burned, and faint cries and shouts rang in his ears. Except, the only ones here were him and his parents, and nothing outside seemed like it would've elicited those smells and sounds! Still, something about it felt like it was happening right here!

"I swear, they just can't be stopped! Some of the elders in the village fear they'll take the entire peninsula at this rate…"

"The elders? Like the ones who took us away when the Arkeyans attacked?" Luz piped up at last.

But wait, when did that happen? Luz wasn't entirely sure, yet something in his gut told him it had! He vaguely recalled wandering through the village and the woods at night with the other children and the elders as the sounds of war raged behind them.

Yet, the confused look in his parents' faces showed they were just as clueless as he was!

"Luz, what are you talking about? The Arkeyans are no threat to us," his mother said. She smiled at him, and her gaze turning warm and sickeningly sweet like honey. "You have nothing to worry about. We've fended them off plenty of times before, and we'll do so again if we have to."

Luz soured as he heard that. Her tone was condescending; it was the kind of tone parents took when they had to pretend to care about things, but he knew for a fact that they didn't take them as seriously as he swore they were, and he hated it. Didn't she remember the fight? How she whisked him away with the rest of the kids in the middle of the night with just a sack of rations to his name? The early-morning arguments? The battle he knew she didn't survive?

He wanted to argue back, but he didn't remember it all that well either. It only came to him in brief flashes as fickle as the sunlight while it passed through the trees. Every time a memory came to him, it slipped just as quickly and left a searing headache in its place. Luz bit his lip, steeled himself, and glared back down at his mother.

"But, how do you know that? How do you know they aren't just gonna run up in the middle of the night and catch you off-guard? How do you know something won't happen?" Luz spat, and his words grew more intense as he did. He barely noticed the raising of his voice, or the tears that flowed down his cheeks in tiny drops, or how his hands pounded against the table. "How do you know I won't lose you?"

That sickeningly sweet look on his mother's face was gone, now replaced by wide-eyed concern. She reached out a hand, but Luz's father stopped her, and instead it was him who reached out to Luz. Luz's mother's eyes still didn't quite leave him as she wrung parts of her golden hair.

"Luz, is that why you're acting so strange? Are you worried about the Arkeyans?" his father asked as he brushed away Luz's tears with his worn, callused thumb. "I know it's normal to be worried when you hear about things like this, but I promise you, we're perfectly safe. Our village's defenses are the strongest there are, and we've warded off Arkeyan threats more times than I can count! We'll be—"

"But, don't you remember? Don't you remember when they tore our village down? When they attacked us and you had to send me away when I was little? And, and I…"

Luz’s father's hand drew back from him, and the hairs of his mustache twitched as he sat by the table. They hadn't spoken a word, but the bewildered look in their eyes confirmed what Luz figured: they didn't remember. In fact, it almost seemed like to them, it never even happened!

"Luz, did you have a bad dream? Are you sure you aren't confused?" his mother asked. "Nothing like that ever happened! We've been living perfectly safe and sound in this village for years. Not once have you ever left the forest!"

"Your mother's right. Maybe you just had a bad dream," his father chimed in. "If it's bothering you that much, we can contact the priestess and she can help you interpret it—"

Luz stood up, and took one last bite of his breakfast before he stormed for the door.

"No, actually, I think I'm going to go out," Luz said with not even a glance back at his parents.

Figures, they probably wouldn't remember. Surely, when he went outside and saw the village's remains, they would recall at last, and maybe he'd finally figure out what was going on with his memories, and why he felt so strange, and why his head kept hurting whenever he tried to think about it.

The light hit his face the moment he stepped out of the house, and the first thing he expected was ruin and dead bodies strewn about like fallen leaves.

What greeted him instead was the picture of idle paradise! The streets warmed pleasantly under the sunlight, the trees' leaves rustled in gentle breezes carried by the blue skies, and the houses all stood as tall as they always did (did they?). Children ran to and fro, and their laughter rang in Luz's ears as they played together and alone on the streets while their parents sat by and chatted with each other. A few of the village elders laid together underneath an aged tree as they fed the birds, a few lovey-dovey couples wandered around…

But, this wasn't right! This whole village was razed to the ground, just like the one his father talked about! Luz couldn't remember much, but he knew that was the case. He could recall the flames, the sounds of weapons and war cries, of how he ran through the forest and out of the village, of the, the…

Another thing came to him, something with glinting, glowing eyes filled with malice and something sharp in its possession, but the thought was so distant! He reached for it, grappled for it like it was just out of reach and gone further by the second. A sharp pain snapped into Luz's shoulder as it shook him out of his thoughts.

"Hey Luz, what's gotten into you?" asked someone to his front. "You didn't forget what we were gonna do today, right?"

Luz shook his head again, and when he lifted it, he found a trio of people. They were all about his age by a simple glimpse, and dressed in clothes similar to the ones he wore. They all smiled at him like they knew him, so he figured they might've been the friends his parents talked about, but he couldn't quite recall who they were, or where he saw them before.

Then again, he saw the girl, and the vague flash of a memory came back to him: that of a crying girl who cradled a doll in her arms as she wailed out for her parents. He glimpsed towards the boy that stood beside her, and the taller boy that towered over them both. In their faces, he saw two brothers, one elder and wiser who tried to keep his scared little brother from running back home…

That sharp glaring face popped back into Luz's memory as he stumbled back! The laughter of children and chatter of adults drowned out in favor of sharp, creaking metal that rang in his ears like the mocking calls of vultures. He just barely saw something drawn from the shadows in his mind's eye. A blade? An ax? What was it, what was it? He could smell the smoke, feel the fire, hear the screams and metal creaks; it was as if he was right back into the heart of the fray!

Luz fell to his knees. He groaned and whimpered as he dug into his scalp like that would somehow relieve the awful pain he was in.

"Luis, what's he doing?" the girl shouted as she turned to the older boy.

"I don't know, Lana!" Luis shouted back. His teeth gritted, and he latched onto Luz's shoulders as he shook him back and forth. "Come on, Luz, snap out of it!"

"I, I can't!" Luz just barely spat out. His words slurred together from his pain as he groaned. "I, I can hear it, the, the fighting, and the…"

"What fighting? Luz, what are you talking about?" the younger boy asked.

"The village, the Arkeyans, they…"

Luis's mouth slanted into something like a quizzical frown as he scoffed.

"Oh, so that's what this is about."

Luis breathed in and out as he knelt before Luz, and slapped both his hands against the sides of Luz's head! The sharp pains hit Luz so hard that his train of thought completely disappeared. He only sat dumbfounded as he started at Luis, who held a smug, smug look on his face.

"Yeah, I should've figured that's what you were worrying 'bout." Luis stretched himself back to full height and walked away. He beckoned as he walked, and Lana and that other boy both joined his side. "C'mon, Luz, let me show you something."

Still a bit stunned by all this, Luz only nodded and pulled himself back up as he trailed after them. Whatever he recalled completely disappeared into the depths of his memory, yet he still couldn't quite feel at ease. He glanced at every avenue as they passed out of the village, for he sought out something he couldn't quite name. Escape routes? Places where potential enemies could strike?

He wasn't sure, but as they approached the forest, that strange feeling of adrenaline and panic rushed through him once more.

"The forest? What're we coming here for, again?" the younger boy asked.

Luis gave the younger boy a gentle strike up the head. "Don't you remember, Lope?" Luis scolded. "We're going to show Luz that thing!"

"Oh, that thing!"

"What's that thing?" Luz asked.

Luis chuckled and winked as he turned back to Luz. "You'll see."

Luz gulped. He had no idea what they talked about, and he wasn't particularly fond of this forest, either, but he was still shaken enough that he couldn't find it in him to protest. He just nodded and trailed along.

The forest's thickets of trees blocked out most of the sunlight, and only speckles and dapples poked through the few gaps in that thickly-woven canopy of leaves. The sounds of wild animals blended together to become loud and echoing, or maybe that was just Luz's imagination running wild with panic at the sights. Every animal's call sounded like a battle cry, every cracked branch and footstep was a weapon's swing, and every odd noise became the sound of someone coming to kill.

Something in his head stirred and brought an obnoxious throbbing pain, so Luz massaged his temples as he lowered his head.

"Are you sure about this, Luis? The elders told us never to go deep into the forest unless we were accompanied by someone else!" Lana cried.

"C'mon Lana, don't be a killjoy," Luis chuckled back as he turned to the side, parted a thick bush's leaves, and crawled within the space he created. "'Sides, we'll only be here for a few moments. Just gotta put Luz's mind at ease, and then we'll go back and pick berries or whatever."

"I'm telling you, Luis! If they find out we're here, we'll be in a ton of trouble for sure!" Lana scoffed and turned aside. "You agree with me, right, Lo—"

But Lope already disappeared, for he tailed after Luis while they both crawled through the thicket! Only the back of his shoes showed as they grew further in the distance, their appearances hidden by the shadows. They almost looked like soldiers that crawled through a trench in the heat of battle, in fact…

Lana stomped her foot and steamed with rage, but finally she hitched up her skirts and crawled in. "If you two get me lectured for an entire sundown because of this, I'm never forgiving you!"

Luz whimpered, and wondered if he should follow or just stay where he was. They did this for him, so he just fell to his belly and crawled through the hole. The bushes' branches snapped back into place the moment he exited, and their tips stung his soles.

For a moment, Luz wished he had his shield again, but wait, since when did he have a shield? He wasn't sure, so he just crawled through and tailed the sight of Lana as she crawled ahead of him. The rustling of the leaves turned louder as he did. They were the charge of an army as their branches rustled and slapped in his face, and he grunted as he pushed them away. The paths were long and winding, or at least, they felt that way with how slow he went, and all the curves and crosses he had to follow. He almost lost sight of Lana a few times!

Eventually Luz barely made out Luis and Lope arguing near the front, so he poked his way around, and found a pathway with sparse foliage near its end that brimmed with light. Surely, that had to be the exit, so he crawled out after Lana herself popped out, and grunted as he pushed himself up. It was a pointless move, for the sights he saw left him falling to his knees not long after!

There before him was a small campsite inhabited by corpses of robots dressed in red and gold armor! The corpses laid strewn about with severed body parts half-buried in the dirt! They were no bigger than a person, maybe even shorter than them, and there couldn't have been more than four or five. For that matter, they looked pretty run-down too. Their armor was rusted and dented while the lights in their broken eyes flickered and flashed. Yet, just the sight of them was enough to stop Luz's heart!

"Arkeyans?" Luz spat out.

Luis, Lope, and Lana all shushed him, but Luz grabbed Luis by the shirt.

"What are you thinking? There's Arkeyans here! The Arkeyans know we're here! They'll kill us!" Luz hissed as he thrust his face in Luis's. "Then, they'll find the rest of them and kill them too! They'll tear the whole village to pieces! We need to go find the others and warn them before—"

Luz trailed off, and his face softened as he glanced at the sickening sight of that twisted smile on Luis's face. His grip loosened, and Luis laughed as he removed Luz's hand from his shirt and pushed him away. His hand drifted to his pockets, and another sick laugh came from him as he gripped something and drew it out.

"Luz, what're you freaking out about? Did you sleep through the battle or something?" Luis asked. "Those run-down tin cans are all that's left of the Arkeyans after the army drove them back!"

Lana and Lope both laughed about the Arkeyans' failed battle beside Luz, yet Luz couldn't bring himself to smile. In fact, he wasn't even entirely sure if they were smiling and cheering, or screaming and crying.

The whole world started to shift. Flames spread around the forest while the skies turned dark as night, lit only by firelight and half-broken lamps strewn along the forest floor. The screams and cries drowned out the cheers—aided by an army's stomping, slashing, and screams of war—and the whole area choked with the burning scents of thick smoke and strong fires.

In that moment, Luz was eight years old again, and clutched that sack of rations his parents gave him as he hid in the forest. Before him, Luis, Lope, and Lana all stood with those same looks of terror he held. They were tired, scared, worried, alone, and there was a beast that crawled up ahead of them, a beast with shiny red and gold armor and a sharp ax that Luz couldn't fight against no matter what!

On instinct, something in him called for something: a harsh beam of sunlight to burn it away, a shield to behead it with, anything. Still, he couldn't. He only stood there, his eyes wide in horror and his breath as fast as the rapid beats of his heart. The most he could do was stumble backwards, but his legs shook so badly that he collapsed soon after! His sack spilled, and he struggled to even push himself up!

"Luz, is something wrong?" Lana called as she knelt down and pushed him up. "Are you feeling alright?"

Luz lifted his head and the world shifted back to the present. Now, the present, teenaged Lana looking him in the eye as Luis and Lope stood beside her. They both said something about how he collapsed out of nowhere, about how scared and nervous he looked, but Luz could barely discern.

One moment, they were in the present, and the next, he saw them as children. They were helpless lambs in the wake of the wolf that leered over them and prepared to pounce! Luz just sputtered, for he wanted to scream, to tell them to run, but he couldn't. The words stuck in his throat; they were trapped in a thick syrup and unable to move, and he only watched as the beast leaped over them.

It swung with its blade shrieking as it launched right for Luz himself! But, it stopped. Its blade froze just inches from his face, and the whole world around him followed.

The beast disappeared right before his eyes, and it was in that moment that Luz realized something.

"THIS ISN'T REAL!"

Luz screamed out the words at the top of his lungs. He pushed away Lana's hands as she gasped, and scrambled to his feet. He panted, and shuddered as he steadied his footing.

"This village was destroyed years ago! Mom, Dad, the elders, you… None of you are even alive anymore! There's nothing here but ruins anymore!"

Luz lifted his head to where Luis, Lope, and Lana all glanced at him. Their eyes were stunned with the same shock Luz himself held. They were the ones that were supposedly his friends, but he knew the truth now. They were merely just the ones he ran away with, the ones who might not have been as lucky as he was.

"Luis, Lope, Lana, if those are even really your names, I don't, I don't know you! I never did! Because all of this isn't real!"

"Luz, calm down! What are you talking about?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, did you hit your head or something?" Luis shouted. "What do you mean, none of this is real?"

Luz turned around and ran off. The forest shifted around him as he did; the brambles and bushes he crawled under to arrive here pushed themselves away and formed a dirt path for Luz to run across. His stomach churned like he would throw up, his head was as light as light itself, and he struggled to stay upright as he stumbled around and tried to keep footing.

But, when all your memories flooded back to you at once, it was hard to keep focus. His whole brain flooded, for it was unable to discern anything other than what poured from what he remembered.

They leaked from his eyes as tears, slipped from his mouth as choked sputters, those memories. The battle with the Arkeyans, running away from home, meeting Fintster and finding his family, becoming one of the free magicians, the battle with Arkus, and then, and then what?

Everything after that was blank. It was a silence so loud it numbed him, yet it was tranquil all the same, and enough that he fell to his knees in reprieve. He remember pirates he saw from the yellow-tinted glaze of his wheel pendant, of a child like his younger siblings with chestnut eyes and a warm smile, strange new beings wearing things and talking about things completely new, riding in a robot… Yes, that was it! He awakened from that long slumber, Arkilles was revived and they had to stop him, and…

"Luz, there you are!" Lope called from behind.

Luz turned around, and there before him, Lope ran up the path with Luis and Lana behind. Even with all this, they still chased after him? Stubborn.

"That's it, we need to take you to see the priestess or something," Lope said as he reached out a hand. "Come on, we'll get whatever it is that's bugging you fixed, and then maybe we can go—"

Lope's fingers brushed against Luz's, and some kind of strange heat burned against Luz’s hand until it glowed with a bright golden yellow like sunlight! The glow spread to the rest of Luz's body in rapid time. It covered his legs and his chest. It engulfed his face so quickly that he only had moments to catch the shouts and terrified looks that Lope, Luis and Lana bore. Soon, a blanketing yellow and the screech of harsh light drowned them out!

A strange, tingling feeling ran through Luz. He went unconscious for a moment, a faint blink, but surfaced again and his heavy and cumbersome body was now light as a feather! He peered down, and no longer did he wear the robes and clothes of his village; no, he dressed in his armor once more, and his shield attached comfortably to his arm as it should. His body was only somewhat visible and brimmed with golden light like a ghost, yet his wheel pendant sat against his chest, solid as ever. Yes, this was him, the real him, the Luz who lost his first home and fought for his second, the Luz who called himself a free magician!

"Luz!" Lana screamed. She looked like she was about to faint as she held her hands to her mouth.

Luis stood dumbfounded, eyes wide and lashes fluttered fast as he stumbled back a few steps. His legs gave out as he collapsed, and Lope, he sputtered and drew back his hand before he quickly shook his head.

"Alright, that's it, we have to take you to see the priestess!" Lope spat as he grappled for Luz's half-solid hand in some faint attempt to pull him away. "I don't know what's going on, but—"

"I'm sorry," Luz said.

"What?"

Luz heaved a sigh, drew back and stood up.

"I'm sorry," Luz repeated in a louder voice, and adjusted his shield with a click as he did. He glimpsed at the shocked, terrified looks Lope, Luis and Lana held with a frown, and they frowned in turn. "Maybe if things had turned out better, we probably could've been friends and did all this… But it didn't. This village isn't really my home. It hasn't been for years!"

Though he knew they called for him, Luz ran down the beaten path, and the warmth of light flooded into his veins as he ran. Its warmth grew brighter, warmer, enough that it shimmered in his eyes as he leaped.

Before he knew it, he was back at the mouth of the forest, and his friends' shouts and calls for him were nothing more than faint whispers in the wind. Ah, lightstepping, how he missed it. While it was a relief to have his powers back at last, it was only temporary.

Luz turned ahead as the village disintegrated and blew away right before his eyes, but he only scoffed. Now he remember what went on! They'd consulted that Oracle for the way to Arkus, and he put them up to this test! He remember the white light, the sudden dizziness as it grew brighter, and the shouts of everyone as they disappeared one by one. So this was his trial? Being stuck in some weird guess of what his life would've been like if the Arkeyans never attacked?

"Heh, he needs to try harder if he wants me to forget about my family," Luz remarked. He felt a bit proud of himself, but his face fell all the same. "But, waking up was probably the easy part. Now, for the hard part."

Luz bit his lip as the ground before him formed a beaten path straight through the ground where the village once laid.

"Figuring out where everyone else is."

Luz took a breath in and strode down the path, shield by his side and clothes fluttering in the wind. This was probably as good a place to start as any, so might as well cross it.

§

Luz frowned and toyed with his shield as he glanced ahead. "Alright, I'm no expert," he remarked to only himself, "but I'm pretty sure there wasn't a town this close to my old village, and definitely not one that looked like this."

There before Luz stood a village with buildings made entirely of stone. It was not the warm adobe bricks the houses of his hometown were made from, or even the carefully-constructed bricks and stone used to make the houses from his and Fintster's old home, but simple stone buildings that looked akin to if a child's sandcastles were made of stone. They were solid, and paved so tight that not a crack could be seen. Windows and doors sat carved into their surfaces and lined with clothes and flora. Most of them were medium-sized with roofs made of stone bricks, and each one laid painted by the wear of rain and weather, but still strong nonetheless.

This place had the same trademarks of a village; it was all lush plant life that bloomed everywhere one looked, and tons of beings that ran around. However, it was a far cry from the quaintness and tightness of Luz's village, or at least the illusion of it.

Whereas only humans lived in his old hometown, Luz spied a few harpies, centaurs, elves, and more running along amid the humans! They all dressed in tunics and dresses that were much tighter than the clothing those of his village wore, but still loose enough to flow in wind. Some wore veils and jewelry, others donned sandals and simpler headgear, some even wore armor, too—but it was all way more elaborate compared to what the people back home wore!

Everything was so lively, and bustled with such volume that Luz could barely take it! Even though he traveled all across Skylands with the free magicians, he was a village boy at heart, and the sights and sounds of all these big towns and cities never ceased to overwhelm him. The smell of fresh bread tickled his nose, and he turned around to find that the path he took was gone, replaced by what seemed like the edge of the island! Guess the terrain shifting was part of the trial, so he shrugged it off.

"Now, this definitely isn't where Fintster and I grew up," Luz remarked as he walked ahead with head down and chin in hand, "so that means someone else is here, but who? Can't be Inochi. She never told us where she used to live, but it doesn't look like this place, I just know it. Dej ran all across Skylands, so it's maybe him, and Sihiri's old village didn't look anything like this…"

Something hard bumped into Luz and sent him off balance for a bit, but he quickly collected himself. "Hey, watch where you're going!"

He lifted his head in expectancy of some gangly stranger, but gulped as he found a bulky, imposing drow dressed in armor before him.

"I could say the same to you! Shouldn't a kid your age be in school right now, or helping your family with their work?" the drow asked, their voice deep and ruminating.

Crap, this guy could probably snap me in half just by speaking! Luz winced as he grabbed his shield, but then released his grip. Wait, did he say school?

"Say, I've never seen clothes quite like yours before," the drow added. They leaned down while their gaze turned more quizzical. "Are you from across the sea?"

"Actually, thanks! I know just where I need to go!"

Luz ran aside of the drow, clutched his shield, and beamed widely as he glanced over the buildings. The buildings ahead all seemed like identical stretches of huts and houses—save for one taller, larger one that was more square in shape with several rooms where beings talking rang from the open windows. That looked enough like a school building to him, so Luz turned himself invisible with a snap of his fingers, and slipped through the open doors.

The whole building was simple, and filled with open stone rooms and halls where beings passed to and fro. The sounds of lessons taught and people mocking their teachers in hushed whispers sounded from the cracks in the stone. Luz wasn't quite concerned with that.

He slipped between a troll and a dwarf who peddled stone tablets, peeked into one room to catch a glimpse of some kids who gossiped together, another to see a few goblins who caused a ruckus while the tired snake who taught them tried to get them to shut up, and peeked in the room adjacent to that to find… Bingo!

"Now, class," said Vatra as he clasped his hands, "today, I'll regale you on the history of how our town came to be!"

At least, Luz thought that was Vatra. Sure, he had that same messy mop of hair, same wiry frame and skin tone, and those same scars under his chest from whatever thing he did to reduce it was called. Aside of that, though, it was like this was an entirely different person!

The Vatra he knew was a grump who always stormed around with eyes practically sunk into their bags, and was filled with a tired look that made him seem way older than he actually was. This man, however, brimmed with joy and his eyes sparkled as students in all species crowded around him while he chuckled.

The bandages that Vatra wore around his hands to hide the scars from how his flames burned them were gone too, and revealed perfectly normal hands underneath. Instead of Vatra's usual clothes, he wore a long crimson robe, a white cape accented with strings of red throughout that rested over his shoulders, and a simple pair of red and white boots. Well, simple in style, but the stuff all looked rich and sleek, unlike the worn clothes Vatra usually wore. Even his fashion sense was fancier!

Luz raised a brow, slipped into the classroom, and tried to take a seat behind the group. But, as he walked, his foot brushed against a pebble and rolled it away! Luz winced and turned to the crowd of students, but most of them seemed like they didn't notice, thankfully. Well, all except for one elf who whimpered as their ears twitched.

"Teacher!" cried the elf. "I think someone's trying to sneak out!"

Maybe-Vatra raised a brow, and interrupted some ancient story about a king or something crossing a strange land as he scanned over his students. For a moment, he lingered a little too long on where Luz stood, and Luz was almost certain he saw that sharp, burning look that Vatra always shot him when he caused trouble.

Maybe-Vatra smiled and shook his head. "Everyone's all hear and accounted for, Ehrendil," maybe-Vatra said as he leaned back a little. "Now, as I was saying…"

"But, I thought I heard footsteps, and a rock moved around, and I keep hearing breathing and stuff!"

"Ehrendil, for as long as I've been your teacher, not once has anyone slipped in or out of my classes without notice." Maybe-Vatra turned back to the rest of the group. "Isn't that right, class?"

A few of the other kids chuckled or turned away as they blushed in embarrassment. Luz remembered that all too well.

"That's right. Nobody will bother my classes, or I, Vatra, would have to rescind my honor as a teacher!"

Wait—Vatra! That name rattled around in Luz's skull like a lightning bolt that hit his brain. No doubts about it, he definitely had the right guy now! So, all that was left to do was wake him up!

"Alright, Vatra!" Luz called. He made himself visible with a stomp of his foot, and all eyes turned on him as he appeared. "Class is over, let's get going!"

Well, Luz hoped just the sight of him would bring Vatra back to his senses, but Vatra just seemed even more confused! He placed down the stone tablets he drew just moments earlier. The students all gossiped around him, but with a wave of Vatra's hand, they fell silent and watched Vatra as he strode, swift and graceful as always, towards Luz.

"Excuse me, I don't believe I've ever seen you before," Vatra said. He fixed his cape as he smiled at Luz with a kind of distant friendliness. "Are you one of the new students? If that's the case—"

"Vats, don't you remember me?" Luz raised a brow. "It's me, Luz! Fellow free magician? That kid you scooped up from the tiny little town in the middle of nowhere? Your self proclaimed pain in the a—"

Vatra immediately shushed Luz with a burning hot glare that screamed "not in front of the kids", but only for a moment as his warm gaze turned colder. Luz could tell from the way Vatra’s eyes bounced between Luz and his class that something threw him off balance. Had he remembered and just tried to hide it? Maybe he really didn't quite recall, and need a little more jostling?

"Vatra, don't play dumb with me! You're a free magician, and this is all just a big test by some oracle dude!" Luz knit his brows as he held a finger between him and Vatra. "Now wake up and let's get going! We've gotta find the others and—"

"Look, I have no idea what you're talking about! I'm not some free magician, much less an ordinary one! I'm just a teacher!" That's what Vatra claimed, but he avoided Luz's gaze and pursed his lips. It was almost like he knew something Luz didn't. "If you have no further business here, please go. I have a class to teach."

Vatra hissed and turned his back to Luz, but Luz wasn't gonna give up just yet!

"Looks like I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

"Hey, teacher!" perked up one of the kids, the elf who nearly busted Luz just moments earlier. "Who's that guy?"

"It's nobody," Vatra said, "now let's—"

Luz slid in and bumped his elbow against Vatra's. "Aw, nobody? What're you talkin’ about, Vats? We're the best of buddies, remember?"

"Wait, you're one of the teacher's friends?" asked a centaur foal as they peered up at Luz with curious eyes.

Luz beamed and nodded. He knelt down to the kids' height and gave the widest grin he could muster. "You bet I am! I'm one of his buddies from the free magicians! We spend all this time fighting bad guys and protecting Skylands from evil!"

"Like the Arkeyan Empire?" asked a harpy in the back of the group. "My moms say they're all really bad guys who want to hurt lots of beings!"

"You bet we do!" Luz proclaimed as he jumped to full height. Beside him, Vatra started to fume, and Luz only gave him the most snide smile he could as he nudged Vatra once more. "In fact, Vats here's fought more Arkeyans than I can count! He's blown 'em up, burned them to bits! Heck, he once melted an entire Arkeyan War Machine single-handedly with his eyes blindfolded! Guy's one of our best!"

The kids all gasped. They were all wide-eyed as they glanced from Vatra to Luz and back again; seems like Luz had them all hook, line and sinker! Vatra opened his mouth to protest, but Luz already dropped down onto the floor and sat cross-legged as he cleared his throat.

"In fact, you wanna hear some of those stories?"

"YES!" the students all cried at once.

Luz took a breath, cleared his mind, and regaled the stories. He poured out every single one he could remember: the day he met Vatra when they blew up that robot that stormed his town, the fights against countless armies and tools of war, even the stealth missions and rescue operations. Every one he could think of, he spun a tale of, and he emphasized everything he could of Vatra's heroics! With each tale he told, the kids' eyes grew wider, their smiles more eager, and at the end, they'd all glance at Vatra like they looked at their hero! Surely, he'd have to acknowledge Luz now!

"Of course, don't take my word for it!" Luz proclaimed as he stood up and gestured towards Vatra. "You can ask the man himself, right here and now!"

A shrill gasp came from every student in the room, and all at once they flooded Vatra, clung to his clothes, and tugged on his cape.

"Is it true, teacher? Did you really blow up a huge Arkeyan robot all by yourself?"

"Did you, huh?"

"If you're fighting all these robots, why are you teaching other beings?"

Vatra sputtered, stepped back as the crowds grew more intense with their questions, and shook his head.

"Everyone, calm down! I have no idea what you're talking about!" Vatra cried as he shot a glare at Luz. "I'm not a magician, I've never seen this boy in my life, and I've certainly never fought an Arkeyan single-handedly with the power of fire and nothing more! Now please, calm down!"

Luz slunk around the back of the room, picked up the stone tablets, and eyeballed them. "I don't know, these tablets certainly say otherwise," Luz said as he handed them off to Vatra. "Take a look, Vats. You're the main character!"

Vatra turned his ire-filled eye towards Luz as the tablets made their way into his hand.

"I still have no idea what you're saying!" Vatra peered down at the tablets. "These are just ordinary history tablets, not—"

Vatra's eyes went wide. The tablets in his hand must have changed shape and text, for they now documented every mission he'd been on! From fighting Arkeyans in Nearon, rescuing fellow rebels in the City of Fire, or backing beings up in Tillydrone, it was all there! Vatra's breath grew faster as he shuffled through each tablet, mumbled under his breath about how incorrect this was and how he could've sworn he brought the right ones, but then, he dropped them! The students gasped as the tablets crumbled to rocky bits before his feet, and Vatra himself fell to his knees and joined them as he clutched his head.

"This, this isn't right, this can't be right! This isn't real!" Vatra shouted. His voice strained with denial and fear all the same. "I, I'm not some hero, I'm only a teacher! I'd never fight in a war, I don't even know how to disassemble a robot or cast a spell! I'm not a magician, I'm not, I'm not—"

"Teacher, your hands!"

Vatra gasped, pulled his hands from his head, and screamed as he found flames bursting from his fingertips! The flames spread from there to the rest of his body quickly enough. Even his screams muffled as the flames ate up his head, and left him in the vague shape of a person!

The students all screamed and backed away, and the elf girl ran off.

"I'm getting the other teachers! He needs help!" she cried.

Before she ran, Luz gently pulled her back so her wide, blank eyes met his. "Don't worry," Luz said. He knelt down and spoke in his best kid-soothing voice, the same he'd use for his kid siblings after they woke up from bad dreams. "He'll be fine, just watch."

The students all turned to Vatra right as the flames disappeared, and Vatra himself stared wide-eyed. He in the same position he'd been in when the flames engulfed him—hands held aimlessly in front of his body, head hung low.

Now, he was the Vatra Luz knew. His body was ghastly and clothed in his sparkling pendant and the worn clothes he normally donned, and of course, his singed bandages.

The students all shrieked and cried out, and Vatra immediately flung his arms out. He seemed for a moment like he would console them, but the sight of arms barely visible startled him enough that he could only gasp!

"Well, looks like I was right," Luz said with a shrug. "C'mon, Vats, we've gotta get going!"

Luz reached out a hand for Vatra's, but Vatra yanked it away! Vatra's eyes fell to his ghostly body, and he looked the most terrified Luz had ever seen him as he patted down his chest.

"What, what happened to me? I'm, I'm not a ghost, am I?" Vatra sputtered as beads of smoky sweat came down his face. "This, this has to be a dream, a very, very, strange dream—"

Well, he seemed like he was still confused, but, with the tone he took, it was obvious what really went on. Vatra was in denial.

Luz had to admit, he'd never seen Vatra this in denial before, but, well, he couldn't blame him. So instead, Luz took Vatra aside to the back of the classroom.

"Your students seem like good kids," Luz remarked as he glanced back to the crowd of students that watched Luz and Vatra in wonder.

Vatra finally steadied himself, and his eyes trailed over to one of the students in particular: a halfling kid who gleefully swayed back and forth in his seat while oblivious to all the chaos surrounding him. Luz didn't know much about Vatra's old life, but he knew Vatra was a teacher, and he knew that he had a student he lost who became his entire reason for fighting against the Arkeyans. Was that the one?

"They were," Vatra finally said at last with a solemn nod. "If it were my choice, I'd stay here forever. I could see them grow up, watch them learn, and grow, and become the best they could be…"

"But we can't."

Vatra just sighed. His eyes drifted from Luz and down to his feet, and the unspoken truth resonated between them. In the end, this was only an illusion. Vatra could never really do that, even if he did stubbornly choose to stay. Like it or not, he had a job to do, and whichever route he chose, he'd just end up pulled from his fantasy and forced to do it anyways.

"Well, class, I recede," Vatra proclaimed as he lifted up his hands. "My friend Luz here is right. I'm one of the free magicians, and it's time for me to leave and help the others."

A string of gasps ran through the class, and their eyes watered as they all crowded around Vatra! They clung to his clothes, buried their faces in his chests, and some even sobbed as they held him tight and pleaded for him to stay!

"Don't go, teacher!"

"Please don't leave just yet!"

"I don't want you to leave!"

Vatra glanced over to where that halfling kid tugged on the skirt of his tunic, and for a moment, his outfit flickered between his outfit of today and his teaching garb of yesteryear. Vatra cleared his throat and knelt down. The students all stopped and curled around him, their eyes still wide with tears, but he smiled and wiped away each one.

"Class, do you know why I'm leaving?" he asked.

A few of the children mumbled and whispered, but most of them glanced away. Finally, it was the halfling who shook their head and tugged at Vatra's pants.

"Why do you have to leave, teacher?" the halfling asked.

Vatra sighed, and gently placed a hand on the halfling's shoulder as he glanced around.

"Ludo, do you remember the stories I'd tell you in class? Of how our ancestors fought against wicked beings and scary monsters to protect their families?" Vatra frowned when a group of nodding heads met him. "There's a lot of bad beings out there, some even worse than the ones in those stories. I'm leaving to fight them so that they don't hurt other beings, so that they can't come here and hurt you!"

"So you're like the heroes of those stories!" piped up the centaur foal.

Vatra giggled. His laughter was light, but still with a bit of pain. "I guess that's one way you could put it," Vatra cleared his throat. "Remember, I'm doing this to protect you, and our village, and someday, when I come back, I'll be sure to teach you again. So while I'm gone, be extra good. You take care of each other and listen to your elders for me, alright?"

"Okay!" the students all cheered at once.

Vatra stood and nodded, but still he trailed out of the classroom with Luz. Though, he sneaked just one glance behind, just so he could catch his students’ smiles and waves goodbye before he left.

The world around him shifted, the village and the school folded in on each other and left nothing but grassy plains and a beaten path behind, but Vatra didn't even look back. No, he just gulped it down and carried on as he followed the path down. Luz quietly walked behind him. The air around them both turned stiff with simmering heat, and for a moment, Luz almost saw Vatra's veins glowing and warming before they faded.

"Now, the question is," Vatra remarked as they crossed over a hill, "who exactly do we look for next, and where?"

Luz hummed as he held his hand over his eyes, shielding it from the harsh sunlight. "Not an expert, but I'd say that village ahead is probably a good starting point."

Vatra's eyes followed Luz's down to a small village at the end of a path just on the hill's other side, and he nodded as he slid down the hill and stormed ahead. Luz followed behind him, but frowned as they passed through the village.

He glanced aside as two people with dark skin dressed in loose, flowing trousers and robes with colorful patterns stitched into them passed him by on an ox-driven cart. That same dark skin and the loose clothing reminded Luz a little bit of someone—could this be where she is?

Luz couldn't help but grin as he and Vatra passed through the village's heart and walked down pathways where people tended to crops and sold their wares. This whole place felt a lot more like home compared to Vatra's old town, with its small, cozy atmosphere, its huts tightly knit and its people active and cheerful. Kids ran along and played with their pets, men talked about the harvest as they passed Luz by, others draped in the scent of sweet perfumes walked arm-in-arm with their lovers…

Luz coughed as someone with a particularly strong flowery perfume strode right past him, and peered ahead as idle chatter with a familiar tone reached his ears. His attention fell to a few people who sat underneath a tree and talked with each other. Luz almost passed them by at first—but as his sights fell on one person with bright purple hair crafted into a star's shape who dressed in a silky purple dress, he narrowed his eyes.

"Wait a second," he whispered before he nudged Vatra's elbow. "Hey, Vats, look over there!" Luz pointed to the people sitting under the tree. "Doesn't that lady kind of look like Sihiri?"

Vatra gritted his teeth, but the moment his eyes fell on maybe-Sihiri, that brief flash of anger was completely forgotten!

"It does! But, why isn't she a ghost?"

That was true. Though this person had Sihiri's attire and appearance, she was still all flesh and bone. Had she not broken out of the trial yet?

"Well, whatever, we can worry about the details later," Luz said with a shrug. "For now, let's just get her and get outta this place!"

Luz charged forward, and waved with only partial attention paid to Vatra as he shouted at Luz to wait. "Hey, Sihiri!" Luz shouted as he waved and jumped up and down. "Over here!"

Maybe-Sihiri perked up her head and turned away from her conversation. Though she was super far away, Luz just barely made out how she gasped and floated over! Seems like she recognize him, at least, so he prepared to run over.

Right before he did, a familiarly hot hand gripped Luz’s elbow and he winced.

"Luz, what are you doing?" Vatra hissed. "We can't just go calling out to random strangers and—"

"Luz, Vatra, what a surprise!" Sihiri called as she floated over and landed down in front of you. "I'd never expect you two to pay a visit! What brings you here?"

Yep, that was definitely Sihiri, so Luz cleared his throat.

"Well, we came here to pick you up!" Luz said. "We went into this trial thing by this oracle dude, and then we all lost our memories, and got trapped in this weird place where—"

"Sihiri!" cried a deeper voice from behind.

One of the people who'd sat with her earlier, someone with skin like hers and deep violet hair styled into a short collection of braids who donned purple robes similar to the ones those men Luz passed in the village wore, stopped short behind Sihiri. They frowned, and raised one of their thick black eyebrows as they glanced at Luz and Vatra. "Who exactly are these two?"

"Oh, pardon my manners," Sihiri chuckled as she turned to the man. "Sadiq, these two are Vatra and Luz, a few friends of mine from far away from here. They'd apparently come to visit!"

"We didn't come to visit, we came to get you out of here!" Vatra protested.

Sihiri grabbed him by the hand before he could talk further, and floated away. "If you two were coming, you should've told me beforehand! I could've arranged a nice trip for all of us!" Sihiri chuckled as she took Luz's hand in her other free one. "No matter, I still have plenty of time to show you all around the village! Oh, there's so much to see, I don't even know where to start! But, I'll try…"

A purple glow surrounded Sihiri, and before Luz even knew it, he'd dropped off near fields rich in vegetables and wheat! They were tended to with care by farmers of all kinds!

"These fields are the village's pride and joy! Beings come from all across Skylands for our crops! We've grown practically every fruit and vegetable in the local area here!"

Luz opened his mouth, but once again she teleported off! This time, she fell in front of a tree with leaves painted in a rainbow's colors, and a statue of what appeared to be a person embedded in the back and wrapped in its embrace. At least, Luz thought it a person, but it was so eroded and entangled so thickly that it was hard to tell.

"This statue is dedicated to our mother goddess, the one who watches over our village and ensures our success every year. We have a special festival next week to honor her, and it's one of the liveliest times in the village! I do hope you plan to stay long enough for it…"

"Sihiri, we're not—"

Luz started to protest, but it was fruitless. Another pop, and Luz was back in the heart of the village, and a little dizzier to boot. The moment Sihiri let go of his hand, he stumbled over his own two feet, nearly tripped, and knocked into a box of fruit if he hadn't immediately steadied himself. But, he did, so he glanced at where Sihiri stood with a pensive look.

"Ah, where to take you next? There's a few moments around this place, and I could take you down to the ports, or—"

"Sihiri, I'll say this as gently as I can," Vatra said from where he leaned on Sihiri as his legs trembled, "but, none of this is real. It's only an illusion created by the Oracle! This village, all these surroundings, they're all constructs!"

Sihiri's eyes grew a little wider, and her body seemed to flicker between solid and transparent, but it quickly stabilized and she laughed. "Those seem like good choices, but there's so much more, too! The forests are beautiful at this time, and there's the caves—"

"Sihiri, didn't you hear me?" Vatra turned around and placed himself right in Sihiri's face. "None of these forests and caves are real! Now, we can't dawdle, we have to get out of here and find the others—"

"Oh, it'd be silly of me to not show you my house, wouldn't it?" Sihiri pushed past Vatra and hummed. "Why, you could even meet my family, too! They can be a little much, but I—"

"Aren't you listening to him? This is all FAKE!" Luz shouted out.

He hadn't even meant to, really, but something in him grew so impatient that he tossed himself in Sihiri's way with face fuming and everything. After all, she was their leader and the smartest of the bunch; how could she be this deep in denial?

"So why haven't you realized it yet? All of this, these towns and houses and people, they're all just a test! You're the magic lady, you know more about spells and stuff than anyone else! Why can't you just wake up and realize?"

"Luz!" Vatra scolded as he pulled Luz back.

It seemed like he would chew Luz out for a second, but Sihiri laughed, and the both of them only turned to watch her.

Her hand was to her face, and it brushed against her sparkly purple lips as she laughed to her heart's content. When her laughter faded, a kind of sadness came from her eyes, one just barely there. They all must have noticed, for she turned away from their glance as she did.

"Luz, I was the strongest magic user of us all, the one even the most powerful mages of our group turned to when they needed advanced magic. Only Ninjini surpassed me, and that was with the powers of an Elder Elemental. I know magic like I know the very blood that runs through my veins."

There was a kind of tense, but teasing tone in Sihiri’s voice, one that tensed a bit more as her eyelids lowered and her smile faded.

"Do you think I haven't realized this is all fake yet?"

Luz stumbled backwards and out of Vatra's grip. "Well, I mean, you were all caught up in all this stuff, so I thought—"

"That I hadn't realized? No, I'm completely aware this is all an illusion and nothing more." Her gaze turned colder, and Sihiri placed her hands behind her back as she smiled a clearly forced smile. "But, is this really such a bad thing? It may only be for a short, fleeting moment, but we can have the lives we never got to have because of the war!"

Sihiri's voice cracked just a tiny bit, and for a moment, Luz almost thought he could see tears in her eyes.

"We can live peacefully with all our old friends, family, lovers, and we don't have to worry about a thing! No conflict, no battles, no war and strife… What's so awful about that?"

Luz frowned and lowered his head. Being honest, he didn't really know if he could give Sihiri an answer. He knew they couldn't stay here forever, that they had a job to do and all, but something in his gut told him that arguing with Sihiri about this wasn't the best idea. So, he just stood there, just as lost as she was while she turned away and bit her lip like she tried her hardest not to cry.

"Sihiri, I—" Vatra started, but Sihiri ran off before he could even reach out for her!

"Apologies, I have somewhere I need to be!"

Sihiri spat out her words so fast that Luz only barely heard her! Nonetheless, he followed after—or at least, he tried to. Vatra flung his arm in front of Luz, and shot him a glare that screamed "stay right here and don't move" before Vatra himself ran after Sihiri and called for her.

Luz wasn't content with sticking around. That wasn't his style, so he charged the light in his body, and turned invisible once more as he tailed after Vatra and Sihiri's footprints in the earth.

The two of them ran well past the village, into a forest, and past thickets of obnoxiously tightly-packed leaves that Luz tried his hardest not to rustle. He just bit his lip as the leaves sang and moved with every step he took. As, he reached an area where they thinned, Luz met with a cavern where Vatra lingered outside for moments and ducked down!

When Luz was certain he wasn't caught, he poked his head out, crawled out of the thickets and tip-toed through the caves. He was careful not to make a sound as he crept just inches from Vatra's coattails. Luz clenched his brows as some faint noise hit his ears, and when Vatra parted, Luz pressed himself against the walls and glanced inside.

The cavern itself was mostly dark, save from the light that poured from its end. It was short, and it sung the songs of rushing waters, and, sobbing? Yes, someone cried inside: Sihiri, who sat in the heart of a small room with plants and flowers on its ceiling and a babbling pool to her right.

The sights around Luz didn't concern him as much as Sihiri; he'd never seen her cry before. Even as their allies fell in droves, even as places they protected fell to Arkeyan rule just days or weeks after their hard work, even when they were too late to save anyone, Sihiri never cried. She just steeled herself and moved forward. Heck, even when they confronted Arkilles, she always kept face. It felt almost wrong to see her so upset like this!

Luz wondered if he really should have left her be, but he instinctively pressed himself back to the wall as Vatra stepped in.

"There you are, Sihiri!" Vatra called as he stepped into the light.

Sihiri gasped and wiped her tears away, but when she opened her eyes and saw only Vatra, she just sniffled. "Oh, it's, it's just you, Vatra," Sihiri croaked, her voice weak and soft. "I, I'm sorry you have to—"

"Sihiri, it's alright."

Vatra knelt down before Sihiri, propped himself up with one leg, and wiped her tears away. "Don't mind what Luz said earlier. He's just a boy, and a stubborn one at that. He couldn't understand."

Speak for yourself, Luz scoffed in the back of his mind as his incident with Vatra played back again.

"But, I suppose he was trying to get at something," Sihiri replied. She sniffled a little more, yet wiped away her tears again. "I know this is all an illusion, and I shouldn't stay here long, but… But…"

A few strained sobs came from Sihiri, and before Luz knew it, she buried herself into Vatra's arms and sobbed into his chest in strained, pain-filled cries. She barely kept a grip on him, but he just leaned down slightly so that she could lean into him and cry her heart out.

"I, I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of being strong, I'm tired of all this war! I know I need to be strong, I know that everyone's counting on me, but, what am I even fighting for? I had to leave my home, my friends and family, everyone I loved behind without even telling them, and just when I thought this war was over and I could finally see them, all this happened! They're all dead and I'm the only one who survived, and I'll never see them again! They probably didn't even know what happened! They probably think I just abandoned them on a whim!"

Sihiri's sobbing grew louder and more strained as she curled closer into Vatra's body. If Vatra weren't a ghost, Sihiri probably couldn't even be seen in his grip.

"I, I promised myself on the day I left that, when all this was over, I'd come home and see them again, and I couldn't even fulfill that! What's going to be left for all of us once this is over? Ten thousand years have passed, and we're just a figment of the past to everyone here!"

Sihiri turned away and showed a face so pained and eyes tinged a bit red from her crying.

"It's selfish and childish of me to be this upset, I know. I need to be the leader everyone needs, to protect Skylands, and fight for everyone, but, but, it just isn't fair!"

"You're right, it isn't fair," Vatra said as his own voice started to crack. He gently pushed Sihiri closer into his grip, and though his head hung, Luz could tell he was upset. Maybe he still thought of his students and of the home he lost?

"It wasn't fair for any of us, but especially for you. Sihiri, you gave up so much to lead us: your home, the ones you loved, the life you wanted… If any of us deserved to go home to a peaceful life, to survive all of this, it was you!"

Vatra's head sunk a little lower, and it almost seemed like he shook.

"But, it just didn't happen. I wish I could give you an answer, but, I'm just as lost as you are."

Vatra started to shake and sniffle, but his own cries steeled as Sihiri reached up an arm and wiped off his face.

"Please, don't feel bad, Vatra." Sihiri croaked. "I wish I knew why all this happened. I thought we'd all live happily after the war, I thought we'd finally be relieved… But, it didn't."

The two of them just laid there and slunk down in morbid silence as they sulked. Ancients, Luz just hated it! Even though he didn't know much about what Vatra and Sihiri were like before this Arkeyan nonsense and all this war stuff, even though he didn't really know what they went through, it wasn't right that they were stuck sulking like this! They were always the ones who led the group, the ones who always talked about the future they'd have when the Arkeyans were gone, the ones who fought their hardest for any of that! It was just wrong to see them so beaten down and defeated!

"Alright, I don't understand any of this future, and fate, and destiny stuff," Luz said as he stormed in while his invisibility spell lifted in the light, "but, I don't think it's right to just give up right here!"

Vatra and Sihiri both jerked their heads up and turned to Luz.

"Luz! I told you to stay behind! Were you listening in on us this entire time?" Vatra hissed as steam burned from his hair. "Besides, what would you understand of something like this?"

"Not much, I'll admit, but we didn't really know what was ahead of us back during the war either, did we?"

Vatra almost seemed like he would argue again, but then, Sihiri drew back, and the steam disappeared as she sat by him and wiped her face.

Luz took this as a sign to continue and cleared his throat.

"After all, we've never known what was ahead of us back then, but every time something bad happened, we always found a way around it! It didn't matter if it was some fancy new machine, or some Arkeyan trap, or some lost battle! We always made it through, all because of you two! You never gave up, no matter what, and you know what? Sure, we may have ended up dead, and stuck ten thousand years in the future, and have all this weird nonsense going on, but we'll find some way out of it too, and once we do, we'll make our own path! We'll do all the things we wanted and even more!"

Luz grinned and pointed over to Vatra. "Vatra'll get to be a teacher again" — Luz moved his finger to Sihiri — "and Sihiri, I'm sure there's something about all your old friends and stuff out there! We'll find out what happened to all of them, and I'll bet that once they found out what you did for everyone, they'd be the proudest they'd ever be of you!"

Luz chuckled and ruffled his hair. "I'm not sure what Fintster 'n I will do, but we'll figure that out too, and so will everyone else, because—"

"How can you be so certain things will work out?" Vatra asked, his eyes oddly cold.

Luz smiled and shook his head.

"I'm not, but, that's never stopped us before, and it won't stop us now. Things might be harder, things might be really different now, but, we'll find a way around it, just like we always have! Besides, if we just sat around and sulked about everything and gave up, we're basically just making that what'll happen to us, right?"

Vatra and Sihiri both sat in stunned silence, and Luz bit his lip. Did he make things better or worse? He wasn't sure, so he just sat, but beside him, Sihiri wiped her eyes and chuckled.

"When did you get so wise, Luz?" Sihiri asked as she leaned forward and ruffled his hair.

"I'm just cool like that."

Sihiri chuckled again and stood up. "Luz has a point. If we give up right now, we're basically fulfilling our own prophecies," she said. "Come, let's find the others and leave."

Vatra and Luz both nodded as they stood up and joined hands with Sihiri. A purple light came over them as her body slowly faded, and became the ghostly presence they all were; soon, the purple light spread to them and whisked them away. They were even lighter than they already were, but the weight soon returned and they opened their eyes.

Once again they were back in Sihiri's village, but the place ahead where Sihiri once laughed and talked with her friends held three paths instead of one. Three paths, three of them, and one glance around showed what the obvious plan was.

"We'll split up," Sihiri proclaimed as she floated down the center path, "and regroup back here once we get the others back."

"Understood," Vatra replied as he took the leftmost path. "When we meet again, it'll be as a team."

"You bet!" Luz chirped and saluted the others as he took the rightmost path. "Stay safe, alright?"

With their vows proclaimed to the winds, the three of them parted ways down the beaten paths.