Filia Umbra

Dark... dark... light... dark...

As people continued their daily tasks well below the rafters, a yellow-eyed fairy observed them carefully, claws unsheathed and digging into the wood.

Dark... dark... darker... horrifyingly dark... confusing, there she is.

The fairy pressed against the wood of the beam and forced her tail to still, peeking off the edge and locking her gaze on the female wizard arguing with a young archer. Around their figures was a slight mist, tinted gray for the younger wizard but darkening and lightening drastically and abruptly for the wizard next to him.

Now, what exactly are you doing?

The fairy, at this point, was creeping along the beam to an intersection, moving along the rafters until she was right above the two. The mists were more potent at this point, and her ears were perked as whispers began to be audible - but it wasn't the wizards whispering, it was the mist.

They didn't seem to notice it, and maybe that was for the better as she angled her ears to hear more clearly. Among the whispers were words such as death, insanity, harm, destruction... the usual around this particular wizard. Continuing to listen to the disembodied voices, she could pick up a few more... fresher voices, ones that carried the force of more recent actions. Anger, hurt, neglect, loneliness...

Hmph, nothing interesting.

She promptly padded away, balancing on the rafters and leaping across a few of the beams, this time making her way towards a more... diverse group. She kept going until reaching a group made up of wizards, borgs, hybrids, and fey, a very mixed variety of mists surrounding them. Around an older Ice Fairy was an overwhelming dark mist, bearing so many whispers that the younger was forced to block them out. Around a blond-haired man was a very light gray mist, notably quiet in comparison. Then around the older borg... now that, that was interesting. Their mist was more of a gradient, darker in some points, gray in others, and then incredibly light in others - not to mention it had an intriguing hue, tinted purple or dark blue in some parts. A red-haired man had a similar dilemma in his mist, but was tinted reds and oranges instead and had very few dark spots.

As for the whispers... the variety was simply astounding, speaking of so many fates and dilemmas that the fairy had to hold back a purr of excitement. Oh, how she loved to play with those whispers, seeing all those things happening... yet it was just so difficult to get a hold of these whispers. Did they somehow know she could see them? Make sure they got what they deserved? They always left whenever she started playing with them, and it was so painstaking to try and untangle one whisper only for them to leave before she finished.

Yet she kept trying, it was just so... tempting, those little whispers being attracted to her, beckoning her to mess with them... but she knew she shouldn't. Yet she could. Oh, what should she do?

Before she could decide, however, the group dispersed and a growl escaped her.

Glace, what are you doing?

All the fur from her spine to her tail fluffed up, her back arched and her ears laid back before realizing the owner of the voice was nowhere near her.

Nothing, now leave me alone.

...so you aren't trying to curse everyone again?

The fairy swore under her breath.

So you are?

More cursing.

...I'm telling mom-

NO.

Give me one good reason.

I haven't touched anyone's karmas today?

...

WHAT, IS THAT NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?

Ow...

Answer the question already.

Fine, fine, I won't tell mom...

As the familiar fuzz of telepathy faded, Glace glanced around to look for the group, but they had all gone.

She growled in irritation before stalking off, darting into the shadows.

She'll get them someday.

Someday...

As far as the eye could tell, it was a relatively normal day in the Academy. The kids were socializing, the adults were more relaxed, and a certain hobbyist was scolding the fire trainee for failing to keep an eye on a dragon hybrid that had Harry Houdinied her way into the locked kitchen and stolen half the eggs and meat were cooking, baking, frying, and doodling were going on at the same time.

Ah, weekends.

.

.

.

Wait what-

“I mean, is it really that f**king hard to take care of a five-foot-tall dragon? How have your siblings not gone to Hell and back yet?”

Opal immediately stopped lecturing Hope and instead cursed at top volume, as Scarlet had swooped towards the kitchen.

An orange pumager promptly bounded after the Luma hybrid, soon carrying her back to Hope by the scruff.

Robin laughed at hearing the feline's paws against the wooden floor. “Don’t let Caleb see you like that.”

Scarlet flailed briefly, before giving up rather quickly and shoving the rest of a half-eaten sausage into her mouth.

The feline rolled its eyes, set down Scarlet, then padded out of scorching distance before shapeshifting back to a fairy.

However, the aforementioned boy had still caught sight of the Earth Warden, latching onto his fluffy tail.

Storm ran after the young black-haired boy, while clutching a girl with brown hair, both having bright green eyes. The latter was staring to squirm away to no avail. “Grace, no. Caleb, go play with your sister.”

He hoisted the child in his arms up as he said the last part, tapping her lightly on the nose. “Boop.”

She giggled. “Daddy, Daddy, where’s Mommy?”

"Busy, but she'll be here later..." The borg held back adding another word - "hopefully."

“She’s always busy,” Opal said with a sigh.

He shot her a look, making it clear the wizard wasn't helping.

“You’re welcome to help in the kitchen,” she responded.

He promptly raised his hands in defense, taking a step back, "I think I'm better off staying outside the kitchen and away from cooking."

“Thought so,” she said, but the hobbyist was smiling. “What now?”

"Hey, who wants to head out on a Crystal Caverns raid?" Nathan asked. "Dad's the chaperone!"

"Erm..."

"Uh..."

"Eheh..."

Within seconds, the Great Hall was deserted, an Ice Fairy smirking from her perch above them.

"Huh. Nobody?"

Hope raised her hand.

"You don't count."

Hope lowered her hand.

Andrew and Kaminari appeared out of nowhere.

“Me!” they said simultaneously.

"Okay, cool!" Nathan said, walking with Hope back over to their father, who had his map out. The Warden double-tapped the image of Shiverchill Mountain, pulling up a popup giving information on Shiverchill along with two options below it. Chase looked at the seven that had chosen to come, Kaminari, Andrew, Hope, Jax, Nathan, Aurora, and Scarlet.

"Is that all?" he asked. Nathan nodded. "Cool." Chase's finger pressed against the blue left option, and the group immediately appeared in the enclosed, snowy area of Crystal Cavern's entrance.

Inside the cave was Ansat, talking to a Shivertusk that seemed to have escaped.

Ben was drinking a beer and looking at his phone.

Chase waved. "Oh, hey you two - Ben make sure to keep the beer away from the kids - what's up?"

“Nothing much, I’m just talking to my old Shivertusk,” said Ansat.

”I’m watching those cameras I placed everywhere.” said Ben.

"We're going on a Crystal Caverns raid. You guys wanna join?"

The others, getting impatient, dashed off with their pets in tow, opening chests and uncovering snow piles.

Kaminari took the beer and drank it. “Ugh, not as good as whiskey.”

“That’s my beer!” yelled Ben.

"Hey, look, there's a weird dog thing!" Nathan called, attracting all the children's attention., resulting in them running over.

"Whoa..."

"What's it doing out there?"

"Is that a head-on its foot‽"

"Oh, that's creepy!"

"I think both pairs of eyes are staring into our souls..."

"How about we go somewhere else?"

"Yeah! I want to find a Sparkle Snup!"

"Ew, those things are weird."

"I think the fluffballs are adorable."

"Well, you're weird too."

"You're just mean."

And with that the children scattered off once more, knocking any Crystal Monsters aside with spells and climbing Crystal Trees.

"Oh, it's one of those fancy chests. Well, that's useless to - wait how'd you open that‽"

"I dunno. I just can."

"HEY LOOK! I FOUND A HOT CHOCOLATE!"

"How-"

"Aw man, another pair of these?" Hope complained, holding a pair of Swift Boots above the remains of a wooden crate.

"Isn't that your, like, fifth pair?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah..."

"Oh look, a poutine!" Nathan exclaimed, having demolished a snow pile. "It's...still warm?"

"That's...sketchy...," Hope said, eyebrows furrowed. "I don't think you should ea-"

"Hey, it actually tastes good!"

"Wait, really?"

In the distance, the Astral Trainee squealed in delight, cradling a sparkly furball, the Water Trainee next to her marveling over the buddy.

"Hey, guys! Jax and I found a hidden chest!" Aurora exclaimed, to which everyone scampered over and was gifted with a random item.

Meanwhile, Chase, Ansat, and Kaminari were busy attempting to herd any remaining pets, only for them to run, fly, or hover their way off to their owners.

“Ben, aren’t you gonna help?” said Ansat.

”Nope, too busy watching your bedroom.” replied Ben.

”Wait, why would you need to see-“

”Let’s not get too distracted here!”

The children promptly dashed into the cave below them, quickly disappearing from view, Chase, Ansat, Kaminari, and Ben, who were being dragged along by Ansat.

Inside the cave, the children were consuming Snow Cones, Hot Cocoa, and Poutine while Aspen Frost restocked on supplies. Meanwhile, Holly, still perched on the yeti's head, dumbfoundedly stared at the children and the sheer amount of Shivers they had individually. Meanwhile, Hope and Nathan were levitating certain tracks, before noticing the other and breaking into an argument over which path should be taken and whether or not the group would be allowed to split up to take both paths. Soon, Hope had decided to shut Nathan out of her mind, fixing the mine cart track leading to the left of the group, stepping in it, accompanied by Scarlet and her Embershed, and rode off to the other side, the cart returning to its starting point as the 3 got off. Nathan stared blankly, before sulkily getting in the mine cart with his Emburn. Aurora then got in the cart, a Sparkle Snup in her hands, and a Snowfluff sitting across from her. Jax sat in the cart next, accompanied by his Celesteate.

They all arrived on the other side, battled a few Crystal Monsters, and rode in more mine carts. Kaminari hastily slurped up the last of his poutine and flew off. “So how far away is big fat crystal golem’s spot?”

"Well, first we have to get past Makalu," Chase informed, hitting a Crystal Monster with two Molten Crashes, sending it scuttling away. He repeated the process with another Crystal Monster that burst out of the crate.

Nathan cleared his throat. "And him..."

A cloaked individual turned on the group, crystals in hand with his Batterbots behind him. "Didn't anyone ever teach you to stay out of other people's business?"

"Why do you always say the same thing when someone comes in here?" Chase asked. "Variety's appreciated."

Winston stared, dumbfounded, at the Warden.

“Kinda stale if you ask me,” said Ansat.

"I guess I'll have to take time away from stealing these crystals to give you a lesso-"

"Next," Chase sighed.

"Did you just skip my monologue without even listening...again?"

"Yeah. Hate to give you the cold shoulder, but it's getting really old."

Meanwhile, back at the Academy, a certain Ice Trainee made her way along the rafters until she was above the public common room - specifically, just above the Shadow Tower.

She promptly checked that none one was watching before flying down, darting into the aforementioned tower.

"Hei?"

The trainee glanced upwards, rubbing his forehead as even more unkempt purple hair swept into his eyes. “What?”

"Um... you learned Shadow Magic, right?"

“Of course, you idiot,” he said, smirking.

She ignored his attitude, "So that means you have some idea how to teach someone else, right?"

“No,” he responded immediately. “I do not trust you with Shadow magic. I barely trust myself with Shadow magic, much less a crazy psychopath.”

"Oh come on," she snapped, "Rai committed homicide yet he still got to learn four elements and be a warden. Besides, I'm just curious, it's not like I'm planning to replace you."

“It’s called corruption, idiot. And besides, Luce would kill me.”

He sang the last part terribly off-key, cringing. “I can tutor you on how to have an active social life, though, you definitely need it.”

"One, I thought that wasn't possible anymore; Two, he would not; Three, no thank you."

“Well, still no, since Shadow’s unpredictable as all hell.”

Glace rolled her eyes, "If that's so, how come nothing's happened yet? Or Luce for that matter? There's a literal giant rock watching her, I think we'll be fine."

“A giant rock,” Hei repeated. “Oh, now I’m very comforted.”

"What, are you seriously expecting a fairy to start with an entire monologue of how she - or they, whatever floats your boat - is an all-powerful deity that we should fear and worship?" She sneered, "Yeah, no, I'm not going to do that."

He snickered. “Well, if I did get a student in the Shadow Tower for once, it’s nice to know you’d have entertainment value.”

"Again, I'm not planning to be dedicated, I just want to try it out," the Ice Fairy shrugged, "I doubt I'll get past a Shadow Shock."

“So confident. Wish my mom was here to toughen you up,” he said with a smirk. “Then you could claw her. That’s karma right there.”

Glace's gaze darkened, but she gave no indication of what bothered her, "Will you teach me or not?"

He shrugged. “I dunno… I’ll try it out, I guess.”

"So should we head to the Sparring Hall or do you intend on waiting around for Luce to come over here?"

He shrugged and headed off, Glace quickly following.

However, a certain pair of siblings were already there, bickering playfully as they fought.

”You do realize that was the loudest Super Nova in all of existence, right?”

”Oh, shut up. Actually, I’ll do that for you.”

Opal flicked her wand and cashed a Falling Star Smash to attack her brother, who took a couple of hits but quickly faded the barrage of light.

”Annnnd now you’re gonna-“

She was interrupted as Robin fired two arrows at once, being forced to do a handspring to get out of the way. “Knew it.”

Glace blinked at the sight of the two siblings, "Should we go to one of the classrooms instead or..."

Back in the caverns, Nathan was parading around with the Swift Hood on, mimicking a defeated Winston. "Why is it always meddling wizards‽"

The crates and the chest were opened. "Seriously?" Hope complained, holding a sixth pair of Swift Boots.

The party rode the carts again, explored the areas to the left and the right of an agitated Shadow Wyrm that had not appeared to notice them yet, looted the chests and crates, and cycled back towards Makalu. The Wyrm roared, challenging the group to battle.

Ansat tapped his foot impatiently.

”Can we hurry this up, I got a need for speed.” he said.

"I call this one," Hope declared, rushing into battle with Scarlet and her Embershed by her side.

Hope used Falling Star Smash

Makalu used Shadow Shock

Hope used Falling Star Smash

Makalu used Crystal Crash

Makalu dove underneath his mound of snow and crystal shards, which moved around rapidly, switching places with the other identical mounds of snow

Hope blinked, staring at all three mounds. You just had to blink, huh, Hope? The trainee decided to attack the right mound, only for Makalu to pop up out of the left mound and smirk with triumph.

Makalu used Chill Out

"Dang it," Hope sighed after the ice broke.

Hope used Falling Star Smash

Makalu used Shadow Shock

Hope used Falling Star Smash

Makalu used Crystal Crash

Makalu dove underneath the mound of snow again, shuffling the mounds around. Hope's Embershed nudged Hope's elbow, wanting to take a turn. "Sure, go ahead."

Ardent used Volcannon

Makalu popped out of the front hole, dazed, getting hit with a Volcannon again. "Nice one!" Hope exclaimed, hugging the proud dragon's neck. The wyrm retreated under the snow, admitting defeat. Hope was then rewarded with a Prospector Uniform. "Oh...uh...huh." Her backpack materialized in front of her, and she shoved the outfit deep inside it.

Back in the Academy, Opal and Robin were still sparring, light scattered around everywhere.

At this point, Glace was tapping a clawed finger against her hip, she and Hei having decided to wait. Well, mostly Hei.

Finally, finally, Opal turned, out of breath, to the others. “Oh… sorry.. this idiot… taking too long… can practice… now.”

Then she collapsed, being rushed away by Robin.

"That took long enough," Glace stated drily, crossing her arms.

“Oh shut up,” the archer snapped. “What are you two doing anyway? You’ve never liked each other much. The two loners, am I right?”

Luckily for him, he couldn’t catch their identical glaring expressions.

"Well, obviously enemies are going to fight at some point, or is that horridly unrealistic in whatever world you're living in?" The Ice Fairy hissed, her tone cold.

“Oh, now we’re enemies? Jeez, I am seriously rethinking teaching you,” Hei said with a smirk.

"Can't you take a hint?" She snapped at him instantly, "Or is logic suddenly futile?'

“See? Entertainment value. Come on, it’s about time I started teaching anyway.”

"Fine, fine..." The Ice Fairy followed, annoyance still present in her yellow gaze.

Hei sighed and gestured for her to follow.

He caused a small tentacle of Shadow magic to entwine around his forearm, twisting and swirling, occasionally black, occasionally purple, usually in between. “Ice is, well, cold. Learning it means you have to match it, becoming emotionless and ruthless. But you still have to keep a flame of anger and heat, so that you can assert dominance over the element. Make it respect you.”

The shadow wisped into the air, becoming a thin lavender mist. The trainee’s Shadow tattoos began to glow lightly. “I do actually know Ice magic, just hate using it.”

Glace frowned. “How exactly is this relevant?”

”Shadow’s a combination, duh. It has a bit of the other elements in it, particularly Ice,” he answered. “Anyway, Earth is the other natural element I know. Earth is… strange. There are two different sides - the nurturing yet well-rooted plant, and the stubborn and resistant soil and rock. You have to muscle Earth into submission - show that you can match that level of persistence and endurance.”

The mist condensed and became a Shadow Shock, before exploding in a little purple firework. “I know you know Astral, but of course you rarely use it. Well, Astral brings light, but it’s usually harsh. It tries to be the biggest, the best, illuminating everything and leaving no room for darkness, whether it be good or bad.”

A Starbit Blast knocked the Shadow energy out of the way, Hei’s tattoos glowing dark purple and bright yellow. “Shadow, on the other hand, is secrecy. It seems like it’s been taken over…”

What remained of the purple energy began to fade.

”… but strikes again.”

Almost instantly, purple corrupted the burst of light from inside, exploding it in a shower of glittery yellow.

Hei brushed his bangs out of his eyes. “I would teach you Crystal, you’d definitely like it, but I don’t know…”

Meanwhile, in Crystal Caverns, both minecart levers were pulled and while Aurora was trying to catch a Shivertusk, it was agreed that Andrew would be the one to fight Lucy.

Or, as he called her.

”HEY BIG FAT CRYSTAL GOLEEEEEEM!” the young fairy yelled. “I’m bored.”

A Luminite yapped loudly from a distance away, clearly offended at his boredom.

”Sorry, Cumulus…”

Ben was drunk, and Ansat was running on the cave ceiling.

"Are we sure about this?" Hope asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Chase responded. "But Lucy's gonna make this harder for him."

After Aurora successfully caught the Shivertusk, the group headed towards a mass of purple and pink crystals. The aforementioned crystals began to hover, constructing an all-too-familiar golem that unleashed an angered roar, having heard Andrew previously.

"Yeah, she's gonna make this harder for him."

Andrew attacked Lucy for the second time, having dodged the previous Shadow Shock. Lucy responded to this by shifting to the Ice Element and freezing Andrew with a Chill Out.

He struggled for a while before bursting the ice aside with blasts of lightning, vanishing with a burst of gray and reappearing under Lucy, zapping her like a mosquito.

Lucy roared in mild annoyance, backing away and striking Andrew and his team with a Spearicle Crush.

“Use a fire attack!” yelled Ansat.

“Oh yeah!”

Cumulus rushed forwards and cast a Volcannon, barking eagerly.

The golem fell apart, open to another attack.

Another blast of lightning, Andrew kneeling down and high-fiving his Luminite. “Awesome!”

Lucy reconstructed herself, taking on her purple and pink appearance and striking Cumulus with a Shadow Shock.

Andrew sighed. “I wish Hei was here…”

He vanished again, dodging the Shadow Shock and using a Storm’s Coming.

Lucy switched elements again, taking on the Storm Element, electricity jumping between yellow and gray crystals.

Almost instantly, Ion Cannons were launched as Andrew repeatedly fey stepped, a growl starting up in Lucy’s throat.

Lucy returned the favor with an Ion Cannon, growling in annoyance.

“Sure you don’t need help?” Slurred Ben.

He shook his head, saying, “Nope!”, and redirecting the energy sent at him just in time.

Another Ion Cannon and Storm’s Coming, the latter being strengthened by the sword Andrew brandished.

Lucy shrugged the attacks off, striking Andrew's team with Unlimited Power.

Andrew took the brunt of the attack, Cumulus staying mostly safe.

"Use an Ice spell," Chase suggested.

Ben pulled out a weird-looking laser gun. It had blue on the top.

Also, it fired water instead of lasers.

Andrew sighed. “And how am I supposed to do that?”

Another Ion Cannon.

“Why don’t ya just dislodge an icicle?” Asked Ansat.

A few minutes later, some of the bored group members were sitting down watching Andrew and Lucy deal minimal damage to each other, while some of the children had decided to backtrack and fight a few Crystal Monsters to occupy themselves.

Finally, finally, Lucy crumbled into crystals, and Andrew retrieved a hat. “Cool!”

“Finally!” Groaned Ansat and Ben.

”I have an urge to go on another life-threatening adventure.” Said Ansat.

”I ran out of beer.” Said Ben.

"Guys! Andrew won! We can go back now!" Aurora said. The three siblings walked back, taking a glance at the deconstructed Lucy.

"Finally," Nathan sighed. "Could we please go back now?"

Back in the Academy, Glace simply shrugged at Hei's comment, "I just want to know the basics right now, nothing more, nothing less. As for later..."

“Alright, I guess. First off…”

Hei snapped his fingers and darkness clouded the room, whispers seeming to come from nowhere.

The Ice fairy could almost feel his smirk. “Hope you’re not scared of the dark.”

"No, I'm not," she responded carefully, eyes dilating enough to make out a few vague shapes.

“Good. Now, try lighting this entire area up with Astral magic. And I will combat it.”

"The entire area? You might as well ask me to cast Super Nova already."

“Just about,” he answered expressionlessly.

She rolled her eyes before thrusting a hand in the air, a faint orb of light forming above her palm before rising and increasing in size, promptly crashing down on the center of the room.

“Is that seriously the best you can do?” a voice whispered behind her. “If so, yikes. Maybe I really should employ my mom’s methods.”

"Unlike some people, I'm not exactly obsessed with using Astral Magic," Glace coldly informed him.

“Well, if you want to learn Shadow, understanding Astral is essential,” he responded, suddenly seemingly a few inches from her face.

"Really?" She dragged out the word as she said it, suddenly looking bored, "You do realize just because Luce knows Astral Magic doesn't mean he learned it for the sake of Shadow Magic - for goodness sake, he's a Dark Fairy, even if he didn't know Astral Magic it wouldn't change anything."

"That's diff-"

"Different? Again, really? Do you think Shadow herself pays much attention to Astral?"

"That's still-"

"And how many dark warlocks - or witches for that matter - even messed with Astral Magic, to begin with? Not many, because obviously, they have other methods."

“The way I learned it,” he cut over her, now slightly above her head, “is that power, more power, is the best option. Shadow and Astral are opposites, thus learning one makes you familiar with the other, as it did for me, and as it did for my parents. Differentiate yourself, freak, that or go back to being icy.”

Hei snickered at his own pun. “Now do it. Unless you’d rather Luce teach you, which is both stupid and weak.”

"You're going to die alone," she informed him in a sing-song voice, smirking at his expression.

“I’m terrified,” he said in a drawl, pulling at her tail before vanishing again. “Come on, little weakling, light this room up. Maybe you just aren’t strong enough to…”

She harrumphed before multiple flashes of cyan briefly lit up the room, followed by a Falling Star Smash striking a corner, refracting through ice that had been positioned there and quickly spreading through ice crystal after ice crystal.

He grinned, having reappeared. “Ingenious. But you’ve got to stop relying on any one skill. That’s another flaw. You’ve got to be more flexible. But it’s about time I actually started teaching you Shadow magic. Well, do something with Astral magic, then I’ll tell you what to do next.”

"That's horridly specific," she stated sarcastically but still cast the same spell as before.

“Now, try corrupting it from inside. Focus on extinguishing the light and replacing it with darkness. It’s a harder method, which is why you start with it.”

She frowned before shrugging and concentrating on the spell, which quickly changed into a Shadow Shock that struck the far wall.

Glace blinked before questioning, "Harder method?"

He grinned. “Oh, no, that’s not the hard part. What’s hard about Shadow is keeping it under control. It was harder before the whole elements thing, but it’s much easier now. Impressive, though.”

"So what's next?" She questioned casually, frowning slightly at the dead silence of the whispers.

“Do it again. And again. And again. Retain complete control of the Shadow Shock.”

Mischief flickered in her gaze, "And how exactly do you expect to tell if I'm keeping control or not?"

“Well, if you wanted to, say, hit me in the face, I’d be able to redirect it, so that would be unintentional.”

He caught her flicker of annoyance. “Unless you were actually thinking of doing it, in which case you’re stupider than I thought.”

"Well, then let's test that."

"Wait what-"

The next several minutes were filled with Shadow Shock upon Shadow Shock being cast in the Trainee's direction, the first few being redirected while he had to settle for dodging the next dozen.

Hei cast an Astral forcefield, scowling. “I am this close to just not teaching you.”

"To be fair, you were the one going around underestimating people." Glace said with a shrug, "Yet this was getting a bit boring."

“Alright, fine, my mistake. How about we do something hard?”

She arched an eyebrow.

”Royal Roar.”

Meanwhile, Chase, Nathan, and the others teleported into the Academy just as a roar resonated through the halls.

Jax's eyes were wide as he questioned, "Did anyone else hear that?"

"The roar?" Hope started, "Yeah."

"You do realize it's probably just the wind, right? We're literally standing next to an open door," Nathan bluntly informed them.

Meanwhile, Hei was scrutinizing Glace. “Good… not much control, though. That was my problem too. Try again, but keep it focused on one area. Say… the palm of your hand.”

She frowned slightly, "Alright then..."

Back in the Great Hall, another, slightly tamer roar filled the Academy again.

"Okay, I'm sure I'm not imagining-"

"We're still next to the door."

"..."

“Good, very good. Now, use the Royal Roar to blast apart this.”

The trainee caused a spire of Astral magic to rise in his palm. “Leave no light left.”

Another roar.

Before Jax could open his mouth, Nathan said, "Doorway."

Hei frowned, a few luminous particles remaining in his hand. “Close.”

Another roar.

"Doorway."

Jax shut the Academy doors, glaring at Nathan while doing so. "I'm telling you, I heard roaring."

"Wind," Nathan responded.

“Alright, good for the day,” the Shadow trainee answered. “Study up.”

Glace simply rolled her eyes before they exited the Sparring Hall, soon catching sight of a certain Water Trainee protesting that he did hear a roar - much to the other's skepticism.

Hei bit back a laugh. “I think you’re hallucinating, Jax.”

"I-but-wha-how-there-" Jax stammered.

"You know, I thought I heard a roar too," Hope started, "but Nathan's right...for once-"

"Hey!"

"-it was probably just the wind," Hope finished.

Jax crossed his arms. "I am not hallucinating."

"Well, after Nathan closed the door, there was nothing that sounded like a roar. Maybe it was just the wind," Aurora said.

Jax stared at the floor. "I heard roaring," he muttered defiantly.

“Well, you heard wrong,” Andrew answered, appearing out of thin air and scaring the wits out of everybody nearby.

Jax didn't look all too convinced.

Jax stalked off, muttering something about hearing the "sound of a roar."

Meanwhile, a certain Ice Fairy was sneaking off to the private common room... only to run into a sulking Jax.

"Oh, hi. What's up?" the trainee asked, failing to hide his frustration.

Her tail fur fluffed up, "Erm... Nothing."

"Hey, did you by any chance hear any roaring earlier? Everyone thinks I'm hallucinating."

"...roaring?" She forced her fur to relax, tail swishing in a forced casualty.

"So...that's a no?"

"Well, did that sound like a yes to you?"

Jax sighed, walking off. "I swear I heard roaring..."

Hei interrupted, looking… serious. “Jax, are you sure you’re okay? Why would anything in here roar?”

The aforementioned water trainee, however, was out of sight and out of earshot.

The trainee shrugged. “Come on. Shadow tower. I’ll get you some books that won’t bore you to death.“

The addressed Ice Fairy sighed dramatically before following, having intended to sneak off.

“I mean it. Come on, your mom loves to read, clearly, you didn’t inherit her genetics.”

An eye roll met his statement.

"I like to do... other things."

“Such as abuse random people?”

"Well, you can put it like that."

“Well, yeah,” he answered. “Why do you want to learn Shadow magic anyway?”

"As I said, I'm curious, besides..." Her tail flicked, "What else do you expect from me?"

“You’ve never struck me as the curious type,” he answered. “Unless you’re curious just how far you can push Jade until she’s off the edge.”

"That's just a single aspect of it," Glace replied elusively.

“Seriously? You’re so annooooooooying.”

She huffed irritably, "Can we just get to the point already?"

“Which is reading,” Hei answered briskly, heading off towards the Shadow Tower.

She rolled her eyes once again before continuing to follow him, gaze darting to the other towers occasionally

They entered a darkened common room with obsidian chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, tiny flecks of violet from pale lavender to deep northwestern purple dotting the walls and ceiling.

Black columns with little book cubbies in them were strewn about, a few purple chaise lounges against the wall. Each book was rather messily thrown onto the seat, the owners clearly having rushed off, as if the bell had just rung. The office door was tightly closed, practically blending in with the wall. Faint yet elegant music rang through the room, interrupted only by the flipping of a page.

Nobody was in the room except for the two and a hostile-looking fairy with their nose in a book, curled up with their purple-tinted wings tucked in.

Hei sat down on an empty lounge, grabbing a few books. “I have the best ones, I can promise you that.”

Glace gazed at him skeptically but didn't seem to have a retort at the moment, instead glancing at first the tower entrance and then the door to Luce's office.

“Oh, you want to go in?” he said, laughing. “Nobody goes in unauthorized. Now read.”

"Can I just... borrow the book?" She asked while shifting from foot to foot, ignoring his comment.

“…why?”

"Do you really think my mom agreed to this?"

“Just sit here, read, finish, and be done. Maybe a fraction of the information will get into that empty head of yours,” Hei responded drily.

A crossed harrumph met his statement, the fair reluctantly plopping down next to him, arms crossed in visible displeasure.

Hei ignored her, stuffing a book into her crossed arms and snapping, “Read.”

Another harrumph, but Glace opened the book, skimming the book grouchily.

A few hours later, the Shadow Trainee had successfully forced the Ice Fairy to read the entirety of the preselected books, the fairy seething in annoyance at this point and time.

"Can I leave now?"

Hei smirked, but answered, "Sure, just be back by tomorrow-"

The second he said the words, Glace had rushed off, darting out the entrance and out of sight.

The other children had engaged in different activities. They battled each other, watched a movie with a few of the adults, read books, or simply talked with each other.

.

.

.

Then there was Jax, dressed in a trench coat, armed with a magnifying glass, a detective cap, a Gizmotron, and a stethoscope that he was using to listen to the walls.

Opal sighed as she watched him, curled up against the armrest of a couch. She flipped through a book, but clearly wasn’t focusing. “Jax, you’re going crazy. Let it go.”

At this point and time, a tired-looking pumager padded past them, leaping onto the window seat, stretching, then curling up into a ball.

A little boy toddled by, fell over, landed on top of the cat, and started snoring, his butt in the air.

The startled feline squirmed below him, yowling.

Caleb didn’t seem to notice, squeezing Rai’s tail and drooling on his head.

Storm, meanwhile, stifled a laugh as Aly loomed over him, the former quickly rushing over to retrieve Caleb before the latter got any ideas.

He yawned sleepily and fell out of Storm’s arms, hugging Aly’s tail as tightly as he could.

The borg blinked, "...at least he's not on Rai?"

"This is no better than before," she promptly snapped at him in response, in the process of yanking Caleb off her furiously lashing tail.

He hugged her arm, rather like a koala attaching to its mother.

"For Nor's sake-"

"I mean, it's kind of cu-"

"Say another word and you'll be joining the extinct section of Shiverchill's permafrost."

"...Icy, much?"

He was instantly tackled, Caleb somehow managing to find comfortable napping positions on the two as Aly strangled Storm.

Grace came in, stared blankly for a few seconds, and walked away.

As hell was breaking loose, a certain, younger Ice Fairy was making her way along the back of the common room, intending to sneak off to her bedroom.

On her way to her room, she passed Jax, who was staring at his Gizmotron while walking around.

As Glace entered her room, a throat was cleared behind her.

Opal raised her eyebrows. “Mind explaining?”

"Explaining what?" The Ice Fairy played innocently as she turned to face the wizard.

“Why you were hanging with Hei in the Shadow Tower, of all places.”

She shrugged, "He dragged me into helping him with something."

“Oh really? Hei doesn’t strike me as the type to ask for help, especially not from you.”

"Who said he asked for help? For all you know I could've just lost a bet."

“You don’t bet. I know you’re way too smart for that.”

"And again, who said I was the one who cast the bet, to begin with?"

“Hmph, Hei’s too smart to bet either. Come on, Glace, you know you can’t fool me. We’ve been friends for ages.”

"Friends is an overestimation and you know it," Glace replied drily.

“Come on Glace, just spit it out, you know I’ll push you until you tell me.”

"No."

And with that, the bedroom door was slammed in the wizard's face.

She slammed the door close and slumped against it, relieved at the silence.

No Rai, no Hei, no Opal, just her.

The young Ice Fairy tilted her head back against the door, closing her eyes as she tried to ignore the whispers attempting to get her attention. What for? She was alone, after all.

That's when she felt it.

A warm liquid trickled down the right of her scalp, the fairy tensing before tentatively lifting a hand and touching the source. When she lowered her hand, red stained her fingertips, leading to her panickily touching the spot again.

Pressing her hand against her head lightly, she felt a small bump. She didn't remember hitting her head on the rafters, did she?

She pressed a bit harder, expecting pain, but nothing came. In fact, the bump felt... hard.

A sense of dread overcame her, matching the messages of warning the whispers carried.

A second trickle joined the first, this time on the left side.

The dread was overwhelming now, suffocating, even.

What was happening to her? And why her?

After a while, the bleeding stopped, and the whispers quieted once again, but the dread didn't go away. Glace carefully got to her feet, as if standing alone might cause something else to happen, then walked to her dresser, plucking a small mirror off the top. There were two stains in her blue hair, around an inch away from each ear, perfectly aligned with them, but there was nothing of concern.

Maybe I really did hit my head on the rafters...

Yet something told her she didn't.

Not long after, she heard Aly's voice yelling for her and Rai to go to bed, and the fairy sighed.

Hopefully, things would be better by tomorrow.

They weren't.

"Oh, f**k."

She checked the mirror once, twice, but nothing changed.

Sticking out from the top of her head were two small, qilin-like, glossy gray horns with little nubs branching off in front.

"What the hell did mom make out with?"

Upon closer observation, there was also a faint purple undertone forming tabby-like stripes on her cheeks, and the patterning was also visible on her neck.

She had no clue what was happening to her, but all she knew - especially with what the whispers were jabbering about this time - was that she could not under any circumstances let anyone see her like this.

Unfortunately, that was also the moment someone knocked on her bedroom door.

Opal frowned as she entered the room. “…Glace?”

The mentioned Ice Fairy stiffened, not daring to turn to face her.

She sighed deeply. “Just turn around and talk to me, you’re clearly hiding something.”

No response.

”We’ve been friends slash enemies slash partners in crime for how long now? Glace, you’re no better than a two-year-old and hiding information.”

"I am not," she snapped at her, the fairy still notably keeping her back to the wizard.

Opal arched an eyebrow, popping a bubble before responding. “You haven’t interacted with a two-year-old in your entire life, so how would you know? I’m this close to just hitting you right now.”

"Grace exists," Glace grumbled under her breath, getting slightly impatient, not to mention uncomfortable.

“And you haven’t talked to her in years. Now stop changing the subject.”

"You're the one who brought it up, to begin with."

“Then turn the f**k around, b**ch,” she snapped. “What are you, possessed?”

Silence.

"....What if I say no?"

Opal laughed before shoving the Ice fairy around, staring at her. “What…”

Glace's yellow gaze darted to the ground nervously, heat rising to her face out of embarrassment and unspeakable discomfort.

"Can you... leave now?"

“What happened to you? Luce and Hei,” her green eyes flickered to the ground for a second, “can fix this, can’t they? I thought Shadow was in Harmony Island?”

The fairy's tail lashed irritably, "What do you mean, Shadow? What does she have to do with anything?"

“You… kinda… uh… nothing.”

"What?"

Annoyance filled Glace's yellow gaze as she crossed her arms, her coat sleeve slipping slightly and revealing purple markings on her wrists, "Now who's the two-year-old?"

“Well you don’t want to hear the answer,” she responded, voice clipped.

"And it doesn't seem you wanted to see this answer; I think things'll be better off if we're even."

“…you look like Shadow,” she whispered, so quietly it took Glace a few seconds to really understand her words.

"I look like..." The Ice Fairy didn't finish, clenching and unclenching a hand, "...do you really think it's fixable?" Yet the second the words escaped her mouth, the usual whispers became aggressive, causing the fairy to flinch slightly.

“I… I’m gonna go get Hei,” she said, fleeing the room.

Glace's hand was poised as if she were about to say something, but she lowered it as she approached the door and closed it. She soon flopped onto the bed in the corner, speaking to no one in particular, "Well, that went great."

As usual, the whispers had something to say about that, carrying their even more usual negativity.

Yet as she listened to their messages of forewarning, it was hard not to fear that they were right.

Robin glanced upwards. “Oh, hey, Opal.”

Meanwhile, a pumager dashed away from a sleepy toddler, promptly scrambling up a bookshelf and pressing against the wall.

Two dumbfounded siblings stared at their younger brother, who was still dressed in the stereotypical detective outfit.

"Did you go to sleep with that on?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I shall not rest until I find that roar."

"It was the wi-"

"I refuse to believe that."

"Did you even brush your teeth?"

"I will practice basic oral hygiene only after I locate that roar."

"Excuse-"

"That was a lie. Of course I brushed my teeth."

"Oh, thank Harmony."

The archer blinked. “Uh… okay. C-can we do something now? I’m bored.”

"The fact you get bored at all," started Raiden, who was on the window seat, "is disappointing."

“Well, not everybody is as stone-faced as you,” he remarked.

The was met with a harsh stare, which of course, the wizard couldn't see.

Opal sat down on a couch, reaching for her sketchbook instead of her book - a sign she was upset. “Glace looks… interesting.”

"Hm? What do you mean?" Hope asked, pouring out her cereal.

Meanwhile, Grace had Caleb on her shoulders, the two toddlers trying to at least reach Rai's tail.

“Oh, I dunno,” she answered vaguely. “Where’s Hei?”

Caleb fell off into Rai’s arm, snuggling against the soft fabric of his shirt sleeve.

The Earth Warden stared at the toddler hanging from his arm blankly before standing up and flying down from the top of the bookcase, shaking off Caleb next to Raiden.

The Astral Fairy then turned to Opal, "He's probably in the Shadow Tow- HEY!"

A smirking Raiden oversaw Caleb cuddling against the fairy's tail, burying his face in the ginger-orange fur.

The hobbyist stifled a laugh before heading off to the tower.

It was locked.

She sighed and knocked, tapping a pencil against her knee. When nobody responded, she knocked again, and with more force.

A rustle, a groan, nothing.

Opal pulled a paper clip from her bag because of course she had one there, picked the lock, and was immediately blasted in the face by generally harmless Shadow magic.

Hei stared. “Seriously?”

“You’re the one who didn’t answer,” she said huffily.

”Fair point. What’s the matter?”

”Glace.”

The trainee swallowed, gaze flickering away from Opal’s before heading off to the common room.

Raiden glanced up from the sight of Rai trying to escape Caleb, her sapphire gaze settling on the two wizards who had just entered the room.

"So... are you going to bother to explain things?"

The Shadow trainee bit his lip, twisting his eyebrow piercing as he always did when nervous. “Um… so what exactly happened to Glace?”

That had well caught the attention of a certain Earth Warden, distracting him from the toddlers slobbering on his tail, "What do you mean, what happened to Glace?"

Opal coughed. “She’s going through a second puberty…”

Raiden blinked, "What the actual f**k?"

“…she looks like…”

Hei cursed. “Oh, f**k.”

"Excuse me, but what in the Nor is happening to my sister?" Rai snapped, his lashing tail being used as a jump rope of sorts by Caleb and Grace.

“HornspurplemarkslookslikeShadownoIdon’tknowwhat’sgoingon,” Opal answered in a rush.

Raiden stared at her blankly, "You know what, f**k doesn't begin to describe this. Aurora, what's that thing your grandpa always says?"

"Shadow cursed spawn of the Old One?"

"Yep, that works."

The hobbyist wiped eraser scraps off her paper. “Well, we should probably tell Aly first...”

“...Can we not?” Rai pleaded, Caleb still hugging his tail, “You’re already speaking loud enough, anymore and my ears are going to burst.”

“There’s no guarantee she’ll yell at you,” Raiden huffed.

"Well we should tell someone," Aurora sighed.

Opal rolled her eyes. “I’m all for handling it myself, but once Aly figures out what’s going on, she’ll go crazy.”

Rai's tail was lashing, Caleb somehow still hanging on, "Exactly why we shouldn't tell anyone until this is dealt with. Please?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, the poor toddler hit the ground with an oomph. He started sniffling, slowly beginning to cry - giving the group about two seconds to comfort him.

The fairy cringed before shapeshifting, the toddler soon lying face down in cat fur.

Caleb squealed with delight and hugged him as tightly as he could, but his arms too short to wrap around the cat entirely. Grace soon toddled over to join him in suffocating Rai.

Raiden, meanwhile, blinked at the scene, before leading out a dragged out sigh. "So, what are we going to do?"

“Tell Aly,” Opal responded at the same time as Robin said, “Figure it out.”

They stared at each other before bursting into argument.

Notably, Rai crawled forward before swatting at Opal's ankles with an annoyed hiss, still not having agreed with the concept of telling Aly.

She glared, brandishing her pencil. “I’m going to stab you right now.”

Raiden stepped in her path, however, "Don't make things worse, alright? We already have to deal with one idiot, I prefer not to deal with a second."

“Jeez, you’re so uptight. Besides, we really should tell her. I don’t think any of those idiots can handle yourselves.”

She nodded at Andrew, Robin, Rai, and Caleb.

She earned herself another ankle swat from Rai.

The borg let out a huff, "You should be adding yourself to that list."

“I’m only here because Dad’s home today,” she snapped back, already immersed in her sketchbook, “and it’s not like I’m enjoying this conversation. Toodle-do!”

"Fine, be that way. Well, do any of you have a suggestion?"

Chase entered the kitchen. "Good morning!" the warden said, unintentionally interrupting the conversation as he grabbed a plate and a pancake, which was quickly coated in syrup. "So, what's up? You guys don't normally look so tense. Well, except Raiden." He took a bite out of his pancake.

Robin bit his lip, trying not to tell Chase everything.

The group shuffled quietly for a minute.

"Glace...is starting to look different," Aurora answered.

"Well I don't see why that's an issue-"

"Like Shadow," the Astral Trainee added.

"Oh."

She rolled her eyes and returned to sketching.

"Ehhh, he's idiotic enough that we'll be fine," Raiden stated, looking the Fire Warden up and down.

"Hey!"

"It's true and you know it."

Andrew laughed. “I love idiots!”

"...can I rift him-"

The borg was answered with an ankle swat from Rai.

The young fairy shrugged. “So long as it’s a good place.”

She glared at the fey, "Yeah, not going to happen."

He disappeared and Fey stepped off, faint electric yellow shimmers indicating that he’d disappeared off into the towers.

An aggressive sigh.

"Well, since this has become the idiot convention... DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY MORE F**KING RIFT-WORTHY COMMENTS?" Silence. "No? Then good."

Grace opened her mouth to say something, which was met with a hard stare from her older sister.

"You keep your mouth shut. Now, what the hell are we going to do about Glace? Because this conversation has gone nowhere."

Grace promptly started sniffling. “That’s mean!”

"Well I know what you were going to ask and you shouldn't be repeating it. Unless you want to be in trouble with mom and dad...?"

“B-but Mommy says f**k all the time!”

"And she gets mad at dad and I when we say it. So don't say it, okay? And don't tell her I said it either."

She nodded, eyes wide. “But you gotta give me, like, all your glitter and brownies.”

"The hell? I don't even own glitter. You can have the brownies though." She replied with a trace of irritancy.

“Yayyy!”

She facepalmed, "Can we get on topic now?"

Opal scowled at Raiden and patted Grace on the head, showing her the drawing she’d been working on.

Hei, meanwhile, simply shrugged. “Well, what are we supposed to do?”

"Find Glace, ask her nicely to come back, and find out what's going on." She said sarcastically before yelling, "WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DO?"

“Okay, fine! We can go to Shiverchill and look for her, or ask Luce, or go to Harmony Island and ask Shadow.”

"Why not check the book?" Jax asked. "After all, we did that last time...when Gale..." The trainee's voice faltered.

Raiden huffed, ignoring that last bit, "Haven't we wasted enough time already?" She paused, "Though, it'll be nice not to have to guess what Glace is up to."

Opal shrugged. “True enough. Now, let’s get going.”

Moments later, the children were shuffling down the stairs of the Archives, Grace and Caleb clinging to a certain borg as they did so.

Sounds of bickering and… squirming?… came from a few rooms over, Opal quickly finding the correct room.

The kids promptly rushed in, only for them to stop and stare in total and utter confusion.

"When I turned around the corner, I was greeted with a shocking sight...Luce was-wait, what is he doing, exactly?" Jax said, briefly breaking out of his detective persona.

A scowling Luce was squinting at a group of smug-looking glow worms, his yellow aura growing brighter than usual, yet it paled in comparison to their vivid green.

"Is he having a glow off? With...the glow worms?" Hope asked. Scarlet, meanwhile, was tired of not being able to see anything, flew up and stared at Luce and the Glow Worms.

Luce was straining as if he had major constipation, unaware of the gawking crowed he had attracted.

Meanwhile, a small army of spectating bookworms was searching through a record book that was messily stuffed atop the carefully sorted articles of reading, as if whoever read it last was in hurry. Regardless of how it got up there, a team of five bookworms was flipping the pages as a larger one read, occasionally glancing at the glow worms and Luce before finally coming to one of the pages with its "tail."

Intriguingly enough, there was apparently a record for the brightest glow.

"What is he doing?"

"He looks like he's tryi-"

"No potty jokes, please."

Luce glanced at the paper, stomped his foot, and turned to the others. “Oh! Hello.”

"Hey," Chase greeted, waving. "Care to bring to light what's happening here?"

The fairy blushed. “Uh…”

"Are you having a glow-off with the Glow Worms?" Aurora asked.

“…I plead the fifth-“

"Can we get to the part where Opal and Hei ask their questions already?" Raiden remarked as Grace and Caleb took to observing the variety of worms.

Opal blinked. “Oh, yeah. Uh… so Glace kinda looks like Shadow and it’s weird, so you know how that could happen?”

Almost instantly the Shadow Warden's tail fur fluffed up, "I- what?"

“….yeah.”

He paled in the face, the tip of his tail beginning to turn an intriguing shade of black, "I-I know about Shadow possessing people but-" The fairy frantically shook his head, "I know nothing about people starting to look like her."

“You’re sure? Didn’t you?”

"Quite sure, and no, that's different."

Hei glanced away. “Uh… is there anybody who knows a lot about Shadow and is old?”

"What in Nor is that supposed to mean, Hei?" Luce asked with a glare.

“Imeanyoutoldmeyouwerelikefivebilliononce.”

"Hei!"

“F**K YOU.”

"Language," Chase said disapprovingly.

“F**k you too.”

"You shouldn't swear. It's a sign of weak verbal skills."

“Too f**king bad,” he snapped.

"..."

"..."

"I swear you're picking too much up from Juniper."

"Yeah? So what?"

"Nevermind."

"Look, I don't know anything about a situation like this, and just because I was possessed by Shadow for that long doesn't mean I have experience - I scarcely remember half of it! You should know better than anyone I don't like being questioned about this," he snapped in response, his now near-black tail lashing angrily.

Hei sighed, glancing at his tail. “Fine, sorry. But do you know anybody with an, ah… abundance of knowledge?”

”Or we could just visit Shadow,” Robin suggested.

Everybody turned to stare at him, which he was oblivious to. “Why did everybody go quiet?”

At this point and time, Luce had paled drastically, hair and tail turning fully black and eyes darkening to a purple before - in a blink - disappearing altogether.

Notably, there was a suspicious looking shadow flickering on the ground, but it quickly vanished.

“…what?”

"Child," Raiden began, "you have to be either incredibly stupid or utterly insane to ask an elemental who tried to take over the island for advice."

“Well it’s not like she can possess us anymore.”

"She can still kill us, not to mention she's a deity. I bet you or Luce would be useless against her," Raiden snapped back at Hei.

Chase crossed his arms. "It was enough of a pain to beat Shadow last time, and I'm not willing to do it again. Dark times..."

“Fine,” Robin said. “Well, Luce, do you know anyone who could help?”

"Luce is gone," Raiden informed him drily, "he freaked out and went all black again."

"Can you not describe things in color-"

"BLACK IS LITERALLY THE COLOR YOU SEE EVERY SINGLE DAY, HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW THIS?"

"...sheesh, you didn't have to yell."

"Hmph."

“Well I don’t know what black is,” he grumped. “So don’t rub it in my face.”

"And your precious sister over there never bothered to tell you?" She questioned with an arched eyebrow.

“…no.”

Opal glared at the cyborg. “Well do the honors if you’d like.”

"A bit too late for that," she replied curtly.

“So… do any of you know someone with an abundance of knowledge on Shadow?” the hobbyist asked. “Or I could just read these books. Look how many books! They’ve got to have everything in them. I should start reading. Bye!”

And with that, she sat down, pulled out a thick book, and began reading.

Raiden blinked, "Did she seriously just-"

"Yep."

She didn’t respond, having already gotten to the next segment of the book. “Shush.”

“Okay, finished, the author is clearly biased, I’d bet all my money they grew up sheltered in a wizarding family, and this is out-of-date,” Opal said, tossing the book aside and grabbing another.

"Are you seriously going to read every book," Raiden began, "or are you going to ask the person who already has?"

“…oh yeah. The lady I don’t know if I should call Grandma or not. It’s awkward, you go talk to her.”

The borg crossed her arms, "And do you really think she'll listen to me?"

“Hmph, fine.”

Meanwhile, on Harmony Island, a particular Ice Fairy set foot, quickly scanning her surroundings.

Mossy stone was beneath her feet, ruins and lush forest as far as the eye could see. In the particular clearing she was in, one area had a blue crystal marked with white symbols, levitating above a stone pedestal. The other area had a similar crystal, but at the base of a ring of stone pillars, one of which had an enigmatic blue flame lit above it. In the distance a mountain peak was visible, but instead of Harmony being there as she - or they - usually was, the stone deity appeared to be absent, most likely bust with a certain group of elementals.

Not finding what she was looking for, she took off, viewing the island from above.

Scattered throughout the vibrant rain forests and mangrove grooves were incomplete paths of stone, a few leading around structures. The one thing they all had in common were two pedestals, one which had a crystal and the other which didn't.

A few cave systems were scattered about, but what caught her attention was a large stone clearing near the base of the mountain, where she could make note of movement.

When she flew closer, it became obvious that Harmony had not moved, but instead had sat down to be at the elemental's eye level, in which Storm (the elemental) and Fire were bickering in front of the clearly tired stone deity.

Nearby, the other elementals were indifferent, but curiously enough, Astral and Shadow were not in sight.

The fairy eventually set in one of the smaller clearings, allowing her to spy on the present deities nearby. Her ears pricked as movement occurred nearby, and she tensed instinctively.

A huge, yelling, bright yellow wizard that glowed chased after an Ivory fairy, the former splattered with something red.

As the chasing ensued, a certain bright red and orange elf giggled in amusement, yet promptly popped out of existence when a particular stone deity shot them a look, reappearing a safe distance away.

Meanwhile, a particular purple-black deity sat seething with her arms crossed on a rock.

Shadowy wisps floated around her, the grass withering as she ran a foot over it.

Guessing that the sulking deity was Shadow, Glace began to make her way around the clearing around to where she was, careful to stay in the undergrowth.

She began to catch the gist of a conversation occurring nearby as she did so.

"I'm telling you there's something there!" Exclaimed a cat-eared, green-skinned deity - presumably Earth - as Fire rolled his eyes.

"Every time you and Water say that there's nothing-"

"JUST LOOK!"

Glace froze in place, afraid her cover was blown, only to be relieved to see that Earth was pointing in the opposing direction. The Ice Fairy did catch a glimpse of something white, but Fire didn't seem to notice it.

"There's nothing there. Again."

As the other deity protested, the Ice Fairy continued sneaking along.

Shadow glanced upwards. “It seems I have an admirer.”

The water-based deity sat up, alert. "Did anyone hear something?"

"There is nothing."

"I swear I heard something."

"Wind. Wildlife. More wind."

"No, no, no, I heard something."

Glace swore under her breath from her current hiding spot, clearly not intending to make herself obvious quite just yet.

“What, surprised? What do you want?”

"We were right!" Earth and Water simultaneously declared.

"Of course they were..." Fire grumbled under his breath promptly.

Meanwhile, Glace, still remaining in her hiding spot regardless of them knowing she was there, began to curse more profoundly, not having thought this through to the slightest.

“Idiot,” the purple deity scoffed. “What do you want?”

Silence.

"If you're not going to-"

"WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K DID YOU DO TO ME?"

She blinked, taken aback, but quickly regaining her composure, "Langua-"

"Don't you dare 'Language' me," Glace hissed in response, now looming over the deity.

"This is why I don't mess with fairies," Earth commented in the background, staring blankly.

Storm stared. “But I’m-“

”I didn’t do anything to you, sweetheart,” Shadow interrupted.

Glace glared at her, "You know, for an elemental known for manipulation, THAT'S A VERY OBVIOUS LIE."

"Shadow...what did you do?" a cyan yeti demanded.

“Honestly, what could I have done? Glace, I think you’re overreacting. Your father was famous for that. That’s what got him killed in the end, of course.”

"You can shut the f**k up about that you b**ch. And in case it isn't obvious to you of all things, you kind of did this," the Ice Fairy snappily dropped the illusion she had been using, glaring at Shadow more profoundly.

Shadow inclined her head. “Face paint. Congratulations.”

The deity was promptly strangled.

She flicked a hand and a surprising amount of Shadow tentacles restrained Glace, the deity tsking. “What’s the big deal? You should be grateful.”

The Ice Fairy squirmed, glaring profoundly, "Grateful? Okay and who does the LITERAL POPULATION hate?"

“Gale, that little insane puppet of mine, uh… that horrible twisted elemental, and that thing,” she said, gesturing towards Astral.

"Wrong," Glace snapped in response, "It's you."

"Actually, the wizards like Astral," Water said unhelpfully.

"We know," multiple voices said drily in unison, the purple elemental taking no note of their tone.

Shadow crossed her arms. “The first two are correct, at least.”

The fairy ignored that comment, "Nevermind that, what, exactly, did you do?"

She promptly pretended to be deaf.

This was met with her being kicked, and judging by Glace's expression, if she hadn't been restrained the deity would've went through a lot worse.

The wizard-like deity turned around, staring Shadow in the eye. "When Gale was alive, Shadow tainted your embryo with herself while it was forming," the deity said, maintaining eye contact with Shadow. Astral and Shadow maintained eye contact until the fairy next to Shadow knocked her over, with Astral leaving promptly after.

Shadow glared. “Well, be grateful, Glace.”

"WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She snapped in response, taking a swipe at the deity's face.

One particular cyan yeti appeared, stared at the conflict, decided this was too much for the morning, and left.

Meanwhile, a fiery elf was facepalming, muttering something along the lines of, "I told you so-"

Shadow swiveled around to glare at him. “Shush.”

"Says the person who's in the process of being sent to another plane," he drily informed her as Glace aimed for the she-demon's throat.

She dodged and cast another few Shadow spells to restrain the Ice fairy.

The fairy squirmed, visibly furious with the deity.

A smirk answered her, Shadow turning to leave.

Yet immediately blocking her path was Fire.

"To think I'm the irresponsible one."

"What do you want?"

"Put her down," the firey elemental requested curtly.

"Are you trying to tell me what to-"

"If you don't, I'm telling him."

The elf was on his tippy-toes, staring her down.

"Fine, fine..." She rolled her eyes as she waved her hand, the Shadow Tentacles vanishing and dropping the Ice Fairy with a thud, "Can I leave now?"

"Now apologize."

"There is a very thin line keeping me from blast-"

"YOU HAD A CRUSH ON-"

He was promptly tackled, providing an intentional opportunity for a certain Ice Fairy to sneak off.

Meanwhile, Opal was intensely interrogating a bewildered Hilda.

”Why Granny, what do you mean you can’t give us the book?

”Opal, maybe don’t call me that, and no.”

”…do it for your sweet granddaughter?” she tried, batting her eyelashes.

”That’s… even worse…”

"Can we get this over with, or is Miss Grape over there going to stand all day?" Raiden snapped, staring at Hilda specifically with the words "Miss Grape."

“Opal-“

The hobbyist dropped the façade. “Just give us the book. What are we gonna do with it, fix your mistakes?”

Hilda blanched.

“Wait, no, that’s exactly what you’re scared of us doing and I’ll just say I don’t want Jade back any more than you do. Give. Me. The. Book.”

She didn't oblige.

After a bit of impatient waiting, the wizard randomly slumped, crashing onto the floor, unconscious. Behind her stood a bored looking Raiden, sparks jumping at her fingertips, before she bent down and carefully pulled out a leather covered book from under Hilda, which was promptly thrown at Opal.

“Okay, nice, that was getting old,” she responded, flipping through the book.

”OH FU-“

"What the actual hell do you have to go around screaming about?" The borg interrupted her snappily.

She thrust the book into her arms. “Can you read?”

"Of course I can," Raiden retorted before skimming the page, looking at Opal, then looking back down at the page with an expression so emotionless the borg seemed to have transcended the boundaries of humanity. "What," she began slowly, "the actual f**k?"

Hope peeked over Raiden's shoulder, reading the page. "What the Puck‽"

“Puck?” Hei asked, reading the book upside-down like a teacher with little-to-no pay and an exuberant amount of patience and knowledge. “You DISGRACE! ‘Puck’ is for AMATEURS! If you REALLY want to curse…”

The others shut him up.

Raiden blinked, ignoring him as usual, "Is no one going to question how we've been living demi-god for the past seventeen or so years without noticing? Seriously? It's a miracle we're not all dead yet..."

"Well, she didn't seem to notice either, so I say it's reasonable," Nathan said, reading the book sideways.

"You do realize who we're talking about, right?"

“Harmony,” Andrew responded, having returned from the towers and now flying above the group to read. “Also, why is the ceiling so low?”

Nathan pulled out his map. "So are we going to find Glace?"

“Duh,” Robin answered, clearly sulking as he couldn’t partake in the book-reading activities.

"Geez, ok," Nathan said, tapping on the image of Harmony Island.

They were teleported into the beach, where Andrew, who had been touching Nathan’s head, collapsed face-first onto the sand.

Having his head held onto, unfortunately, Nathan faceplanted in the sand, earning a giggle from Hope. "Dat's nof funny!" Nathan mumbled in the sand. Hope quickly regained her composure right before Nathan looked up and glared at her.

Opal’s eyes widened. “Forget Glace, I have to draw!”

Hope broke a branch off of a nearby tree and gave it to Opal to draw in the sand.

She pulled out her backpack, taking out an easel, a canvas, fifty tubes of paint, three types of pencil, and a mannequin.

"…don’t ask."

"I-um-okay then..." Hope put the branch away.

Raiden, meanwhile tapped her foot impatiently a few times, a Wott flying beside her, "Can we get a move on?"

Nathan stood up, brushing sand out of his face, hair, and clothes. "Please," he sighed.

The borg promptly glanced at the rest of the group at that, "Well?"

Hope, Jax, Aurora, and Chase walked up to the cyborg, the Warden saluting as he did so.

Opal rolled her eyes. “Find Glace please and thank you.”

"We will," Raiden replied dismissively before pausing, "Please tell me at least one of you have runes."

The hobbyist reached into her backpack again and pulled out a handful, tossing them over.

"Thanks," the borg muttered awkwardly as her Wott picked them up, promptly dropping them on the pillars ahead of the group and lighting the rune fires.

Opal promptly pulled out a camera and began recording. “Okay okay okay I have to draw this!”

"Seriously?"

“Hmph,” she grumbled, following them.

A blue trail emerged from the flames of the ignited rune pedestals, connecting to each other. As the two top ends of the trail neared the grayed teleport stone, they took an abrupt turn, forming mirrored straight lines, turning downwards in an arc. The trail straightened out once more, splitting into three trails, all of which forming circles or semi-circles before connecting to the teleport stone. The gray stone took on a bright, blue hue, hovering above it's now bright white stand. "Well? Let's go," Nathan said, walking towards the central circle.

Everyone else followed Nathan, entering the central circle. They were surrounded with a beam of light that forced them to close their eyes. When their eyes were opened, they found themselves on a ruined path lit by torches.

Hei frowned. "The hell is this place?"

"The extension of Harmony Island," Aurora responded.

"Where Harmony resides," Jax added.

“I hate it.”

Hope sighed. "Of course you do."

“What?”

"Nothing."

“I found a bunch of glowing people!” Andrew called from up in the air. “Like the ones that we beat Void butt with!

"Who?" Jax asked.

“I don’t know! There’s a weird cat-girl, a yeti, a fairy who’s obviously the best one, an elf, a nymph, a boring ol’ wizard, and a creepy lady!”

"Creepy lady? Sounds like Shadow..." Aurora thought out loud.

"Is Glace there?" Hope asked.

Glace cursed under her breath at hearing the group, back turned to them.

Opal raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

The Ice fairy tensed, but didn’t turn around.

“Glace-“

She dashed away, the others sharing glances.

“Where’d she go?” Nathan said.

“Dunno.”

“So do we go after her?” Robin asked, having deduced what had happened with his massive IQ and big brain logic.

"Obviously, idiot," Raiden snapped at him.

“WHAT? She’s too far away for me to ‘see’ what’s going on. I dare you to echolocate.”

He stuck his tongue out at her. “So there.”

"Echolocation is stupid; Electroreception is much better," the borg curtly responded, closing her eyes and sending out a wave of static. She recalled it after a few minutes or so and informed the group, "Unless Glace can turn into a tree, she's gone."

“See?”

He blew a raspberry.

"For your information, that covered the entire island," Raiden replied with a raspberry of her own.

“Yeah but you still didn’t see anything,” he said, practically creating an explosion with his raspberry.

"Whatever, I bet she went to Shiverchill anyways."

“Shouldn’t we talk to Shadow?” Opal said. “She looks like Glace anyway.”

The borg paused, "I guess, but I'm sure as hell not doing it."

“Scared?” the hobbyist teased.

"No, just retain a scrap of common sense," she replied.

"Hey, wait, where's Aurora?" Jax asked.

The aforementioned trainee, meanwhile, had approached Shadow. "Ms. Shadow?"

The elemental arched a brow. “Ms. Shadow?”

The trainee inhaled deeply. "Um, h-hi? So, our friend, Glace, woke up this morning and she ended up looking like you, and we wanted to know if you knew what happened..."

“Sure, sweetie.”

The trainee rocked back and forth on her toes. "So, what did you do? And...why?"

“Did anyone ever tell you you’re adorable?”

"Oh-uh, thanks...but what about Glace?"

“Oh yes, that one. What about her?”

"Well she woke up looking sort of like you this morning, and we wanted to know if you knew what happened and why."

“That’s nice, honey.”

"...Could you tell me what happened?"

“To who?”

"To Glace."

“And who’s that?”

Heat began to rush to the trainee's cheeks in mild frustration. "Aly's daughter."

“And who’s Aly?”

Aurora stared blankly, then turned towards the other elementals.

Earth had instantaneously popped out of existence, not wanting anything more to do with this.

Fire, meanwhile, shrugged at her, "Ask Astral, I'm not saying it."

"But...there's nobody else here."

“EXCEPT ME!” an Ivory fairy shouted as he burst out from nowhere. “Ha! Your face!”

The fire elf facepalmed, "Why does everyone think I'm the immature one when you exist...?"

“I don’t know,” he responded sincerely. “And honestly, I don’t know much of anything. Race you!”

He launched himself into the air.

The fiery elemental let out a drawn out sigh before turning back to Aurora, "Well, we can do this the hard way.... SHADOW HAD A CRUSH ON-"

"SHUT UP FIRE."

"Then tell them," he informed the purple deity smugly.

Aurora tilted her head at the red deity in curiosity.

Aurora turned back to Shadow. "Anyway, will you tell me what you did to Glace and why? Please?"

“I’ll answer that question in a bit,” she said, smiling.

Then she tackled Fire.

"Pleeeeeeeease?"

She didn’t respond, too busy tackling Shadow.

"Ms. Shadow? Shadow? Mrs. Shadow?"

“FIRE I WILL MURDER-“

Aurora stood there patiently, as a certain albino approached her. "You know this isn't working, right? She's never going to tell you."

"I can get her to."

Jax folded his arms, staring at the trainee.

"Okay fine, but I get one more attempt."

"Fine."

"Mrs. Shadow? Will you please tell us what happened to Glace? Pretty please?"

"PRETTY? YOU KNOW WHAT’S PRETTY? YOUR FACE WHEN I SMASH IT ON A TREE-"

The two kids, stared, eyes wide, at the deity.

"She's mad," Jax whispered.

"Uhuh. Let's go..." Aurora said, starting to shuffle away from the deity.

In the bushes, someone snickered. "Mrs. Shadow. Heh."

The two elementals continued squabbling, Opal doing a play-by-play narration to entertain the group.

”Ooh! And she punches! Things are looking tough for Fire - but he’s got a trick up his sleeve! A fireball blasts straight at Shadow’s ugly face and she gives him a flying uppercut to the chin…”

"Please don't antagonize the deity who's the most likely to attempt to take over the whole island and maybe kill us," Hope said. Jax and Aurora scrambled back into the bushes with the rest of the group.

“I’m not antagonizing her, but this is entertaining,” she hissed back.

"'Shadow's ugly face,'" Hope air quoted.

“Well yes but as an artist I know beauty when I see it and that is not it.”

Raiden promptly snapped at them under her breath, "Seeing this is going nowhere and someone is trying to get us killed, can we get a move on now?"

Andrew waved from up in the air a good dozen feet away. “I see her again!”

"How the actual-"

Nathan looked up. "Where?"

“…never mind, that’s a rock, false alarm.”

"Back to the book?" Jax asked.

"AIGHT, we're going to Shiverchill then," Raiden stated irritably, and before anyone could pretest, she conjured a hologram and slammed her fist onto the portrayed mountain range, teleporting them.

On the edges of Firefly Forest, the sought fairy wandered a bit aimlessly, really just trying to avoid being seen.

After a bit, the whispers began jabbering at her and didn't die down until she caught that one word.

"An illusion..." The Ice Fairy glanced at the pool of water nearby, walking up to it so that her reflection was visible.

"Okay, maybe I can do this..."

Purple and black shadow magic enveloped a hand as she focused, however, when she glanced at her reflection, nothing had happened.

She quickly checked her wrists, but the purple marks remained, the spell clearly having failed.

"Nope, I can't do this."

Yet the whispers started up, urging her on to the point she finally gave in. This time, she closed her eyes, focusing on what the whispers were telling her and attempting to follow their annoyingly vague suggestions.

By the time she opened her eyes again, the reflection remained the same, but this time when she checked her wrists, the markings were gone.

"Huh, I guess it's too much to ask for it to be perfect but..."

The whispers were, well, whispering to each other again, a name being mentioned between them ever so often.

Jade.

With the name came that bubbling little interest that filled her whenever she saw the hybrid. The interest that arrived with being able to toy with karma as she pleased...

Yet what did any of that have to do with this?

Then it came to mind that the hybrid had experience with Shadow... at least according to her screeching. Perhaps she could find something out about her current predicament, and it would be fun to see Jade's reaction...

Yet she shouldn't.

Yet the whispers wanted it.

It wasn't long before she was making her way to the entrance of the white house, using an illusion for when she ran into Juniper; It'll vanish when she entered - due to the iron, of course, but seeing Juniper had to stay outside and make sure no one sneaked in and killed Jade... that wouldn't be too much of a concern.

When the fairy entered, the first thing she caught a note of was the silence.

Jade was curled in a ball on her cot, trembling as her sedative wore off. A bandage on her neck and another on her cheek were reddish-brown, fresh blood seeping through and dripping onto the floor.

Glace, as she had done on multiple occasions, began to pace a slow circle around the hybrid, inspecting her current state.

Just as she paced one full circle, Jade sat up with a gasp, a half-finished screech escaping her mouth. The Ice trainee paused, inspecting her from behind the hybrid.

She promptly resumed her pacing, tail flicking ever so often.

Jade remained unaware of her visitor, tearing her fingernails against her already bleeding cheek until the bandage fell off, revealing a deep scar already filled with blood and writhing black-purple Void.

After a bit of waiting, the Ice Fairy cleared her throat, "Jade."

She turned, a screech immediately ringing through the room as she fell with a crash onto the concrete floor. “I thought- they said- get away from me, NOW!”

The hybrid stumbled backwards, baring her teeth. Incomprehensible screeches filled the room, mixed with a warbling mix between a sob and a wail.

"They said what?" She questioned, not even batting an eyelash.

Only sobs answered her, Jade studying her for a second before pouncing, teeth sinking into the flesh of her arm.

Claws unsheathed and a blow landed on the hybrid's jaw, forcing her to release the fairy's arm.

Glace glanced at the wound before looking at the hybrid, eyes narrowed in irritation.

"If it's not already obvious," her tail lashed furiously behind her, "I'm Glace, not Shadow, or are you blind as well as insane?"

The hybrid hissed, circling her as if planning to attack again, but she was shaking so hard it was a wonder she hadn’t already fallen over.

Again, something avoiding being unnerved, the Ice Fairy repeated her question, "Jade, what did they say?"

“She was gone,” the hybrid spat. “She was supposed to be gone, she can’t come back!”

With a screech, Jade attacked, pinning the fairy down.

She let out a gasp at hitting the floor too hard but grit her teeth, bunched her legs beneath the furious hybrid, and kicked her off with as much force as she could muster.

The fairy got to her feet, wincing slightly, "Gone? Really? Last time I checked she's on Harmony Island, though I doubt she'll visit dear old you."

The hybrid’s eyes widened. “She’s-“

Another screech, another attack, which Glace dodged.

Jade hit the ground, twisting her iron bracelet against her arm painfully. “You’re quite the fishna, aren’t you?”

"Same goes for you, and that's nothing new," she replied.

“Well, of course, but I don’t really mind,” she snarled. “What do you want?”

"Just want to know about a certain someone," she replied elusively, flicking an ear.

“Then leave, why would you be asking the crackhead for questions?”

"Because," she began, "I want answers from someone who has experience... and isn't dead."

“My only experience involved torture,” she snarled. “Which I think is more than enough to allow me to die.”

At that, the fairy quickly glanced at the mist surrounding the hybrid before replying, "Unfortunately, no, it's not enough, and any experience is better than nothing."

“If I tell you what I know, then will you kill me?”

"It's really not that simple Jade," she replied, further inspecting the mist, "Karma isn't something you get rid of in one go, and if you do try, you might get results you don't want. You need to get rid of it little by little, and be careful not to make it worse."

“Then I can’t,” she responded.

"Hm, then what if I were to go to Harmony Island and get some experience myself, and maybe even ask her to drop by sometime - I'm sure you'll just love that, won't you?"

A trembling silence met her words, followed by dry sobs as she lunged towards Glace again.

She dodged, "Hmph, I suppose I should be leaving then," the fairy promptly made her way to the door, "Goodbye, Jade."

By the time the hybrid let loose one final screech, Glace had already opened the door and stepped out, reapplying the illusion instantly so no one would notice anything out of the ordinary.

She rushed past Juniper, not stopping when the purple-eyed hybrid started yelling at her, and flew off, making progress towards her next location.

She could only hope this wouldn't end badly.

_Chat Log_

JW (9:21 am)> ALY

JW (9:21 am)> ALY

JW (9:21 am)> ALY

JW (9:21 am)> ALY

JW (9:21 am)> ALY

JW (9:21 am)> ALY

JW (9:21 am)> ALY

JW (9:21 am)> ALY

CT (9:22 am)> maybe don’t spam

JW (9:22 am)> **** YOU NO BROWNIES

CT (9:23 am)> NOOO

CT (9:23 am)> nvm spam as much as you want

JW (9:24 am)> ALYYYYYYYYYYY

JW (9:25 am)> F

JW (9:25 am)> U

JW (9:25 am)> C

JW (9:26 am)> K

CT (9:26 am)> wow a loophole

JW (9:27 am)> ING ALYSS FLAMEHEART

Almost immediately at hearing the spam pinging the group looked at Aly, who got out a light blue device in response.

_Chat Log_

-ALYSS_FLAMEHEART has entered the chat-

AF/LI (9:30 am)> What?

JW (9:30 am)> ****ING FINALLY

JW (9:30 am)> Tf does LI stand for

AF/LI (9:31 am)> Irrelevant.

JW (9:31 am)> YOUR ****KING ***** OF A DAUGHTER SEVERELY INJURED A HELPLESS INSANE INDIVIDUAL KNOWN AS JADE AND I WILL HAVE HER HEAD

AF/LI (9:32 am)> I’m so proud of her

JW (9:33 am)> NO BROWNIES

AF/LI (9:33 am)> I'm terrified, really.

Meanwhile, the children and Chase were about to exit the Academy when they noticed their INCDs were acting up. Chase and Rai quickly checked the chat.

_Chat Log_

-CHASE_FLAMEMASTER has entered the chat-

-RAI STARHEART has entered the chat-

CF (9:35 am)> Language, Juniper.

JW (9:36 am)> **** you, no brownies

CF (9:36 am)> Bold of you to assume that I like chocolate.

JW (9:37 am)> Oh yeah,

JW (9:37 am)> Glace looked really weird she had like horns and purple marks it was weird

SD (9:40 am)> Please tell me you know where she went.

RS (9:40 am)> She was probably fussing over Jade, I doubt it.

JW (9:42 am)> FUSSING? Rai you’re one to talk about fussing

JW (9:43 am)> and no I don’t know where she went

RS (9:43 am)> To think I was being nice-

RS (9:43 am)> Also, knew it.

SD (9:44 am)> How are you replying this fast-

RS (9:44 am)> Too many reasons.

AF/LI (9:45 am)> Can we focus on the fact that something’s happening to Glace and we don’t know where she is?

CF (9:46 am)> Best we can do is take an educated guess. Shiverchill?

RS (9:47 am)> Possibly?

SD (9:48 am)> ...huh, you didn't reply in five seconds that time.

RS (9:48 am)> Am I not allowed to think?

SD (9:49 am)> Tha-that was three seconds-

JW (9:50 am)> Why do I get this strange feeling of deja vu?

-ALYSS_FLAMEHEART has left the chat-

SD (9:51 am)> I wonder what that's about-

RS (9:51 am)> We should probably be looking for Glace now, either way.

SD (9:52 am)> TWO

RS (9:52 am)> Two what? Seconds?

SD (9:53 am)> HOW THE ****ING HELL DO YOU PEOPLE DO THIS-

RS (9:53 am)> Ah... I'll be going now-

SD (9:54 am)> THAT WAS ONE SECOND, WHAT THE ACTUAL ****-

-RAI_STARHEART has left the chat-

CF (9:55 am)> I’ll be going to-

-CHASE_FLAMEMASTER has left the chat-

“Cold!” the Storm Fey yelped the second he landed. “Cold, cold, cold with a side of absolutely freezing. You guys seriously don’t control your weather?”

Chase and Hope increased their body heat, providing the group with comfortable warmth.

Raiden rolled her eyes at Andrew, "Judging by what my dad rants about, I think that's for the better."

“Well I live beneath Skywatch and it’s never this cold!” he said, chattering on. “My dad said he managed the machines there like once and he dumped all the snow here. Like all of it.”

Everyone turned to face Andrew.

“What?”

Raiden stared expressionlessly, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Remind me who ordered an idiot Storm Fairy with a side of lies?"

“What? Name one other place on Prodigia that snows year-round, nalakrisha,” he snapped.

“There’s something called-”

One timeskip later and the group was trekking through Shiverchill Mountains while the other adults—who had been quickly rounded up by Aly—were about to go through the same thing Aurora did earlier.

Back on Harmony Island, the adults had come to the realization that the elementals were indeed in fact not in any of the Rune Run locations.

"-you do realize you just made us go through that FIFTY HELL BORNE MOTHERF**KING TIMES-"

"Language."

"-ONLY FOR THAT Z**ING DEMON TO BE WITH THAT HUGE A** ROCK?"

"LANGUAGE."

"Don't you dare "language" me-"

"Do you want me to tell Juniper not to give you brownies?"

"...γ**α σου."

"Let's just light the runes," Lucas sighed, headed towards the teleport stone.

Rai let out a little sigh before snatching a stack from the runes he'd been organizing, hurrying after the Astral Warden.

The runes were lit, forming the teleportation rune symbol as the teleport stone hovered and glowed blue. Everyone stepped inside the central circle as they were surrounded by a beam of light as they were transported to Harmony's part of the island.

In the sky, something was flying. It looked like a red metal bird, but in place of the beak was a weird spinning thing, and the wings were on top of the plane.

Also, it was being controlled by a drunk scientist and on top of the wings was an impatient spazz.

The red contraption crashed into a tree.

Samantha spoke up. "You know, if I had a gold coin for every time they did something like that-"

"You'd have a lot of coins," Lane finished.

Ansat got up, and snarled at Ben.

”Goddamn it, why did you drink 3 cans of beer before we left?” He said.

”Because life is an empty, meaningless abyss filled torture and pain consisting of watching as people make the world a worse place because of their prejudice, entire dimensions threatening to destroy the universe, and being possessed and not being able to do anything about it until you’ve lost most of your sanity.” Replied Ben.

"T-that's just too upsetting to respond to," Samantha said.

“I’ve been trying to get him some help. My wife was talking about this thing called 'Therakeet' and 'Dehab'.” Replied Ansat.

"Therapy and rehab?"

“Yeah, something like that.”

Meanwhile, the other adults had located Shadow and Fire. "So, what now?" Lucas asked.

”I BEAT THIS ELF’S A-“

"Chase would not approve," Lane snickered from behind a bush.

The purple deity whipped around to glare in their direction, clearly having enough of the mockery.

The instant she was distracted, however, Fire shouted at the top of his lungs, "SHADOW HAD A CRUSH ON CELESTIAL!"

Shadow turned back to him with clear murderous intent, the elf promptly vanishing.

"Who's Celestial?" Samantha asked.

"Shadow's dead boyfriend," Earth answered from nearby, instantly vanishing before the mentioned she-demon could react.

Shadow did a perfectly cut scream.

"Alright, someone's gonna die if we don't wrap this up," Lane said.

"I think that's rather obvious," Storm replied, wincing slightly at Shadow's screeching.

Samantha stood up and stalked over to Shadow. "Hey! What did you do with Glace?"

"Not like that!" Lane hissed to himself.

“So aggressive, sheesh,” she said, looking perfectly nonchalant.

"Glace. Now."

“Why, did you lose her?”

"What did you do with Glace," the Warden demanded, not budging.

"Say, the grass here is green."

Samantha grumbled, glaring at Shadow.

The elemental smirked.

The dark elemental quickly found herself in choke hold, being strangled by an Ice Warden with murderous intention.

Lane blinked. "Well that escalated very quickly."

Shadow scowled as dark smoke protruded from the elemental, suddenly solidifying and knocking Aly down. “Ah, I remember you. Where’s your precious Gale?”

Amusement crept into her voice, eyes sparkling with cruel mirth.

The elemental was knocked to the ground with the sheer force of the earned punch, the fey's gaze frigid as her staff - the crescent scythe looking notably sharper than usual - being unsheathed.

She didn't say a word, but the fluffed fur, pinned-back ears, and lashing tail said enough.

Another, more powerful, Shadow spell knocked Aly down, Shadow looming over the fairy. The sound of her was muffled, then quiet rather than roaring. “Aw, poor thing.”

Grave mistake.

The elemental's foot was hooked with the crystal war scythe, yanking her to the ground while the warden used the momentum to get up. The elemental, of course, wound up being unharmed - thanks to having suspiciously dragon-like skin - the blade barely scratching the she-demon. This time much unused Astral Magic infused the staff as it was raised once more - the next blow would be for the kill.

"Now," the Ice Fey's tone was cold as ever, "Would you mind telling me what happened to my daughter... or will I have to rid the island of a pathetic excuse of a deity?"

She promptly vanished, however, the entity was tackled by Aly. The fairy brought the scythe closer to her neck, Shadow sighing audibly before rolling her eyes, still prideful.

”Oh, your pregnancy was… interesting.”

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

“Oh, I planted Shadow magic in Glace’s embyro. Honestly, you should be thanking me. She gets to use Shadow magic and she looks all sexy.”

Silence.

Aly promptly tackled the elemental, barbed chains of astral-infused ice restraining her before raising the staff to deal a killing blow... only to be interrupted by the other wardens, much to her disfavor.

"Aly, stop." The fairy found herself wrestling against ropes of Astral magic.

"Lucas if you don't let me f**king go-"

Meanwhile, Shadow smirked, corrupting the ice with the chains to quickly regain her freedom.

Lucas ignored the fairy and immediately rechained Shadow to the ground with pure Astral magic that burned the deity the more she struggled.

The elemental sighed. “What else do you want?”

An Astral variant of Spearicle Crush drove itself through Shadow's left calf. "That's for Ian." Lucas pulled out his map and teleported the group back to the Academy, but not before leaving the restrained deity to deal with a Focus Spell on the verge of exploding above her.

"Can we please take a break?" Jax asked. "We're getting nowhere."

Chase nodded, pulling out approximately 40 poutines, heating them all up. "Anyone hungry?"

Hei stared. "I- how did…"

"Crystal Caverns. I have 99 of these in total. So...anyone hungry?"

“…seriously? My dad practically lives there and the only thing he can do is make instant noodles.”

"Well, I didn't make them. I bought them from Aspen." Chase then gave Hei a poutine. The rest of the children swarmed the warden, taking trays, sitting down and consuming the hot meals.

Andrew grinned. “Okay, it’s significantly less cold now. Thanks.”

"No problem."

Five minutes later, the group finished their meals, following Raiden. "So...do you know where Glace is or are we trekking aimlessly?" Hope asked Raiden.

"A bit of both, to be honest."

From her current hiding spot, Glace observed two things. The first was a rather determined borg who led her peers much too close for comfort and the second was a crevice above one of the entrances of the Shiverchill cave systems.

It was possible to see her own breath due to the cold the ice gave off, but she ignored the frigid temperature and scrambled back as far as she could get, making sure that she could still see outside.

The children and Chase had stopped their wandering, having reached what was presumably a dead end in the form of a large rock-like wall frosted with snow and ice. Nearby, a certain Ice Trainee began to panic from within her hiding spot, holding back a swear as the group came much too close for comfort.

"So...do we turn around or climb it?" Hope asked.

"I’m climbing it," Chase said, digging his fingers into the ice and snow, grasping whatever rocks were hidden beneath, or melting holes in the ice and maintaining finger holds.

Raiden blinked, "Are you sure that's a good idea-"

"I'm just going to check out a little higher. Just wait down there," Chase replied, scaling the wall.

Opal grinned. “Ooh, rock climbing!”

Soon, she was halfway up the wall, using ridiculous techniques such as knuckle-climbs, chimneys, and occasionally traversing to get to a better hold.

Chase stared at Opal, who had advanced several feet in front of him. "Well okay then." He then grasped onto a fluffy object, immediately withdrawing his hand. "Don't go angering residents again, Chase. That's not cool," he muttered to himself. He climbed further up the wall, and slipped, accidentally using the fluffy object as a foothold.

The Warden was rewarded with a yowl.

Opal sighed. “Feel the hold before you grab it. Push with your legs! Grab those crimps! I want you to be in tears by the end of this!”

The source of the yowl quickly quieted, and a particular Ice Fairy yanked her tail further within the crevice, feeling a chill down her spine as the whispers brought forewarning.

Scarlet tilted her head, flying up to the hole and peering inside.

Opal pulled herself over the wall, finding herself face-to-face with Glace.

The Ice fairy blinked. “Did you know topping out is illegal for people under fourteen?”

”Well guess what, I’m seventeen, so f**k you.”

Scarlet crawled into the crevice and poked her head out the other end, shaking snow off of her head.

The dragon was instantly kicked out into Opal's face, effectively knocking both of them into the snow below, in which a certain borg stood over them, shaking her head and letting out a tsk.

Scarlet shook the snow off of her body in mild surprise, glaring at the crevice.

Promptly, a flash of cyan signified that she had cyro teleported, leaving the group to track her down once again.

Jax pulled out another Gizmotron, sticking it through the crevice and waved it around, absorbing whatever Ice Magic remained from the teleporting. He pulled it back, placed it barely above the ground, waved it lightly back and forth, and advanced once the Gizmotron picked up more Ice Magic along the ground.

Samantha Waterwhisper - Academy

"Any luck with Glace?"

Chase Flamemaster - Shiverchill Mountains

"We found her"

Samantha Waterwhisper - Academy

"Oh, nice! Can you bring her back?"

Chase Flamemaster - Shiverchill Mountains

"Sorry, I accidentally sent that before I finished the sentence. We lost her almost immediately after."

Samantha Waterwhisper - Academy

"You're kidding. Can you track her down?"

Chase Flamemaster - Shiverchill Mountains

"Jax is doing that with his other Gizmotron."

Samantha looked up. "They last saw Glace in Shiverchill."

"What do you mean by 'last saw'?" Lucas asked.

"She got away almost immediately after they found her."

Meanwhile, a certain borg had become restless, messaging the only lead he had.

_CHAT LOG_

SD (1:02 pm)> Hey so when Glace was over, did you see any suspicious activity?

JW (1:05 pm)> Well she made an illusion, does that count?

SD (1:07 pm)> We don’t have any leads on her so I guess it works.

JW (1:09 pm)> You do realize Jade’ll be awake and actively trying to sip from your arteries and veins right?

SD (1:10 pm)> Um

SD (1:12 pm)> I could stay outside...

Out loud, the Storm Trainee questioned, "So... Should we head over to the asylum?"

"Hm?" Aly glanced at him, the Ice Warden cocking her head inquisitively.

"Well, Glace was there, and you know how she is around Jade... as crazy as it seems, maybe we should ask her?"

Aly blinked, "Storm, there's a very thin line between crazy and insane. That falls under the category of insane."

The Storm Trainee shrugged.

The group, against all odds, still found themselves at the asylum, minus the cyborg. "So...what, exactly, are we doing here?" Samantha asked, speaking over the varying echoing screams and the cringing sound of nails scratching on metal.

Lucas opened the door, revealing a scowling Jade, huddled against the wall while Juniper kept close to her.

The hybrid scanned the room, immediately fixing her glare on Aly. “Where’s the cyborg?”

"His name is Storm," Aly corrected coldly, her blue gaze emotionless.

”Hm. You’re real, aren’t you? I’m real, aren’t I? He hated me, that’s real… but you haven’t started yet so I can’t be sure. I never am.”

"I haven't started? What world are you living in?"

“Take a guess, Aly. That or join me and find out,” Jade hissed back, smirking. “Unless one of you joins me first. Rai, then Glace, then you, and maybe the cyborg’ll go down after that.”

Juniper cleared her throat. “Just ask her whatever you want to ask.”

The Ice Warden's gaze was unreadable, but she followed the healer's instruction regardless, "Jade, do you have any idea what's happening to Glace?"

The hybrid’s eyes widened and she shrank against the far wall, glaring at the fairy before screeching, “They said she wouldn’t come back!”

”What-“

”She’s coming, she’s coming, I know she’s coming, don’t let her come, who am I kidding, you’ll help her, he’ll help her, STOP IT!”

A cold, questionable disinterest seeped into her tone as Aly responded, "Who's she? Glace?"

Jade hesitated, eyes narrowed. “I know she’s there, I know she’s there…”

Another scream as she curled up tighter, clawing at her own arm and watching the blood drip on the ground with mild interest. “I wonder which one of you will be joining me in the asylum next.”

"Well then, can you answer the original question?"

“You do know you’ll end up here soon enough?” she continued. “Unless you’re dead like your precious fishna?”

The Ice Fairy glared at the hybrid, clenching her fists.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Still furious.

With an unnatural amount of self-restraint, the warden forced a smile and curtly replied, "Listen, Jade, shut the f**k up about me and just answer the hell damned question."

The hybrid smirked, lapping blood off her wrist and spitting it at her face before responding. “Only a matter of time…”

"Jade, please, tell us who 'she' is," Lucas said.

A broken screech answered him, cutting off abruptly as the hybrid’s eyes widened, swatting at the air as if it were full of invisible moths.

"She's too far gone," Lane sighed.

Juniper sighed. “No she’s not.”

"Great, I'll keep that in mind the next time she kills someone."

The hybrid giggled. “What?”

"Anyone have any better ideas?" Lane asked.

Juniper frowned. “Can’t Storm find her?”

Lane shrugged. "Let's ask him." The Storm Warden pulled out his map and tapped on the Academy image.

When he teleported into the great hall, he was met with the sight of the said cyborg hounding after a certain 3-year-old, who in turn was chasing after a certain bat.

"Storm?"

The Storm Trainee didn't seem to hear or notice Lane.

"Storm."

Nothing.

"Storm!"

"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME, GEEZ," the trainee yelled in response, stopping to look at him.

So he had noticed.

"Then why didn't you let me know the first time?"

"Would you have stopped?"

"Well to spite you, I won't the next time you do."

"..."

"Anyway, can you track Glace using her INCD?"

The irate borg crossed his arms, "Yes but never."

"Why."

"Okay, do you want the Darkshades - as in, not RW - finding out more about time travel? Not to mention bringing the void to other dimensions, which will only cause more problems for us. And before ask you how that has anything to do with tracking Glace, I'll have you know that since she doesn't already have a tracker on her INCD, I'll have to hack into it, which means breaching the firewalls keeping our friends in the void from knowing what we're doing, which means they can look at what we're doing using that breach, which means-"

"You could have just said, 'The Darkshades can hack me'."

"And you would've asked 'how?'" The trainee responded with a huff.

"The Darkshades are the most powerful Voidwalkers in the entire void, there is an entire faction of voidwalkers, Void became an element, and the entire fate of the multiverse is in a gray brick somewhere in the void. I'd question how they haven't hacked you already, let alone end our existence."

"Because they don't speak Greek and I'm not from this multiuniverse."

"I'msorrywhat-"

"Nothing."

"You just-"

"I said nothing."

Lane eyed Storm suspiciously, while pulling out a small, gray device.

_Chat Log_

-LANE_STORMWARD has entered the chat-

LS (10:05 AM)> Won't work, Storm says the Darkshades will hack him.

AF/LI (10:06 am)> How would… nevermind don’t ask him.

AF/LI (10:06 am)> Any other ideas?

In the asylum, Juniper glanced at Aly. “Can you guys… leave first?” She glanced at a laughing Jade as she said, “Please?”

“No, as she remains our only lead,” Aly informed her coldly, “Unless you’ll like to mention something you failed to tell us before?”

The healer sighed. “All I know is that she looked like Shadow and managed to sneak in here while I stood outside. Jade’s not going to be reliable with you threatening her all the time.”

”I can speak for myself, dear sister,” the hybrid snapped. Everybody ignored her.

The Ice Warden blinked slowly, “I haven’t threatened anyone… yet.”

"Yet?" Samantha asked.

"Why do you sound surprised?"

"No, it's just that you said you haven't so far."

"And how is that surprising?"

Juniper sighed. “Have you seen yourself? You are threatening.”

"...that's debatable," the Ice Warden responded drily, being reminded of a particular pair of toddlers who had no problem with hugging her tail.

“Well, you’re certainly not warm and huggable,” the healer retorted. “And can you leave?”

Jade, meanwhile, moved to tackle her sister, who didn’t even flinch as she grabbed the hybrid’s arm. “Case in point.”

A huff of annoyance, "I've already said-"

The Ice fairy’s words were cut off as Juniper grabbed her arm in a similar manner to the way she grabbed Jade’s. “B**ch. I know you want to f**k with my sister, and I’m not letting you. Get out.”

"Fine," the words were hissed, the fey's eyes narrowed as she yanked her arm from the healer's grasp, "And don't touch me again, ralshti." With that, she left, earning puzzled expressions from the rest of the group.

Juniper scowled at her back. “Nalakrisha oklish.”

"So...about talking to Jade..." Samantha said, redirecting the topic.

Everyone glanced at Lucas.

"Hm?"

"Can you try talking to Jade?"

"I said before that I'm not a peacemaker, I just say-"

Everyone's expressions shifted to that of disdain.

"Okay, fine."

Meanwhile, as the kids searched for Glace, Opal was fuming, clearly having prepared a five paragraph lecture.

"The trail stops here," Jax said, looking up. The group was surrounded in a white, snowy clearing by all sides. "Well this isn't much better."

"Does anyone have any ideas?" Nathan asked.

"Wait for the magic white hand to show us the way," Chase responded.

"What?"

"Just kidding, nobody's seen that ever since the third Prodigy unlocked the Astral Tower and retired a few decades ago."

Robin sighed, clicking his tongue. “Wrong way.”

"There's nothing in sight, except snow, snow, and more snow," Hope complained.

“Dude.”

"Yeah, yeah, we'll have to turn back, I know."

“This is boring,” Andrew reported. “Really boring. And cold.”

"Get down here if it's cold up there," Nathan said.

"Snow way out of this one if we just stay here," Chase sighed, turning around. "We're gonna have to backtrack."

“Duh,” Hei answered.

A few minutes later, the group returned to the wall and the crevice Glace was hiding in previously.

Quite the distance away, the sought Ice Fairy let out a sigh of relief, the group having failed to notice her.

Unfortunately for her, however, Robin had whipped his head around, clicking his tongue furiously. “Did anybody else hear something?”

Chase blinked. “Uh… no…?”

”It couldn’t have been the wind, because I didn’t feel anything,” he muttered. “It might’ve been a rustle but there are barely any trees here, and besides it sounded way too much like a person.”

He scowled through his sunglasses, already nocking an arrow. “Either there’s a monster out here or Glace is very cleverly hiding from us.”

The mentioned fairy held back a swear, second guessing her current hiding spot.

Robin clicked his tongue again, relaxing his hold on the bowstring. “Glace. I think.”

Raiden interceded. “You need me to double-check?”

The archer stuck his tongue out at her. “No.”

"Then where is she?"

He clicked again, pointing to a small outcropping of trees. “Through those.”

“You think,” Opal said.

”Hmph.”

Complete and utter panic filled Glace's gaze as the group promptly moved to investigate, the whispers' comments of forewarning to be incredibly unhelpful as the situation was worsening on her end.

Continuing down a negative train of thought, she was just about to shut them out when something piqued her interest.

Before the group got close enough to investigate, cyan energy seeped into the snow, starting from the trees and spreading rapidly. After it covered a wide expanse, the glow faded before the frozen white thrust upwards, forming into the form of a dragon. The snow sculpture remained motionless before moving, the snow shaking off of a very real dragon. Its violet eyes were cold as its gaze locked on the group, its glistening white and light blue scales raising as it tensed. Its long tail swished back and forth across the end, feather-like appendages sweeping the snow before a huge pair of 'feathered' wings opened up, beating the air and churning the snow into a miniature blizzard formed, the beat letting out an earsplitting roar of fury.

As this occurred, the Ice Trainee teleported, leaving the group to fend for themselves.

"Uh, Hope?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah?"

"You like dragons, right?"

"Yeah."

"Think you can do something about this one?"

"Um."

Opal gawked, already snapping several photos. “Look at the color scheme!”

Hope began to approach the dragon. "Uh, hi there...my name is Hope..."

She was promptly smacked by the dragon's tail, launched into the air by the sheer force of it.

Scarlet, Chase, Nathan and Jax ran over to Hope's landing spot, hunching over the dazed trainee. Scarlet hovered in the air next to Chase, scanning the area until she found the Ice Dragon, flying towards it with a growl.

The larger dragon noticed, launching itself into the air and letting out a challenging cry, its tail briefly smacking the ground and causing snow to spray in the group's direction.

Robin groaned in annoyance, lifting his bow. “Stupid thing.”

Scarlet roared in return, shaking the snow off of her and charging at the Ice Dragon, flames briefly bursting from her feathers, giving the dragon a small boost in speed as she headbutted the opposition..

A cyan glow emerged from the dragon's throat, the winged reptile roaring once again. A chilling mist was emitted instead of fire, freezing everything it touched.

It then beat its wings once, twice, before the snow was stirred into a frozen version of Charclone and sent in the Luma hybrid's direction.

An ear-splitting roar suddenly split the air into pieces, as cold winter winds overcame all warmth and sent everything into freezing temperature. The biting snow and hail tore at the scales and skin of the combatants, the sight blinding platinum even compared to the dead glacier blue.

As a brilliant shimmer of sapphire reflected from the ice dragon, glowing white energy collected in its throat- an ultimatum of sheer and utter sub-zero temperatures. A silver beam burst from the beast's mouth moments later, freezing and encasing any poor victim that didn't manage to dodge or avoid.

Scarlet herself was pushed far into the air in the ensuing growing glacial pillar.

As the solar Luma hybrid hissed up at the other dragon, it stared back down with an air of unfeeling authority and royalty, a mastery of the ice it controlled.

Impossibly, amazingly, the clouds parted to herald the finishing part of the attack- first, sword-like juts of blue-bladed crystal from the air. Next, gray, rigid rock.

Finally, the full reveal of the gigantic glacial demolisher rock hurling down at Scarlet.

QUICKTIME!

Attempt to stop Scarlet from getting absolutely and utterly demolished by the massive Monster Hunter reference attack!

Ready...

GO!

"SCARLET!" Hope cried, launching herself to her feet, summoning a massive cone-like formation of flames in front of the Luma hybrid. The fire keystone began to glow with a greater intensity along with the streak in her hair as the flames grew in size and neared the rock.

Hei rolled his eyes, muttering, “Show-off,” and summoned a tower-like structure of Shadow and Astral, crystals jutting out from behind and holding the dragon of ice in place as he struck. The darkest streak in his purple hair seemed to glow as he continued to attack it, smiling once he was on his third strike.

The Shadow Trainee's attack, however, failed to pierce the frozen scales of the dragon and was met with another roar, its huge, wickedly sharp talons tearing through the crystal, and hurling it in Hei's direction.

He cursed under his breath and disintegrated the crystals into razor-sharp shards, directed at everybody within a several-yard radius.

Shields of Astral Magic glowed briefly as they stopped the shards mid-flight, causing them to drop harmlessly to the ground. The responsible trainee relaxed as she dropped her hands. Hei glanced at Aurora. "Sorry."

A ginger-haired Astral Fairy walked up next to Chase, managing not to sink into the snow as their cape managed to clear up their tracks - Rai.

Smaller stones began to break up the glacier, vines growing and breaking up the stone as a certain Earth Trainee manipulated the ice.

Soon enough, small bits of rock and dust fell harmlessly to the ground whilst multiple spears of ice were sent at the hostile dragon.

The glacier sent to crush Scarlet was partially melted by the flames, but the spear-shaped stone was still making its way toward the hybrid.

Two green flashes below revealed two green whirlwinds controlled by Rai and Opal that launched large, but smaller rocks in comparison to the stone, knocking it off course.

Scarlet unleashed a blast of flames, strengthening the cone of flames around her, effectively melting and boiling what were once spears of ice.

The Ice Dragon let out an aggravated roar before diving at Scarlet, its rigid, ice axe-like claws extended.

Andrew appeared out of nowhere and blasted it out of the way, electricity zapping around him and blasting the dragon.

This was ineffective and went ignored, the larger dragon breathing out ice on the fire, extinguishing it enough for the winged creature to snatch up Scarlet and fly upward with tremendous velocity.

Scarlet writhed in the grasp of the dragon, unleashing small bursts of flame aimlessly. Chase took control of the Fire Keystone, channeling a torrent of flames at the Ice Dragon's head, the Warden and his daughter losing hope as the dragon flew out of range with Scarlet.

At reaching a certain altitude, the Ice Dragon tossed the smaller dragon forward, a cyan glow being emitted as its icy mist was being concentrated, the larger dragon intending to freeze the smaller dragon and leave her to plummet towards the ground.

Scarlet writhed further, opening her mouth once more, flames preparing to burst out.

However, they weren't headed for the dragon. The flames fed into a massive ball of lava that rippled as more flames were added, before finally spewing smaller balls of lava all over. Scarlet used Totality!

Scarlet used Totality!

The Ice Dragon immediately released the Luma hybrid and dove out of the way. However, this maneuver was done too slowly, as the dragon's feathers were singed significantly. Its icy coating was also melted off, leaving its scales and softer underbelly unprotected.

Scarlet dove down, repeatedly punching and scratching at the exposed portions of the dragon's body, occasionally blasting flames.

It let out a roar, blasting its chilling mist at the smaller dragon whilst clawing at her.

Scarlet's feathers once more burst into flame, heating up the mist to comfortable temperatures and boosting the dragon forwards, forcing the Ice Dragon closer to the ground.

The larger dragon anticipated this, seeking a route for escape but finding none past the smaller dragon's flames. It instead flew downward, seeking refuge.

Scarlet tucked in her ablaze wings, spinning before quickly blasting a massive amount of flames, effectively turning into a flaming tornado, driving her way towards the larger dragon below.

The Ice Dragon tucked in its wings, diving towards the ground significantly faster.

The tornado-like figure hurtled towards the bigger dragon like a flaming meteor, prepared to end the fight there and then.

Until the flames stopped.

Scarlet coughed up the last of her flames, evidently having run out, for the time being, leaving the small dragon vulnerable to attack.

The Ice Dragon noticed, twisting mid-flight and swatting Scarlet at the ground like a mosquito before correcting course, swooping just above the snow and stirring the white powder, freezing it solid the second it stuck to the dragon's scales to restore its lost protection.

Andrew tackled the dragon and bit back a scream when he felt the piercing cold. He pulled away, panting, as he channeled more lightning at the dragon, determinedly keeping it in a ball of wind.

Robin paced across the ground, firing arrows that grew more accurate every time the dragon screeched. Next to him, Opal was fueling an exhausted Hei, who was casting Shadow Shocks constantly, profanity being spat to a shocking degree.

Scarlet hit the snow with a soft thud, snow billowing up around the dragon before settling. The Chase and Hope dashed over. "Scarlet?" The Luma hybrid opened her eyes at the sound of Hope's voice, the blurry world around her coming into focus. Chase and Hope knelt over her, the Ice Dragon roaring at the rest of the group in the distance. Scarlet struggled to her feet and glared at the dragon with a profound frustration. She turned to the worried Fire Trainee, giving her a quick hug before flying off, confronting the larger dragon once more.

It extended its wings, forcing itself out of the wind and shaking off the arrows, roaring in the group's direction. Its icy version of Crystal Crash rained down on the group once again before it turned to Scarlet, a growl rumbling in its throat.

Flames peeked out of the corner of Scarlet's jaws, before launching out of the hybrid's mouth, reaching towards the enemy dragon, an uncomfortable warmth associated with the blast.

It countered with a blast of its own, casting Snowling Ball and a version of Spike Strike along with it.

"WHY ISN’T THE SHADOW DOING ANYTHING?" Hei screamed, stomping his foot in annoyance and attacking again.

Scarlet flew upwards, dodging the attack and unleashing more blasts of fire from above, accompanied by a Wildfire.

The Ice Dragon kept countering, Snowflake Strike being aimed at the hybrid.

Scarlet proceeded to cast two more Wildfires, the first effectively hitting the massive snowflakes, allowing the second to have a clear shot on the dragon.

The larger dragon let out a yelp before diving at Scarlet, the two winged reptiles crashing to the ground. The Ice Dragon then proceeded to pin down Scarlet's forepaws, cyan building up in its throat once more.

Scarlet writhed on the ground, staring, panicked, at the cyan glow, which grew brighter as it crawled up the larger dragon's throat. Suddenly, a fireball slammed into the side of the dragon's head, coming from one particularly angered Fire Trainee. "Back. Off."

The fire melted off the icy coating on the dragon's face, revealing scorched, white scales. It whipped its head to look at her, roaring at the trainee threateningly.

Hope glared at the dragon, unleashing more fireballs upon it, each consecutive ball larger than the previous.

It flinched back after every strike before lashing its tail blindly, swinging at Hope dangerously.

Scarlet blasted flames at the dragon's face once more, summoning a Volcannon below its stomach.

The Ice Dragon let out a screech, raking its claws down Scarlet's stomach as it scrambled back, shaking its head as it backed away, the remaining ice covering melting off its face.

Hei cast another couple of spells, smiling when the dragon recoiled and hissed at him. “Finally!”

Scarlet scrambled backward, ignoring the pain pulsing through her stomach, breathing heavily as she flopped back on the ground. Hope dashed towards the injured hybrid, focusing on the wound. "OhmyHarmonyyou'rebleedingJAX!" the trainee blurted out, her brother quickly dashing over.

"Water?" he asked, gesturing to the snow around them. Hope blasted flames that skimmed the surface of the snow, melting it without evaporating it. Jax quickly took control of it, rinsing the wound. Before he even had time to ask for a bandage, Scarlet had already launched herself into the air, building up one more massive ball of lava above while the occupied Ice Dragon below was completely unaware.

The Ice Dragon had pressed itself to the now crimson-stained snow, attempting to soothe its burns while renewing its frozen coating.

Scarlet paused, looking at the Ice Dragon below, before dropping the ball of lava a few yards away from the struggling dragon below. She flew down, approaching the dragon, growled, and backed away.

Only to be hit in the face with a snowball.

Scarlet scooped up a large amount of snow, flying above the dragon and showering the exposed portions with snow, renewing the frozen coating.

Hei scowled and yelled, “Can we just kill it?” at everybody within the vicinity, having ceased his barrage of Shadow Shocks.

Scarlet hit him in the face with a snowball.

Oblivious to the conversation, the Ice Dragon had settled in the snow, resting its head on the ground.

Scarlet returned to applying snow on the parts of the dragon that weren't frozen over, completing the coat, before walking over to the dragon's head, making apologetic growls.

Hei crossed his arms. “Seriously?”

Hei received another snowball in the face.

“Dude!”

Scarlet snickered, walking over to the Ice Dragon's head once more and laying down, attempting to make conversation with the larger dragon. Hope warily watched the two, suddenly taking note of the red color creeping outwards from underneath Scarlet, quickly beginning to approach the hybrid.

The Ice Dragon immediately snapped to attention, ears pricked and a warning growl rumbling in its throat.

Hope raised her hands in submission, promptly pointing to Scarlet, still approaching a bit slower.

It took no note of this, getting to its feet as the growl turned into a vicious snarl.

"Hope. Back away, slowly," Chase warned. His daughter ignored this, continuing to walk straight toward Scarlet.

Cyan built up in the dragon's throat, ears laid back and tail lashing irritably. Its wings were held in a defensive stance and it was in a crouch so that its underbelly would not be exposed.

The snow around Hope hissed as it melted and boiled away, the trainee refusing to back down. "Hope, you idiot, back away!" Nathan exclaimed. The trainee turned her head to face her brother, glowing green eyes locking with his, burning irritation evident in them, before turning back to face the dragon. Chase took one short look at his other children before running towards the trainee.

Hei grumbled and followed, snapping, “Is Jade rubbing off on you?”

The familiar icy mist was beginning to come with the cyan, being released as the Ice Dragon roared out in anger.

"Let me get to Scarlet, now," Hope hissed, flames emerging from her fists.

The dragon shrunk away from the heat, but didn't back down, snarling at the trainee.

The flames doubled in size, Hope getting even closer.

The dragon roared out again, releasing more of the chilling mist in Hope's direction, this time focused into a stream of ice.

Chase reached the Fire Trainee, tackling her and shoving her out of the way of the ice shards. Scarlet looked up, focusing past the blurriness creeping towards the center of her vision, and clamped her jaws into the dragon with a flame-induced bite that wasn't lethal, but still would hurt.

The Ice Dragon cried out and turned clumsily to face Scarlet, ignoring the warden and trainee for the time being.

Hope looked up, no longer feeling the chill of the ice, instead of feeling a piercing pain out in her right eye, putting a hand to it. She looked around, locating Scarlet, who was next tp her father, the warden in question lying face-down in the snow, covered in ice crystals. "DAD!" the three siblings exclaimed, dashing over to Chase.

Meanwhile, the Ice Dragon was in the process of being slapped by Scarlet, letting out a yelp and pressing itself to the snow.

"It hurts..." Chase moaned, causing Scarlet to turn her attention away from the Ice Dragon and crawl closer to him.

Opal blinked. “Um. Healing. Salve. B-bandages? I’ll help.”

She began furiously digging through her backpack, glancing at Robin, who stood stock-still, staring at them… and paused. “What’s the matter?”

”…noth-“

”If you say nothing I’ll strangle you with this bandage,” she snapped, holding up a long white cloth.

”I’ll tell you later?”

“What is it?”

”There’s my big sister acting like Aunt Juniper,” he joked, but nobody smiled. “I’ll tell you later, please?”

”Fine, the second we get to the house, you’ll tell me,” Opal snapped, digging through her backpack and rushing over to Chase, smearing salve over his burns, holding snow to them, and wincing when she noticed his eyes.

Aurora glanced at Hope, taking quick notice of the trainee's hand covering her right eye. "Hope? Hope, are you okay? Take your hand off of your eye."

"I'm fine," she mumbled, dropping her hand, blood immediately dotting the ground. "What?"

Opal winced. “Hope, hold still. Let me-“

She began dabbing away the blood, cringing. “Oh, yikes. YIKES. So… can you take a shock?”

"Not funny," Raiden commented drily from behind Opal.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to-I’m really sorry-Hope, this is gonna be big news but…” she took a deep breath. “I think you’ll go blind in that eye.”

Hope drew in a shuddering breath. "A-and dad? Scarlet?"

“Scarlet… I’ll check on soon. Your father m-might g-go b-b-blind.” Opal winced, as if she couldn’t image a worse fate, while Robin watched, frowning.

“…I guess I can teach you how to echolocate. And your dad. It sucks, but it’s not really that bad. I bet it’s worse if you’ve experienced sight before though, and you can’t now. I dunno.”

Hope buried her face in her hands, beginning to cry.

Robin sighed, "Hope, going blind isn't the end of the world. Your dad'll be fine, I bet he'll be cracking puns about it soon enough."

"Hurts a bit much for that," Chase hissed through gritted teeth.

Opal sighed. “Sorry. It’s just… for me, blindness sounds terrible… okay sorry, I’ll shut up. Poor Robin. Poor Hope, but it looks like one eye. Poor Chase. I’ll help, it’s just, I don’t, I can’t fix the blindness.”

Hope sniffled, now hugging her knees to her face. "This is my fault."

"I'm sorry?" Raiden asked.

"If I had j-just listened, d-dad wouldn't b-be hurt, and he'd still b-be able to see..." Hope broke down in sobs, tears freezing as they hit the ground.

Opal blinked. “Um… I… it’s okay?” She hung her head. “Sorry. I’m bad at this.”

Robin interjected. “You were doing what you thought was right. It’s not like anybody here can see the future,” he snuck a glance at Raiden, “uh, I mean, a definite one. The dragon’s calmed down, I think.”

Nathan stood up, approaching the Ice Dragon and Scarlet, the larger dragon growling, Scarlet weakly growling at the dragon, who reluctantly backed down. Nathan grabbed the injured hybrid and carried her back towards the group, tapping Opal on the shoulder.

Opal nodded. “On it. What’s the damage?”

Nathan laid the dragon down on her back, exposing the three bleeding gashes in her stomach.

She looked down. “Oh, bandage that, collect any pus, and call me if anything out of the ordinary happens.”

"I don't have bandages."

“Reach into my bag, don’t get lost in it,” she said, not even turning to him as she hurriedly bandaged Hope and held snow to her burns.

Nathan peeked into the bag, pulling out a roll of bandages, turning to Scarlet. "Jax?" The Water Trainee hurried over to his brother, who was propping the hybrid up in a sitting position, holding the roll of bandages out. Jax took the bandages and wrapped them around Scarlet's stomach, stifling the blood loss while retaining comfortability for the semi-conscious hybrid.

Robin was talking to Chase, explaining echolocation, while Hei eyed the dragon and fiddled with tendrils of shadow.

"Can we please come up with a decent plan, considering worse will probably happen if we keep this up?" Raiden said, gesturing to Chase, Hope, and Scarlet.

Nathan pulled out his map, tapping on the Academy image. "Yeah, we've gotta replan this," the wizard sighed.

The group reappeared in the Great Hall, where Opal was still busying over Chase and Hope.

Back in the asylum, Lucas was finally getting somewhere with Jade, managing to get out a single piece of information.

“What do you mean she asked for Shadow? We visited Shadow already,” the Astral Warden said ever-so-patiently, nerves drawn taut.

“Well you’re a f**king genius,” the hybrid spat back. “Maybe she wanted to screw around with karma again. Instead of just killing-“

“Okay, okay, okay, what karma?”

A maniacal laugh escaped Jade. “You don’t know? Why, because you’re ever-so-perfect? F**k you. F**k you all!”

Lucas didn’t flinch. “What else did Glace want?”

Jade scowled, huddling against the wall. "How the f**k would I know? Ask her precious family. Don’t they know her best? Gale- they’re both dead, they both hate me-"

Her words faded into incomprehensible muttering, Lucas sighing and getting to his feet. “Don’t have the slightest idea. All she said is something about karma and Gale.”

Suddenly, a single ping came from Samantha's INCD. She pulled out the small device and a holographic screen came up.

_Chat Log_

LS> @Samantha Waterwhisper

LS> The kids just came back, and you won't like the news.

SW> What?

LS> Hope is blind in one eye, and Chase can't see at all

"WHAT?!" Samantha shrieked, quickly pulling out her map and unintentionally teleporting herself, Lucas, and Juniper into the Academy.

Juniper blinked. "What the f**k-"

"What happened?!" Samantha exclaimed, running over to Chase and Hope frantically.

Hei scowled. “A big f**king dragon attacked us and blinded Chase in both eyes and Hope in one eye and CAN WE KILL IT NOW.”

"That's... incredibly vague," Aly commented, mildly concerned, having teleported in earlier and making little note of the new arrivals.

Robin scowled. “Opal, being blind isn’t the end of the world.”

”I mean, it’s different when you’ve never- and it’s more- though I guess- um…”

The archer rolled his eyes. “Ugh.”

Hope, meanwhile, sobbed into her mother's embrace, repeating the words "my fault" with gasps of air in between while her mother constantly reassured her that it wasn't her fault.

“How did this even happen?” Lane asked.

“A big ice dragon attacked us and it...half blinded Hope, fully blinded her dad, and injured Scarlet."

Hei snarled. “And we still haven’t killed it!”

“Well, there was an Ice Dragon in the Glacier Tribe named Sherene, but they drove her off,” Aly commented.

"Well, not well enough, since Glace summoned it," Nathan said.

"I'msorrywhat?"

"Glace summoned-"

"I heard," she interrupted drily.

"Well, then you shouldn't have asked."

The Ice Warden ignored that comment, "Yet how the hell..." She then pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled aggressively, "Never mind, looks like I'll be paying Cyro a visit."

Storm exhaled aggressively before making his way over to a certain Fire and Water Warden.

Jax spoke up. "Should some of us go after Glace? If she did that to Hope and dad..."

Opal nodded, and turned to face Rai. “Rai, you killed my mom, I’m sure you can take Glace. We need Robin and Raiden for echolocation and electrolocation, and of course you need me to keep you idiots alive.”

Andrew disappeared.

"Behind the pillars," Raiden, Robin, and Storm stated drily the second the fey disappeared, much to his displeasure.

Meanwhile Rai was on the brink of tackling Opal, "For the last time I did not kill Jade-"

She raised an eyebrow. “If she didn’t have a failsafe she’d’ve died. I’d take the opportunity to kill a murderer any day, it’s not anything to be embarrassed of.”

"I'm not like you," he hissed through gritted teeth, clearly aggravated.

“I know you aren’t. Be glad you aren’t. But you should at least have a shred of common sense. Why do you care about her so much, anyway?”

Robin glanced at his sister. "Opal-"

"Oh, wait, let me guess. She chose you. She’s the one who made you a Warden. You don’t even care, do you? All you want is for her to stay insane so she can never take your place?"

"Opal!" "Logically," she continued, “it makes a lot of sense. If she died, you’d have to choose a trainee, a successor. But while she’s like this, you can have all the power you want. And nobody will question you, even though nobody on Prodigia could ever be so soft. Am I right or am I wrong? I’ll be able to tell if you’re lying.”

The glare the warden gave her was unspeakable, the gemstone hanging from his belt glowing immensely.

Aly noticed, promptly snapping, "Opal, stop it, now."

“Why? It’s a compliment. I know for sure you’d love to kill Jade. So would Glace. So would Gale. Hmm, you sure Rai isn’t adopted? Because he sure isn’t like the rest of you.”

The Ice Fey's tail lashed angrily as she loomed over the wizard, cyan wisping around her figure, "Listen, terereshkna raltshti, if you say one more thing about Rai, you can say hello to your grandfather in hell."

She stared back coolly. “And you can say hello to your crazy grandfather who probably won’t die for another hundred or so years.”

"Both of you, cut it out!" Lucas ordered.

Aurora crossed her arms, focusing a stare on Opal. "Opal, you've crossed way too many lines here, apologize to Rai!"

“Hmph, why does nobody recognize a compliment when they see one?”

"That wasn't a compliment, and you know it. Apologize."

She glared at the Astral trainee. “Sorry, Rai.”

The Earth Warden didn't respond to her, his sapphire gaze unreadable. The only indication of how he felt was the fact his Vision was still glowing. Robin sighed. “Sorry about her.”

The hobbyist flared. "You’re not apologizing for me-"

"Who’s stopping me?"

"You’re so annoyiiiiing," Opal grumbled. “Let’s just find Glace.”

Hope got up and exited the crowd, carrying Scarlet.

"We're going somewhere?" Chase asked, sitting up.

"OW!" Lane stumbled backwards, left hand pressing against his forehead.

"Ow...sorry Lane..." Chase apologized, rubbing his forehead.

"You aren't going anywhere, pal," Lane responded.

Resultantly, the group was attempting to figure out what to do about Chase... and who should go after Glace.

Robin crossed his arms. “Me, Raiden, and Rai. It does make sense.”

Immediately, Andrew, Hei, and Nathan began to object.

"Shut up you three," Raiden snapped instantly, glaring at the protesting boys. The borg first gestured in Andrew's direction, "You're an idiot who'll piss off Glace in an instant," she turned to Nathan, "you're the idiot with self-esteem issues and will argue all the way," then she turned to Hei, "and you're the idiot I question why our parents tolerate you."

"Excuse me, bi-"

"Meh, you'll try to kill everything either way, so I think you'll fall under the unnecessarily idiotic category."

Nathan crossed his arms, walking after Hope, who had headed for the Fire Tower.

“You’re being stupid!” Andrew interjected. “I swear I won’t annoy her!”

He was promptly dumped in a rift.

Robin sighed. “Wooo. Adventure with grumpy bi- DON’T YOU DARE, YOU NEED ME AND YOU KNOW IT, ECHOLOCATION BABY!”

Raiden scowled at him, clearly still debating dumping him as well.

Lane crossed his arms. "Well, you're not leaving without me. But a side note: Chase still can't see."

“He can echolocate!” Robin said eagerly.

The Warden blinked. “Hate to disrupt your fiery passion, but echolocation is sounding really hard.”

"I would recommend electroreception but uh," Storm looked him up and down, "I doubt you'll be any good at Storm Magic and you'll drive Lane insane the second you fail."

“Seriously,” Robin protested. “Echolocation isn't that hard! It just took me, like… a year to get it perfect.”

"How about anything heat-related?" Samantha asked. "Like sensing body heat?"

"You mean thermoreception?" Storm inquired, "Yeah, that might work."

"What do you mean 'might'?"

"'Might' as in the fact Chase can hit over two hundred degrees Fahrenheit which will likely snuff out all other heat."

"You mean if Samantha doesn't snuff it out first," Chase replied.

"You think you're clever, don't you?" Samantha laughed, kissing Chase's cheek.

The present children gagged, excluding Robin.

Hei scowled. “Can you not right now? We need to find Glace.”

"He's right," Lane stated, pulling out his map. "You coming or what?" When Samantha walked over, he tapped the image of Shiverchill Mountains, teleporting the five there.

When the group arrived in Shiverchill, everything was pretty much... desolate.

That is, besides a certain dragon and the vague figure of a fairy.

Lightning flowed throughout Lane's hands as he focused on the dragon. "Is that what attacked you guys?"

The figure of a fairy was starting to approach, the snow clouding their face. Robin, however, sensed them. The archer yelped, lunged, and attacked Cyro, quickly pinning the scowling general to the ground with a cluster of arrows. “I got her!”

"Excuse me-"

Cyro fey stepped, promptly looming over the blind wizard, "I am not a she, and would you care to explain what is going on here?"

“…exactly how much did your voice deepen, Glace?”

Raiden facepalmed. “It’s. Cyro.”

"Oh. Uh… OH! Sir, yes sir! Deepest apologies, General," the archer said, struggling to maintain a straight face. Then he proceeded to burst into laughter. The Ice Fairy sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Wishti sapans..."

“I’m not a sapan! I’m kind of a ralshti! So fluff you!”

"Well then, if you must insist, you're quite the wishti ralshti - especially since you just insulted yourself. Now, may one of you please explain what's going on? And why is Sherene here instead of the elemental islands?"

"Glace ran off at some point between yesterday night and today," Lane answered. "We went to go search for her, but the kids and Chase found her first. Then Sherene over there blinded Hope and Chase and injured Scarlet."

"That doesn't quite explain-"

"Glace summoned it."

A dragged out sigh met the warden's answer.

Hei scowled. “Hey, general, you mind hurrying this up? We have a crazy Shadow lady to attend to… whoImayormaynothavetaught.”

"I'm sorry, dear brother, can you repeat that?" Raiden stated, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

All attention was now focused on Hei.

“Um. Yeah. I may or may not have taught her Shadow magic.”

Lane sighed. "I'm not going to dive into that one."

“Anyway… Cyro?”

"I've heard enough," the general answered.

“So can you help?” Robin asked. “Also, why are you Glace’s height?”

That earned an interesting procedure from Rai, consisting of the Earth Warden walking up to his grandfather and messily measuring.

"Ah... nope, Cyro's taller. It's just the way he walks."

"...I could've just told you that-"

A shrug met the Ice Fey's statement.

“CAN. WE. F**KING. FIND. GLACE,” the blind wizard yelled.

"Then you shouldn't have asked," Raiden commented drily from behind him.

“Jeez, I didn’t expect Rai to- to…”

"Is there a problem with being curious?"

“Well, no. Just stop quoting Opal, please.”

"Someone's suffering from PTSD," the borg said with an eye roll, before walking a short distance away from him, "As for Glace, unless she turned into a snowflake, she's not here."

"Well, can you lead us to where you saw Glace last?" Samantha asked Raiden.

"We're already here. Unless you mean which way she ran off to, which'll be that way," the borg gestured to her right, rather disinterested.

Lane started to head off to the right, before pausing and turning around. "We're here to search for Glace, aren't we?" he asked the other five, who hadn't made a move yet.

Raiden shrugged before following, Rai glancing at the others before doing similar.

At some point later, Raiden had taken the lead, stopping near a jagged rock wall with disappearing snow-imprinted fingerholds with a snow and ice-shard covered clearing to the left and a glowing red substance a short distance away melting through the snow and burning the ground. "So this is it?" Samantha asked.

"Seems like it."

Meanwhile, as the group hit a dead end, Juniper had struck of conversation with Storm.

"So, where's the kids?"

"They're with Luce."

"...doing what?"

In the common room, the mentioned Shadow Warden was buried beneath a mass of pillows and blankets, a particular pair of toddlers having deemed him fluffy enough to be used as part of a fort.

"Can I lea-"

"MO. MR. FLWUFFY STAY FOWEVER."

"...please?"

The toddler crossed his arms and gave the Astral Fairy an adorable yet mildly intimidating stare.

"...I'll take that as a no..."

Grace giggled, having squashed herself in a mound of pillows, wrapped around Luce’s tail.

Muffled protests and visible squirming ensued after Caleb placed the final pillow on the fairy's face, creating a much too accurate, pillowy version of the Wall of China.

Back in the hall, Storm let out a nervous chuckle, "...playing?"

Meanwhile, in Shiverchill, Rai walked up to Samantha, "I don't think we'll find any leads in this."

Pulling out a small device, Samantha typed a message, pinging the Ice Warden halfway across the island.

_Chat Log_
SW (12:02 pm)> @Alyss Flameheart
SW (12:02 pm)> Do you have an idea of where Glace could have gone to?
AF/LI (12:02 pm)> Crystal Caverns, my place, the cottage near Silvian, in the permafrost, William's cave, shall I go on?
AF/LI (12:02 pm)> I need specifics.
SW (12:03 pm)> Um...if she were trying to hide from everyone while seeking comfort...? I don't know.
AF/LI (12:03 pm)> Where are you now?
SW (12:03 pm)> Shiverchill Mountains, where Sherene attacked.
AF/LI (12:03 pm)> And how the hell am I supposed to know where that is?
JW (12:03 pm)> LUCE WHERE ARE GRACE AND CALEB
JW (12:03 pm)> LUCE
JW (12:03 pm)> LUCE STARHEART 
JW (12:03 pm)> LUCE
AF/LI (12:03 pm)> Juniper, tf.
AF/LI (12:04 pm)> If they’re with Luce, they would’ve turned him into a throw pillow by now.
JW (12:04 pm)> I just need to know
AF/LI (12:04 pm)> Then why don’t you look for them instead of wasting everyone’s time, geez.
JW (12:04 pm)> I doubt they’ll make themselves easy to find
JW (12:04 pm)> I’m gonna go find Hilda
SW (12:05 pm)> I don't know what this place is called. It's just a snowy clearing with a rock wall jutting off of the mountain.
AF/LI (12:05 pm)> That's half of Shiverchill. Is there anything of note nearby?
SW (12:05 pm)> A red, hot, glowing substance melting the snow. It kind of looks like blood...

Lane sighed. "Okay, we're going to get nowhere asking Aly, especially since we don't even know where we are." He walked off.

"Hey, where are you going?" Rai asked.

"To ask Cyro where we are."

It didn't take the Storm Warden too long to locate Cyro and bring him back to the group.

"So what is it that you need me for?" The Ice Fey asked with an arch eyebrow.

"Where are we?"

"...Shiverchill?"

"No, I mean what is this place on the mountain called?"

"Oh, you're under Caul Cliff."

"Caul?"

"It means battle."

The Warden was not amused.

A few moments later, Lane had returned back to the group, telling them the name of their location. Nobody was amused either.

After recovering from the irony, Raiden crossed her arms, “So… who’s telling Aly?”

Robin shook his head vigorously. “Nope, nope, nope. And, uh, what should we do now?”

“We have to tell Aly,” Raiden said with an annoyed huff, “She’s the only one who has the any idea where Glace is.”

Samantha sighed, sending a message to Aly.

SW (12:07 pm)> We're under Caul Cliff

Juniper, meanwhile, was arguing with Aly, both of them about to snap.

“GRACE AND CALEB ARE NONE OF MY F**KING BUISNESS, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHERE THEY ARE?”

“MY QUESTION IS WHY THE F**K WEREN’T YOU WATCHING THEM?”

In Shiverchill, Samantha shivered as she waited for a response from Aly.

SW> Helllo?

Back at the Academy, the scream session continued to take place.

"I WASN'T F**KING WATCHING THEM BECAUSE I WASN'T Z**ING HERE WHEN STORM F**KING TOLD LUCE TO WATCH THEM. AND IT'S NOT MY Z**ING JOB TO WATCH THEM BECAUSE I ALREADY HAVE F**KING KIDS OF MY OWN TO WORRY ABOUT, B**CH."

“WELL CAN WE MAKE SOME F**KING PROGRESS-“

Juniper stopped, rubbing the spot between her eyebrows. “Whatever. I still need to check on Storm, then go back to Jade.”

"If Storm wanted to be checked on he wouldn't have run off."

"WHAT."

As the hybrid was distracted by the disappearance of her rather undevoted husband, Aly was finally given the opportunity to check her INCD.

AF/LI (12:09 pm)> Climb up and go north-east. You should find the entrance to the permafrost - don't get lost.

Juniper, meanwhile, had found Storm and was now explaining her interaction with Jade. The bewildered cyborg simply nodded along, slowly shuffling backwards.

Samantha closed the chat and put the device away, looking at the wall.

A few minutes in, Lane was standing on a slippery ledge, gripping onto his scythe, which had been wedged into the rock wall, Samantha laid in the snow below, recovering from falling from the top, Hei grumbled impatiently at the top, waiting for everyone else to catch up, Robin was struggling to maintain his footing, and Raiden was stuck clinging onto the edge of a snow-coated ledge.

"Do you guys just want me to make stairs in the wall?" Rai asked, standing at the bottom.

"YES."

And so, Hei, Lane, Rai, Raiden, Robin, and Samantha (who was now in need of a chiropractor), headed northeast.

Suddenly, a Storm fairy tumbled out of a rift - Andrew reappearing at the worst possible moment. “Hi, guys! The rift place was really cool!”

"I can make it not cool," Raiden replied coldly, glaring at the storm fey.

“Jeez! So, whatcha up to?”

"Finding Glace," she then immediately grumbled under her breath, "Idiot."

“Still haven’t found her? Any leads?”

“Aly told us to check the permafrost.”

“Sweet! It’s cold, though. Really cold.”

“Do you even know what permafrost is…?” The borg stated, staring at the shivering Storm Fey blankly.

“Yeah, frozen soil! I see it all the time. It’s not that bad.”

"Now imagine walking into it and going miles below the ground, getting colder and colder as you enter the inevitable dar-"

Samantha placed a finger to Raiden's lips. "Shh. Not right now, please."

She pushed away the finger, irate, "Says the person about to let a Storm Fairy enter Shiverchill's permafrost."

Andrew shrugged. “I’ll stay out and make sure you can get out safely. Aren’t I a genius?”

"I think it'll be better to rift you," Raiden replied drily.

“Jeez, jeez, chill.”

She glared at him, leading to Rai stepping in, "Shouldn't we look for Glace now?"

"No, Rai, I think that-"

Within a few seconds of the borg's following sarcasm, the very flustered Earth Warden wound up ushering the group, leaving a blank faced Storm Fey outside as they were forced to explore the permafrost.

Robin clicked his tongue. “You really think Glace’ll be down here?”

He made a pushing motion with both hands, moving the permafrost aside. “Don’t hear her.”

"Would you rather check William's tunnel?" Rai asked, glancing at the surrounding ice.

“Honestly? Yeah.”

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but it's also filled with ice."

"Was that sarcasm?" Raiden inquired from behind them.

"No."

After a few minutes of walking, Lane stopped and swore under his breath, looking up.

“What?” Hei asked, tracing his tattoos with his finger.

Lane pointed to a hole in the ceiling of the tunnel. "We're back where we started."

"You got to be kidding," Raiden stated with a grumble, facepalming.

"Are there oth-ther t-tunnels?" Samantha shivered at the back of the group.

"Yeah," Rai replied, "But we might go in circles again."

Lane aggressively sighed and started hoisting everyone to the hole in the ceiling before climbing out himself.

Not long after they exited, however, a flash of movement caught the group's attention.

Andrew flew towards the group. “Bet that’s Glace!”

"You're still here?" Lane asked.

“Yep!”

Raiden, meanwhile, was grumbling something under her breath, causing Rai and Andrew to look at her wide-eyed.

“I didn’t do anything, Raiden, so stop being so conceited,” the fairy snapped, “It’s not like you’re any more helpful than I am.”

"Well, it's not like any of you idiots asked me to help, you just demanded me to come. Meanwhile, no one asked you to come with your stupid as-"

"Raiden," Rai intervened with a strained voice.

"You know I'm right."

Andrew grinned, tail lashing. “Nobody has said anything about this development except for you. It’s almost like you’re a sociopath who enjoys invading other people’s boundaries by forcing them into another universe and leaving them to die! It’s almost you suck!”

"Perhaps," the borg's sapphire gaze was cold, "That's because my idiocy tolerance is as low as your-"

Once again, a certain Earth Warden flusteredly ushered the group, and soon enough, they were at the location of the earlier movement.

"Are we s-sure we s-saw s-something here?" Samantha asked, looking around.

Robin shrugged. “Can’t hear a thing.”

"We might have scared whatever it was since someone decided to yell 'here kitty, kitty' at the top of their lungs." Raiden snarked.

“Who is?” Hei asked, deadpan. “Literally chill.”

Resting his scythe on his shoulder, Lane walked around a little bit, brushing the snow with his scythe occasionally.

This kept going for a bit, before finally, the Storm Warden called out, "There's nothing-"

He stopped and frowned, noticing something caught on his shoe.

"What the..." Lane bent over, reaching for the purple strand on his foot.

The instant he touched it, he was yanked down into the snow, disappearing from sight.

“I don’t think you should be doing that!” Robin called back, before screaming at top volume and wincing as the sound waves temporarily overwhelmed him. “Uh… where’d he go?”

"Ancient Harmony-" Samantha ran over to where Lane was standing, digging through the loose snow that filled the hole.

Raiden ran over, helping as well. The rest of the group (minus a confused Robin) also joined them, vainly trying to dig out the warden.

The warden, meanwhile, was holding his breath as he slashed through the snow below, trying to cut the tendril pulling him down.

Hei narrowed and reached his hand into the deep hole they’d dug, cursing under his breath. “Why is it so deep?”

He then yanked his hand upwards as fast as he could, the Shadow tentacle jerking upwards and sending Lane flying upwards, before the tentacle retracted and the warden fell back into the hole at an astonishing speed.

Robin was now screaming with confusion.

Unfortunately for Lane, his scythe had landed on the surface, centimeters away from Raiden's face, leaving the annoyed warden to cross his arms as he was dragged further underground.

It was at this moment a certain Shadow Trainee also made a disappearance.

Robin was now sobbing on the ground. “WHAT’S GOING ON?”

"How are we supposed to know?" Raiden snapped at him, a slight panic edging her voice.

“ALL I KNOW IS THAT HEI JUST VANISHED.”

"You think I don't know that?"

"Okay, we're not doing this trick again." Samantha summoned her Aquarius Star Wand and dove into the patch of loose snow where Hei was.

The trainee had already vanished the tentacle, using crystals to blast out of the snow. “Hi guys-“

Then Hei was pulled back under.

Under the snow, Samantha had turned her wand upside down, drenching and liquifying the snow, allowing her to swim further down and follow the tentacle to its origin.

Hei burst out of the snow, attempting to pull Lane along with him. The warden, however, was forced back into the snow. Tentacles lashed for Hei, but he dissipated them and fought back with crystals, his tattoos glowing purple and lavender.

Samantha had reached the origin of the tentacle, still holding her wand upside down.

Above, the ground rumbled beneath the group's feet. Then, the snow burst upwards in a cascade of icy slush, releasing everyone trapped within it and revealing a large crater with a black and purple orb that Samantha was crouched on in the center. Several shadow tentacles attached to the shadow orb waved about, surrounding the warden.

Hei grumbled and vanished the Shadow magic, however, it reformed before Lane could move.

In the brief period Hei dissolved the orb, Samantha had fallen in. The Water Warden sat up and looked around inside the dome. In one end of the dome, a silhouetted figure could be seen in the faint purple light. "Glace?" Samantha asked, slowly approaching the figure.

The Ice fairy subconsciously reached to touch her horns, making sure the illusion she’d applied was working. “Ugh, didn’t I make my message clear enough?”

Despite her nonchalant demeanor, she had unsheathed her claws and tensed her muscles, rather like a cat about to pounce.

"Glace, we're not going to leave you alone until we can help you with whatever is troubling you." Samantha, unaware of the fairy's movements, continued to approach the silhouetted fairy.

The fairy didn't hear her.

The whispers had increased in volume loud, becoming much too loud - scarcely being whispers but instead screams and yells merging into a single disorientated voice.

She resisted the urge to flinch, to cover her ears and block out this horrendous thing that threatened to drown out reality. She could nearly feel the whispers closing in on her, making her want to shrink and curl up into a little ball.

But she couldn't.

She couldn't.

The Ice Fey could barely focus, her thoughts felt foreign, but regardless, she found herself focusing on one whisper, one voice amid everything. It began to coax her, convince her, to follow a new plan.

A Spearicle Crush laced with Shadow Magic slammed into Samantha, a screech of pain reaching even those still above the snow, dreading what became of their absent group members.

Lane leaped off of the snowbank and onto the shadow dome, slashing at it with his scythe, a vain attempt to break in.

Hei blinked, slightly disturbed, before breaking apart the Shadow dome. His streak and tattoos glowed brightly as he created a new dome of Astral and Crystal magic, stopping Glace from forming a shield.

Crystals sped towards Glace like hail the size of basketballs, Astral ropes and Shadow tentacles holding the fairy in place.

The trainee scowled, curling his hand into a fist. Chill Outs and Overgrowths exploded around Glace, forming an elemental cage of ice, earth, and crystal.

Within seconds of being caged, however, the Ice Fey vanished, a light blue mist in her steed.

Hei rolled his eyes. “Aight, anybody got some f**king iron for the b**ch?”

He spread his hands, a crystal spike launching Glace into the air and within a few feet from the group. “Oh, and Samantha too.”

Laying splayed out in a slowly expanding patch of red snow off to the side was Samantha, unconscious and covered in cuts. Splintered bone jutted out of her right arm, and a few small icicles remained lodged in her skin.

Robin huffed, clicked his tongue, and snapped, in his typical blunt fashion, “That was stupid.”

Hei simply launched into the air, crystals and Astral ropes boosting him upwards. Telekinesis forced Glace down, while Opal hurriedly bandaged Samantha.

Unfortunately the wizard did not account for a Cyro teleport.

Especially not a long ranged one.

Hei cursed rapidly, while Robin simply clamped his hands over his ears. “Why is cold so off-key?”

Andrew, meanwhile, flew into the air, squinting around to find Glace.

Lane walked over to Samantha and Opal, pulling out his map. When the rest of the group gathered around him, he tapped the center of the map. They teleported back to the Academy, where Storm had just exited the archives while Juniper hassled him from behind.

“What in the Nor happened?” Sitting at the bad of a pillar was Aly, who had immediately glanced in the group’s direction, choosing to ignore Juniper.

A short response from the Storm Warden. "Samantha found Glace."

Robin sighed gladly, uncovering his ears. “Tried to find Glace, Samantha was badly injured, and I’m starting to think we should just leave her be-“

“No,” his sister snapped, getting up from bandaging Samantha. “That’s stupid. Glace’ll just-“

”Just what? What are you worried about? All we need to do is have all of us find her-“

“What am I worried about? Are you blind? Oh, wait-“

”That’s below the line-“

”Oh, stop with the bullsh*t-“

”Opal,” the archer said firmly, fingering his quiver, “Here’s what we’re gonna do. You’re going to bandage Samantha. Then you’ll help us come up with a plan. In the meantime, all of us get some rest because nobody is f**king thinking straight right now.”

Hei coughed in the background. “No, we’re not straight in the slightest.”

The hobbyist, meanwhile, scowled, “That’s-“

”SHUT THE F**K UP, OPAL.”

Both siblings promptly turned in different directions, each too stubborn to admit the other was right or wrong.

Aly looked as if she were about to say something, but decided the better of it, glancing at the ground.

Juniper, meanwhile, had crossed over to help Opal, muttering about idiot husbands under her breath.

Unbeknownst to her, Storm was giving her a look, biting his lip, and fidgeting with his brace.

The Great Hall remained awkwardly silent, the only sound being Juniper's swearing and feet shuffling.

Two pairs of rapid footsteps could suddenly be heard, increasing in volume as the source neared the Great Hall. Nathan and Jax dashed into the hall, stopping only when they had reached Juniper and Opal. In the background, Hope and Scarlet were leading Chase down the stairs.

"What happened?" Nathan asked.

"Is mom going to be okay?" Jax followed up.

Opal looked up. “She’ll be fine, but there will be scarring and likely some penetrating trauma around her arms. Just give me a day or two.”

Jax looked up at Opal. "Every time we go after Glace, she just attacks us. She clearly doesn't want us involved, so why do we keep trying?"

“Because she’s going to do some damage,” Andrew called from the ceiling rafters, Robin perched next to him.

Jax shook his head. "No, I mean, why do we keep going after Glace? Why not send someone close to her and has an experience with Shadow magic?" Jax paused. "Okay, this may sound crazy, but what if we revive Gale?"

"WHAT?" Storm and Aly exclaimed from behind him, the former speaking first.

"Reviving a person means killing an imprint, and there's no fu-" A glare from Juniper, "Er, fluffing person insane enough to kill Gale."

"WAIT, YOU KNEW HOW TO BRING HIM BACK AND NEVER F**KING TOLD ME?"

"Well..."

The cyborg was promptly strangled.

“But how do we know this will work?” Lucas asked, having overheard. “Last time we tried this, it was…particularly unsuccessful.”

Storm shoved Aly off him, "WoahwoahWOAH, no one agreed to revive anyone. Are you asking to get yourself killed? We're talking about killing-" He paused, "Why are you all staring at me like that?"

“Well, you’re a voidwalker, and the rest of us would just…fade.”

"Do we have any better options?" Chase asked, holding Samantha's hand.

Juniper glared at Storm. “Unfortunately not.”

With that, all attention was turned towards Storm again.

"So...are we-er-you going to revive Gale?" Lane asked awkwardly, noticing the tension between the two.

Everybody glanced at Storm.

The Storm Trainee blinked, "Well, going means having to be marauded by an imprint while staying means being murdered by BOTH Juniper and Aly so... I'm going with the former, αντίο!"

He didn't give the group a chance to react before a flash of cyan indicated he was gone, presumably off in the void.

"STORM F**KING CHASER."

Within seconds, the fuming mother had grabbed Raiden, yelled at her until she gave up and teleported both of them to the Void, and started charging around looking for Storm.

Meanwhile, an incredibly ticked-off cyborg was arguing with a group of equally ticked-off Voidwalkers when a cyan rift opened, dumping a teenager and hybrid in between them.

Juniper blinked. “…bad time?”

Storm ignored her, "RAIDEN."

"I know, I know, I'm grounded for life because your dear wife decided to threaten me into opening a rift, yadda yadda yadda." The younger cyborg was quite tedious as she said this, ignoring the looks the Voidwalkers were sending toward the three, "Can we get to the part where Juniper tells them off so you can drop the argument already?"

"You deal with this a lot?" Ralph asked the cyborg.

“YES, I WILL TELL YOU OFF, VOIDWALKERS WHERE IS R-W.”

Storm stared at Juniper blankly, replying to Ralph as he facepalmed, "Yes."

"Sorry about that, man," the voidwalker apologized.

"Haven't seen him since void ate us," he then said, turning to Juniper.

“Tch. Voidwalkers,” Juniper grumbled.

She noticed Storm’s glare. “…I meant—I meant ones who slink around the Void and act all weird. Like this guy.”

The borg continued staring at her, "You do realize that's exactly what Jade'll do if she had a choice, right? Seems like you're the one who needs lecturing."

“…true. I’m sorry… what’s your name?”

“R-Ralph…”

”Do you want a brownie?”

Half an hour later, a bemused Juniper was patting Ralph in the back while he sobbed out his life story and stuffed himself with brownies, Storm watching in shock.

The two archers stared at Ralph in disbelief, Kong and Zoe rolling their eyes, and Cero still simply glaring at Storm.

The healer looked up. “Do you want brownies too?”

Kong sighed. “Do you have blondies?”

Zoe swatted his arm.

Melanie turned her gaze on Kong in disapproval.

“Sorry, sorry,” he muttered.

Sudden whirs in the air and warps in spacetime gave heed to the entry of the missing voidwalker.

Soon enough, RW appeared out of a rift, faint trails of magenta void wisps marking all of his footsteps.

"Let's cut to the chase- you need the CONSOLE, right?"

Juniper looked up. “Oh, hello! Would you like a brownie? And we need to revive Gale, at least partially.”

RW nodded to both of Juniper's statements, tearing open a rift with his scythe to the area where the CONSOLE was.

"You all know the drill," said the voidwalker, helping himself to a singular brownie while the spacetime hole whirred behind.

The healer gulped and glanced at Storm. “You first.”

Storm exhaled aggressively as he walked through the rift, Raiden shooting Juniper a look as she dashed after him.

"May I kill him after they revive him?" Melanie whispered to the other voidwalkers.

Naleese stared at her, "No."

"You always-"

"It's stupid."

"Letting a threat wander-"

"And did you kill Void? No, you ran."

"But this is-"

"The same deal."

"No, it's not-"

Juniper frowned. “So what do we do?”

"Can you just go through the rift first?" Said Storm with a sigh, impatiently waiting at the other side.

“Okay, fine,” she said, stepping through and calling, “I’ll make some brownies for you next week!”

The members of the sect looked at each other in disbelief after the rift closed, soon pumping their fists in celebration, Ralph then receiving sympathetic pats on the back.

Once the voidwalkers were isolated, RW turned to the rest.

"So you're telling me you didn't check for me literally anywhere near the Temple?"

Within the rift, the gray brick computer sat obediently idle- even if stained with vaguely blood-like purple essence.

"I ran into Cero almost immediately, which drew the attention of the others, and then these two decided to drop by for a visit," Storm replied monotonously, "So no, it didn't come up."

Meanwhile, a certain younger borg had made a break for it.

"Oh, hey Raiden," Robin said, greeting the cyborg as she stepped out of a rift onto the carpet of the Academy, which immediately closed, leaving an older cyborg dumbfounded as he realized his child was missing.

Back in the Void, Juniper paced back and forth, beginning to regret her decision to come.

"Huh. Okay, just set it up, same commands as last time, and don't touch the essence," RW responded.

"What would happen if- never mind, I don't want to know." Storm made his way to the console, carefully typing out the command with a few alterations.

The three were teleported to a clearing in the void, irregular crystals growing around the circular radius. Veins of elemental energy ran through the ground and met at the center of the circular, feeling all too unnatural as the wisp of an imprint seemed dormant.

"You probably know what I'm going to ask," Storm started, "but where the f**k are we?"

"Challenge grounds of a sort," RW answered in visible disinterest.

Juniper blinked. “Er… can we hurry up? I’m 95% sure Jade already bit someone like ten times, and they're having a mental breakdown, and Grace and Caleb are probably deluding themselves.”

"That's oddly specific, but okay-" The cyborg cautiously stepped into the challenge ring, the veins of elemental letting off an ominous glow before an imprint solidified...

...and an elemental storm was let loose.

Profanity was screamed at the top of everyone’s lungs, RW simply wincing and letting the two go at it.

After the elemental storm resided, a void-tainted ice spell resembling Spike Strike was sent in their direction, followed by a brutal Wildfire and Downpourtal.

Juniper cursed and cast a quick Astral spell, blocking some of the spell’s effects.

The void itself was manipulated within the ring, warping reality and allowing shadow and void tentacles alike to strike unblocked.

The healer muttered a few choice words, snapping to Storm, “How do we get out of here?”

He huffed before a purple-black glow seeped into the Void Magic, clearing the field enough for them to play defense.

In response, Snowling Ball was cast, followed by Forest Hurricane - efficiently swirling the spells and covering a broader radius.

"We are not," He finally responded, aggressive pulses of electricity being sent in the imprint's direction, each pulse having an increased charge.

“…I mean, Gale kind of deserves to stay dead,” she said quickly, casting a Falling Star Smash to distract herself.

"Does Rai deserve it?" The borg snapped at her, manipulating the void to block an Icicle Shard.

“…okay fine.”

Volcannon and Torrent were cast at the couple in rapid succession before another elemental storm overtook the field, making it clear they needed an actual plan.

“So what do we do?” Juniper shouted over the spells.

"Wait until the storm settles, we need to get close enough to kill the imprint."

She frowned. “But won’t it kill us before then?”

"You mean, it'll kill you, then kill me thrice. I think I'm well aware of how it'll react, Juniper."

“So then what?”

"We get closer and try not to be killed, then distract it, end of story," Storm responded just as the elemental storm ceased, an Embers being cast in their direction.

Juniper shrugged and edged closer, blocking the spells and muttering, “Why couldn’t we take those Void people with us?”

"Voidwalkers," the borg corrected as a void tentacle blocked a Torrent.

“Whatever, how do we get out of this? Just sit here casting spells for hours?”

"Kill the imprint or run, I'll settle for the former."

She nodded, launching another couple Astral spells.

As the two approached the center of the radius, the spells increased in frequency and intensity before another, stronger, elemental storm forced them back by a notable amount.

When the storm settled, Downpourtal was cast once again, a Supernova following it.

Juniper finally noticed a glint of pale gray, calling to Storm, “There!”

They were immediately blasted by a Forest Hurricane, the imprint once again using the elements in an attempt to make it inaccessible.

This, however, was met with a Void Tentacle lashing out, attempting to restrain the imprint. It was in vain as the imprint had already moved, but the tentacle managed to catch it by the tail.

Juniper stalked up towards him, taking a deep inhale before breaking into a lecture.

”So, Gale, could you maybe stop attacking us? After all, we’re here to bring you back to life, yet somehow you get to come back to life, you abusive, biased, cruel terrorist, for the sake of somebody who’s almost as bad as you. Yet my siblings are doomed to stay apart and insane for decades, maybe centuries, breaking apart the weak strings of our family and leaving us all broken in some way or another! And even in your subconscious, you attack us, because I guess there’s nothing left in you except hate and cruelty! NOW STOP F**KING ATTACKING US SO WE CAN REVIVE YOU, WHICH I STILL DON’T WANT TO DO!”

Meanwhile, the ghost of a particular Ivory Fairy watched blankly, commenting aloud, "She does realize that's not me, right?"

The imprint, on the other hand, looked almost sorry - which quickly changed as a light saber was brought down on the mimic, killing it.

Storm let out a sigh of relief before turning to Juniper, "Er... imprints aren't a person's ghost - the trying to kill us thing was Void's doing."

“Ugh,” she groaned, whipping her head around and screaming, “GALE, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

Storm facepalmed before tapping her on the shoulder and pointing roughly towards the right, where the Ivory Fairy had been revived after the imprint's slaying.

The body of the gray fairy lay limply, chest rising and falling but no other indication of life coming from the fairy. Every breath became more shallow, the body becoming more rigid as life drained out of it.

Juniper inspected the Ivory before muttering, “Well that solves one problem.” Out loud, she informed the cyborg, “He’s dying.”

Storm frowned with visible concern, gaze pooling with confusion, ”But this didn’t happen last time-”

“Well, maybe he’s been dead too long-”

The voices faded out.

Breathe in.

All he heard was the sound of his breathing, desperate rasps for air. Occasionally, a few voices would come into focus but immediately be muted as they blended into background noise.

Breathe out.

Everything he saw through his weary gaze was blurred, being oxygen-deprived to the point he could barely think, let alone see properly.

Breathe in.

He settled for closing his eyes and focusing on drawing every breath, a weak heartbeat accompanying the ghastly melody, slowing with every drawn-out breath.

Breathe out.

His breathing had an unnatural pattern to it… as if he didn’t know how to, as if every forced breath was a vain attempt to stay alive.

Breathe in.

He was dying, wasn’t he? He was always dying, it seems… even while alive, he wasn’t really… He almost forgot to breathe.

Breathe out.

He began to breathe at a methodical rate, still concerningly shallow, but they felt natural, to the very least. Yet that wasn’t his concern at the moment, it was the fact he remembered…

The voices came into focus.

“Well if he dies again, it’ll be cruel to revive him, now won’t it?” This voice was feminine, tinged with some form of anger… that was hate, wasn't it?

“But-” A male voice, somewhat childish, yet at the same time, sounding as if they saw more things than one could count. A name seeped into his thoughts, affixing itself to the voice, Storm.

“For all we know this’ll make things worse, if he dies, it might just be for the better.”

A long, drawn-out sigh met the first voice.

His vision was still a bit blurry as he opened his eyes again, a tired amber gaze observing the source of the voices… not that they noticed.

As he feebly tried to move his fingers, he began to take in his situation.

Not long ago, he was dead, that was a fact. Yet how long has it been? It always seemed as if time was both slower and faster on the plane of the dead…

He dismissed this thought, the human lifespan coming to his attention. It couldn’t have been too long, Storm and…

It took him a second to grasp the name, the hatred in her voice beginning to make sense.

…Juniper doesn’t look like she aged much. Wait, is that-

His gaze fixed on the golden ring on Juniper’s ring finger, Storm having a similar one.

Well, would you look at that, the old fool actually figured it out…

He began to draw out a timeline, piecing together fragments of what he remembered seeing as a ghost.

He remembered seeing Storm with two young children - not Raiden or Hei, those children were different, especially since…

It's been three years. Three years since Faith decided she hated me too, three years since Hunter began harassing me, three years since I died…

Three years was three too many…

Storm spoke up again.

“I don’t care if it’s stupid, I’m doing it.”

“STORM DREAM F**KING CHASER-”

“DO I CARE RIGHT NOW? Look, Juniper, I don’t care if you have a f**king problem with Gale, I don’t care if you’re my wife, I don’t care if you think I can’t think for myself or even act for myself. You know what I care about right now? That no one else gets hurt. If it means doing something stupid, then so be it.”

“Why do you care about them so much anyway?”

“What is your stupid a** problem? Did they ever do anything to you directly? No. As for why I care, well maybe some people weren’t lucky enough to grow up with a family like you, just maybe some people had to stick with whoever welcomed them in, even if that person is considered a bi-”

“Chaser.”

“Shut up, Wishstone.”

The couple were both clearly riled up, one being concerned for a friend while the other hated him.

Concern washed over the fairy as he processed the conversation, guilt beginning to creep its way into his thoughts.

This was somehow his fault, wasn’t it? Otherwise, they would’ve gladly left him dead if they didn’t have a problem they needed to fix.

As the two continued to argue, he found that he could indeed in fact move his hand with ease.

Weakly propping himself up, he managed to rasp out the words, “You do realize I can hear you fine, right?”

Juniper bit her lip to hide her pure disappointment, saying only, “Well, you have a lot to be caught up on.”

"Not as much as you think," he muttered under his breath, managing a sitting position.

“Oh, really?” she snapped, eyes flashing. “So you know what happened to my sister? Thanks to YOU?”

The ghost exhaled frustratedly, already following the old habit of concealing one feeling with another, "Yes, and I'll have you know Hunter spent the last three years harassing me about it-" He cut himself off as he caught a fleeting glimpse of the mentioned ghost.

The ghost floated in a circle around him, settling next to Juniper and rivaling her glare as the healer continued ranting.

”Then you know? That you doomed her to insanity eternally? Were you happy? Were you laughing? Were you content? Will you ever be content with torturing my family? Why don’t you go visit her right now and laugh in her face? I’m sure you want that! I wonder how you’ll feel if Glace winds up just like her because you deserve it, you’re a monster.”

“A fishna,” Hunter’s ghost mirrored.

No response.

The fairy's gaze was almost... empty, bearing no emotion whatsoever.

He didn't react because he didn't know how to react, all he knew is that they were right.

Yet a soft, unheard voice whispered one word in response, "No..."

Juniper glared at him for another ten seconds before muttering to no one in particular, “Sorry.”

Hunter simply stared at Gale, pure disgust filling his every movement.

Storm, meanwhile sighed, thanking RW before the other Voidwalker rifted out. The borg then stuck a hand in his pocket and gestured with the left, "So... we should probably head back now, shouldn't we?"

“Course we should,” Juniper said, shooting a last piercing look at Gale.

A cyan rift opened, the couple moving to go in... only to notice that the fairy didn't follow.

Upon receiving impatient looks, he bluntly informed them, "I've been dead for three years and you expect me to remember how to walk?"

“Oh, how unfortunate, I suppose we’ll have to leave you to die then,” Juniper said.

Gale raised an eyebrow.

”How do you remember how to do that but you can’t walk?” she snapped. “Storm, can you please…”

The borg sighed dramatically, "Oh so now I'm a capable and reliable person?"

Before she could retort, however, he had already made his way to Gale, helping the fairy to his feet, much to both of their embarrassment.

“I just don’t want to touch him,” Juniper said with a shudder, glancing at Gale - she clearly intended to insult him.

The fairy didn't seem to react, ignoring her as the three made their way through the rift - Juniper notably keeping her distance - it snapped shut behind them and they stepped out into the Academy.

"Hey, Gale." Lane waved to the Ivory, followed by everyone else's unsynchronized greetings.

However, one person didn't say hello - Aly.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

All she could focus on was her breathing, calming the rush of emotions that threatened to boil over.

Hysterics over him being here, every tear held within threatening to shed.

Anger that he did this to her, that he could be so selfish and leave them alone.

Despair over having to see him like this, so similar yet different from the Gale she used to know.

The continuous indifference seemed increasingly more plausible; the choice of not reacting at all.

Yet somehow, she continued retaining it, not letting a trace of it show in her gaze or posture - all one would see was a cold, empty shell.

It was better this way, no matter how hypocritical.

There were some things she couldn't let get in the way, no matter how much she wanted them to.

Just like Ada, just like Cyro, just like Ian, just like Storm...

It's just easier just to do her job and get it over with.

"So, now that you're here, we might as well tell you what's going on," Aly slowly began, keeping her tone as neutral as possible.

She received an odd look from Storm; clearly, he expected a different reaction.

This she expected, but she also expected something else.

"Oh, I think he knows enough," came a brash and cold tone, Juniper.

Why didn't she stop Storm from marrying her again? That raltshi didn't deserve him.

Still keeping her emotions bottled up, the Ice Warden coolly replied, "I meant an unbiased explanation."

"And you'll provide an ‘unbiased’ explanation?' You're Glace's mother, not to mention you'll gladly kill Jade on request."

"You'll be surprised by how unbiased I can get, at least until you or Jade piss me off," the fairy replied just as resentfully, evidently not wanting to deal with this.

On receiving no interruption, she continued, "Well, getting back on topic, I'm assuming the easiest way to put this is that Glace has been somewhat possessed by Shadow in a more... physical manner and has run on a rampage. Although, honestly, she's not acting that differently from normal."

Gale stared at her, blinked, then slowly started, "And this involves randomly deciding to resurrect me after - oh, I don't know - three years because?"

She blinked, startled by the question, "Well, I..."

"That would be my fault," Storm awkwardly admitted from nearby.

"You haven't answered the question," the Ivory replied drily, his usual disinterest flickering in his gaze.

"I believe the point is that besides you, only Luce and Hei know Shadow magic, neither of which knows how to handle Glace. If let's say, I try to handle it instead - it'll only end badly."

Aly immediately turned to face Abner, who had approached the group, "Now you decide to do something?"

"Hey, doing his job isn't exactly easy y'know. I can't drop everything whenever you need me to clean up your mess." The wizard muttered under his breath, "Plus, I'm starting to get too old for that."

"It's ended badly twice already," Nathan muttered.

Aly gave Abner a look, who simply shrugged.

"My point still stands."

Juniper sighed. “So we did this because… Jax’s suggestion, Glace hurting Samantha, Jade. Pretty flimsy, if I do say so myself.”

"Pretty much."

"A more pressing issue," Lane started, "would be how, exactly, we are going to find Glace again. She hid several feet below the snow not too long ago. She could be literally anywhere."

"Gale's a spirit seer," Storm, Aly, and Abner said in unison, their tones differing drastically.

"Oh."

“So, should you, Gale, and Rai go?” Storm inquired.

Lane thought about it before shrugging. "If they're okay with it."

Rai shrugged in response, while Gale let out a sigh, "Well, it's not as if I have a choice about this."

"Alright, then." Lane pulled out his map and walked over to Rai and Gale. "Let's try this again." He touched the image of Shiverchill Mountains.

When they arrived, they were met with the barren white landscape of the mountain, snow stretching out for miles.

There was the occasional rocky slope and misfit tree, but in terms of hiding places, nothing particularly stood out.

Lane rolled up his map, and put it away, looking around.

Yet no one was in sight.

At least, as long as you didn't look up.

Quite a distance above, a certain Ice Fey was peeking over a ledge, observing the trio.

Snow crunched under six feet, as the three advanced, forgetting that height was a dimension.

Suddenly, a strange little creature started yapping at top volume, nipping at Glace’s ankles eagerly. It had wildly long purplish-gray fur, silvery-yellow eyes, and most interestingly, white wings with pale blue and silver highlights hovering behind it.

The fey held back a yelp, but the yapping had already caught the group's attention. Panicked, she ducked out of sight.

It continued to bark, eagerly sniffing the snow for signs of the fairy.

The Ice Fey's tail stuck out of the snow like a periscope, swatting the wolf away before retreating.

Lane summoned his Pterrocks and pointed up at the ledge. The Dyno immediately understood, flying the Warden up to the ledge.

The wolf growled back, despite being… about two feet tall.

Pterrocks quietly placed Lane on the ledge, who watched the wolf pup scamper about.

Nearby, a certain fey was holding back a swear, hiding behind snow dusted rocks.

Lane walked away from the ledge, exiting the sight of the two fey who remained below while following the wolf pup.

The brief sound of fluttering and the crunch of snow signified Rai flying up, meanwhile, Gale Cyro teleported instead.

The former spoke first, “Did you find anything?”

Lane pointed to the wolf, who was sniffing around and yapping at a group of rocks. Summoning his pet book again, Lane summoned his Luminex, before approaching the rock cluster, Eclipse Sky Scythe in hand.

The second he was in striking range, however, a flash of cyan signifies whatever was behind the rocks teleported.

Beyond the ledge, it was possible to see a figure making a break for it.

Electricity coursing around him, Lane bolted off after the figure, at speeds comparable to that of Ansat's. Back at the ledge, Lane's Luminex picked up the little wolf pup, placing it on his back, before bounding after Lane, Pterrocks flying in tow.

Rai and Gale quickly chased after them as well, fey-stepping their way over. Ahead of them, Lane abruptly stopped, staring ahead and quietly swearing. "She's gone again," he said when the others arrived.

The Storm Warden stared at Gale specifically, promptly adding, "...Do you mind?"

A huff of annoyance, but the Ivory closed his eyes, trying not to be self-conscious about the stares he was receiving. Quickly enough, the faint outlines of Lane and Rai's souls became visible, tainted by their elements. He quickly scanned the area, turning in place until he caught sight of a blur of purple, cyan, and yellow. His eyes snapped open, and he roughly pointed in the direction he saw the blur, "There."

Charging up again, Lane dashed off towards the area, leaping over a wave of shadow-tainted ice spikes that were launched at him in response to the detection of his footsteps.

A flash of cyan signified a teleport, five other flashes occurring simultaneously to throw off the warden.

Lane raised his scythe and spun it above his head, casting a large Storm's Coming, intending to weed out the fairy.

Suddenly, a loud howl came from a few trees away, the wolf now eagerly running circles around a bemused Glace.

Lane walked over to the fairy, staring down at her. "Alright, you're going to need to cut it out, Glace."

"Why? Is being alone too much to ask for?" She replied, eyes narrowed.

"When you do it while messing with shadow magic, yes."

She drummed her claws on her hip, "And how is that a problem? Luce does it all the time."

Lane raised an eyebrow, before poking an invisible horn.

He was swiped at a cat like matter, the Ice Fairy hissing instinctively.

An unamused Lane dodged.

"Lane," Rai hissed under his breath, edging towards the Storm Warden.

When the wizard glanced in his direction, the fey continued, "At least try to be nice?"

Lane shrugged, and gestured to Glace, silently telling the Earth Warden to interact with her instead.

He received a look in response, the Astral Fey backing up.

Lane, in response, returned the look, causing Rai to shuffle back forward reluctantly.

"Um... Glace?"

"What?" This time the Ice Fey's tone was hostile.

He cringed, "Why..." The rest of the sentence was ineligible, the warden shuffling his feet at his older sibling stared him down.

...are you hiding?

I'm not hiding, Rai.

Then why don't you want us around?

I just want to be alone, okay?

She harrumphed, "If you can't even ask a measly question, I'll ask you one, how is he here?" Her tail flicked to gesture to Gale, leading to Rai staring at Lane desperately.

"He's here for you," Lane responded.

"My question is not why, but how."

"Void shenanigans," Lane answered.

"What?" It was evident he caught the fey off guard, "You're lying."

"I'm not."

“I doubt it,” she replied drily.

Meanwhile, the wolf was curiously sniffing Gale, growling at Glace as if to prove a point.

Lane crossed his arms. "Doubt what you want. Either way, he's right there."

"And what if he's not really him?"

Lane pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed aggressively, and faced Gale. "Who taught Glace to maul and eat the prey she caught outside?" Lane asked Gale.

"That would be me. And she brought their bloodied corpses inside. Aly wasn't thrilled," Gale responded.

"Chase once aimed a laser pointer at your face. What ended up happening?"

"Rai almost gave me a concussion."

"Why did you fire Storm and Chase from babysitting?"

"Trick question. They kept their jobs because nobody else could or wanted to try to deal with Rai-"

"Hey!" the aforementioned Earth Warden protested.

"-and Glace," Gale finished.

"How did you react when Chase and Storm put a cucumber behind you?"

Gale blinked. "I'm not answering that," he answered, wishing to retain his dignity. Lane looked back at Glace with a raised eyebrow.

Glace observed the three, her yellow gaze unreadable. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, instead angling her left ear slightly, picking a faint whisper.

And how do you know they actually care?

The Ice Fairy stood there silently.

How do they know they won't hurt you? You've surely crossed a line by now.

She exhaled deeply, already knowing the answer to those questions - I don't.

An orb of cyan concentrated in Glace's palm, her eyes narrowing, causing Lane to draw his scythe. She paid no head to him, flicking her wrist, and causing a growing orb of cyan energy to form in front of her. Darker patches of Ice Magic swirled on the orb, mimicking a blizzard, rising just above the trio as it became the size of a Super Nova, crashing down on them in a similar manner. As the snow cleared, it was possible to see a translucent orange dome, Rai's vision shining as he glared at his sister.

Enough with the tricks, Rai. You know you can't even use magic right, nevertheless that.

The orange shield shattered into pieces, the Warden being hit where it hurts. Instantly, they were trapped in a merciless blizzard, hail pelting them from an unknown origin.

Three blades of shadowed-tainted ice formed around the fairy, hand encased in cyan energy. Each blade rotated slowly two feet away from her, the radiating cold feeling almost...draining. Multiple cyro teleports occurred, blasts of shadow magic being sent into the blizzard. Within the snowstorm, Gale countered them with blasts of Astral Magic, glancing at Rai concernedly.

Outside, the three icy swords left their orbits as she teleported to three points around them, before each of the frozen structures exploded simultaneously, crystalline shards shooting through the air.

"Luminex, Wildfire!" The beast next to Lane roared, slamming its paws into the ground, conjuring a ball of fire above the group, melting all of the shards of ice that neared it and the fireballs fired from it.

As the blizzard quickly melted into oblivion, Glace let out a hiss before black and purple energy began to concentrate between her palms, the remaining elemental residue seeming to feed it as it increased in size, the dark light soon obscuring their vision...

At the Academy, Aly was leaning against the doorway, gazing at Shiverchill. At some point, Samantha had walked over, but she paid no mind, frowning as she gazed at the snowy peaks. That's when they saw the purple residue rise into the air promptly...imploding?

Back at Shiverchill, snow and shadow essence was still drifting in the air, but a certain Ivory rushed at Glace. Cyan spread across the ground faster than she could react, the snow and ice below opening up and forming a gaping wound in the ground.

She felt herself slipping, falling, both figuratively and literally, the very whispers themselves reaching their precipice. But then she felt someone wrap their hands around her, pulling her into a protective hug.

The world went dark.

Her eyes slowly opened, a plume of white clouding her vision. She frowned, before realizing that the mist was the result of her breathing... and how cold it was. She attempted to sit up, only for her hand to slip against the ground. The ground was coated in a layer of ice, snow scattered throughout the space. With a huff of frustration, she dug her claws into the ice, pushing herself up.

The space was dimly lit, the only reason she could see at all was because of a cyan glow, tracing from her location to...

Back facing her was a grey fey, unmoving.

If she had been herself, she would've realized Gale was breathing; barely, but breathing nevertheless.

Yet she wasn't herself; she wasn't even Glace anymore.

She was just terrified - terrified and wanting a hug and to cry, to be alone and go back to being her.

But her father showed up... alive and wanting to help her...

She killed him.

She killed him.

More time passed. The Ice Fey was curled up in a ball across from the Ivory, eyes closed as she tried to ward off the cold - the only thing distracting her from the limp form of her father.

But he wasn't limp anymore.

A groan of pain escaped him, causing Glace to sit up so fast that she hit her horns against the wall. She held back a yelp before crawling over to Gale.

The younger fey tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder, scarcely whispering, "Dad?"

He didn't say anything at first, his amber gaze meeting her yellow before he cautiously reached out and touched her face with his left hand, his finger tracing the lavender marks on her cheek.

"I see you decided to try your hand at Shadow Magic."

He smiled meekly as he said it, trying to lighten the mood.

"I’ve never seen you smile before," she noted, both relief and surprise in her gaze.

An unknown emotion flickered in his gaze, before he changed the subject, "Can you help me up? I think I took breaking your fall too literally."

After the grey fey managed a sitting position, they sat there silently for a while.

Meanwhile, above them, a certain Water Warden had arrived with a certain trio of siblings, a pair of borgs, and both a blind wizard and hobbyist. A Water Trainee was running around with his Gizmotron, while the rest of the group tried to find any trace of the two.

Meanwhile, the Ivory finally broke the silence.

“How much did you find out about… the Shadow thing?” Pain edged his voice, but he didn’t let it show in his expression.

“Oh, just that Shadow’s a creep who fu-“

“I think I’ve heard enough,” he quickly interrupted.

“Hmph,” she drummed her claws against the ground out of habit, a bit nervous, “So you already knew about…”

“…yes, I did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Gale sighed, “Well, I didn’t expect you to play around with Shadow Magic, so I saw no reason to tell you. I guess I was wrong.”

“Yeah, you were,” she mumbled under her breath, staring at the ground.

She felt him put his hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up, there was a look of concern, “Glace, are you… alright?”

She was going to say yes but instead felt a warm liquid trickle down her face, a different word being sobbed out in response instead.

“N-no.”

More time passed.

“Can you… fix it?”

“Fix what?” The Ivory asked her with a frown.

She touched her horns self-consciously, “This.”

“You can’t change what’s already built.”

“What?”

“It’s something Shadow told me once. It means once you finished creating or changing something, you can’t undo it.”

“So you can’t fix it?”

He shook his head, “I’m sorry, but no.”

After a while, Glace spoke up again.

“How are you…”

“Alive?” His amber gaze was unreadable, “You can thank Storm for that.”

“Are you going to take me back?” Her gaze was worried - clearly, she didn’t want to go back any time soon.

“Well, your mother will kill us both if we take any longer but… We can stay here as long as you want. Plus, it’s better if I don’t move for a while.”

To his surprise, she hugged him, relief filling the gesture.

His voice was strained when he commented on the gesture, “Glace. My arm.”

“O-oh,” she released him, “Sorry.” She felt stupid for asking, but did it regardless, “Is it… broken?”

“I think so.” At seeing her expression, he added, “But that’s not important, what matters is that you're okay.”

Above, the group’s search had turned out to be fruitless, and they were forced to return to the Academy.

“Did you find her?” Aly asked immediately, having been left behind, “And where’s Gale?”

Samantha shook her head, immediately wincing from the gesture.

Aly received a ping.

LS (3:02 pm)> @Alyss Flameheart
LS (3:02 pm)> You know it's not a true family reunion if a family member is missing, right?

On the sending end, Lane glanced at Rai. "Wait, where are we, exactly?"

"Judging by how cold it is, I'd say we're in the permafrost again...but deeper." His voice became small on the last word - clearly, Rai didn't want to be here.

"And I'm guessing we're going to have to go down there to find them?" The Storm Warden gestured to yet another hole in the ground.

"...well, something's glowing down there."

Lane stared into the chasm before stating drily, "Great." He lowered himself into the chasm, hanging off the edge, driving his scythe into the wall. Letting go of the edge, Lane slowly descending, his scythe carving through the icy walls of the hole. Reaching the bottom, he pulled out his map, looking at Gale and Glace over it. "I think we've been underground enough times for a single day, don't you?" He looked up, calling out to the fairy. "Rai, get down here so I can teleport us all out at once!"

The Astral Fairy let out a sigh before gliding down, joining the three.

Lane tapped the Academy image, teleporting all of them back to the Academy.

Back in the Academy, a certain healer and cyborg were having a heated argument, random languages being spat at top volume.

”GALE DESERVED TO DIE.”

“By that logic, Jade deserved to die, your ridiculous bias is the only reason you’re saying that.”

“Storm, that b**ch tore apart everything in our lives, and I know for sure that he’s the reason Jade’s like… this.”

”He’s not the only reason, βλάκας.”

“狗屁! F**k it, he’s already alive, my question is what the hell you have against my sister.”

”Is that even a f**king question?”

”F**K YOU.”

”I DIDN’T WANT YOU TO.”

”…”

”Juniper,” Storm exhaled frustratedly, “you’re being stupid. Stop being stubborn and just back off.”

The healer bit her lip and didn’t respond, simply pulling out her map and disappearing.

An hour or so later, after he’d figured things out with Gale, Storm was about to leave as well when his visor flashed red, alerting everybody around him.

”What is that?” Aly asked.

The cyborg was about to respond, but the emboldened words flashing through the red light made his response shrivel up in his throat. “I need to go. I’ll tell you later, okay?”

”Storm-“

He rifted away, soon arriving in front of the one place he hated the most out of everywhere he’d been.

Storm swallowed, staring at the white door of the asylum, red spray paint messily splattered across it. The night sky was dotted with stars that winked and glittered - was it his imagination or were they blinking more urgently than usual?

He gently opened the door...

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