The first thing she noticed when she logged on inside Elysium for the first time since the battle ended was that there were more people. Not just Halves, which now littered the streets, but a great many more. More than she could have ever fathomed there being. She kept her hood up maintaining her anonymity and started to make her way up the mountain. It was actually less difficult than she had thought it would be to remain somewhat anonymous with the sheer number of blue-robed people with the privacy feature turned on. The path up the mountain was long and the people moving up and down it seemed to thin out the higher she rose. The sun was setting in the sky as she reached the top. Keristrazly wasn’t immediately visible.

Instead of the dragon that she had expected to see lounging around, she saw the red-skinned Half form of Keristrazly sitting and chatting amiably with a dark-haired, white-skinned Half who appeared radiant and alive.

A simple silver band adorned her head.

Amelia paused.

It was a long moment of silence as the two chatted without noticing her before finally Victoria turned. A cryptic smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “Oh, Friend Amelia. What brings you here so late?”

“So late?” Amelia whispered.

“Yes, don’t you usually make this trip earlier?” Confusion etched itself onto her face. “We were just talking about how you’re usually up here and gone by now.”

“We?” Amelia asked again, feeling lost.

“Yes.” Keristrazly turned toward her, dark eyes impenetrable as he smiled. “What brings you to the mountain where you, I, and Victoria fought the pretender Mourning so late in the day?”

“We fought Mourning? All of us?” Amelia asked incredulously.

“Yes…” He seemed surprised. “We knew Void wouldn’t come but Mourning had gone mad. Trying to raise that Visage army for a foe we have long since vanquished. True lunacy.”

“Sorry. I just came back from saving you.” Amelia said quietly, staring at Victoria.

A moment seemed to pass, and sudden understanding crossed Victoria’s features.

“Ah, so you do not know me as well as I think I know you then? This is your first visit since then? Time is strange.”

"And apparently convenient, as the rumors suggest," Amelia said dryly.

Victoria peered at Amelia, her eyes wide with wonder. “Is this what they call, having the upper hand? How greatly confused I was when you knew all about us. Everything about us. It is the same for you now?”

“Yes.” Amelia whispered. It was a game so she wouldn’t really know, but it was nice that Victoria’s backstory had been filled in with the understanding they were friends.

“Well, you are just in time to watch the sunset. Then we were going to go to the Shadow Fall guildhall. I am told Forsythe is preparing a special banquet, though I do not know why?” Victoria tilted her head.

“In the Half Kingdom?” Amelia asked, a grin suddenly starting to creep its way on her face. “You kept our guildhall?”

“Well, yes, we kept it just as you left it. Idolia is going to finish that mural.” Victoria sighed. “I do not know how to address you now.” She smiled shyly. “Do you know that for 1000 and more years your guildhall has sat silently? An order of Half priests took over its care, cleaning diligently, waiting for the saviors of Shadow Fall to once more grace those hallowed and cleaned floors with their feet. I tried to tell them that you would have all hated to be venerated, but something of a cult sprang up!” Victoria sighed in a long-suffering sort of way.

“I guess everything worked out.” Amelia said lamely. She hadn’t even begun to discover how the history of the races had changed. The age of chaos and disorder were gone and it seemed all the kingdoms had maintained ties, somehow. In fact, most of the knowledge that she knew of was probably now completely worthless. She would have to read all those books over again.

Come to think of it? How did the Visage even get to be a problem if the Half and the dragon were running around in the north? Amelia's eyes narrowed. She just had more questions now.

“Why does she have her hood up.” Keristrazly seemed immune to the strangeness between Victoria and Amelia. “Does she think we would not recognize her with a paltry trick?”

“Friend Amelia has always been awful about pomp and circumstance.” Victoria sighed. She gestured to Keristrazly who got to his feet slowly. “Come, my king, let us away with our time-traveling out of sorts friend. Friend Forsythe will know what to feed her that she might get rid of that awful look on her face.”

“King Keristrazly.” Amelia couldn’t help it. She was just grinning her creepy grin now.

“I do not know if even he knows of such food or elixir that might cure her of her awful countenance,” Keristrazly said, looking irritated. “Please stop smiling. We have had this discussion. You will frighten the children.”

Amelia just grinned. She really liked the fact that he was cute, and adorable, and didn’t talk in that way that took up all her channels.

Together they moved through a formerly unopened part of the mountain toward the Half Kingdom. The Shadow Fall guildhall was there as promised, filled to the brim with excited members. More members than could ever have fit. Already a rough set of beams was connecting the building to an open grassy area. Someone was already working on expanding the guildhall. Under the empty beams and non-existent roof lay table after table. Hendrick once again stood happily directing traffic. He waved at her, grinning, but didn’t approach. She waved back as she headed inside. It looked older. All of it looked older, more serene, somehow much cooler.

“Oh! It’s Amelia.” Gilduirn paused, starting to rise from his table where Rat and Ridley and Idolia sat with him. He sat back down as if deciding not to. “It’s about time. Jeez.”

Raven was at her side, escorting her away from Victoria and Keristrazly and toward the middle of the room toward Aidan and Forsythe and Hunter and even War. The rest of WAR sat nearby chatting amiably with everyone else. “C’mon! You gotta tell us!”

“Tell you what?” Amelia frowned.

“What’s next!” Raven grinned.

“What is next?” Amelia asked, starting to feel like a broken record.

“Well yeah.” Raven shook her head as if it were obvious. “Obviously there’s another adventure after this one. Amelia always finds the best next thing to smile at creepy style!”

Idolia paused nearby and called out for attention. Exultantly she put aside her large palette of paints and pointed.

The mighty mural showing the progression between the world dungeons, the battle of Mourning, and then the departure of Shadow Fall in the town plaza of Blutonsi was now completely finished. In the last segment, someone who looked suspiciously like a miniature of Amelia was gesturing grandly and the dead were leaping to their feet to draw arms against a mighty dark shadow. The very last portion was everyone hugging each other with the dead shadow slowly bleeding into the light.

Amelia couldn’t take it anymore and didn’t even care when everyone started staring. She laughed, almost to the point of hysteria, until she couldn’t laugh anymore. Finally, she settled down next to Aidan and leaned against his shoulder. “Well. It so happens I was thinking.”

“Sounds normal.” Khiafin and Tenebrim were nearby with red names and the title ‘guest’ next to their displays. Probably so no one could attack them and they didn’t get in trouble while they were here. That was a cool thing. Some sort of side effect of them being on guild land?

“Uh-huh?” Elisha settled in nearby.

“Naturally.” Forsythe agreed.

“Where to?” Hunter asked.

“Well,” Amelia said soberly. “There are many worlds. Is this known to you?”

“This is known to Shadow Fall,” Aidan said, affecting a tone of haughty disdain. He earned some laughs from the table and even Victoria added her own laughter. “Speak as if we were not fools.”

“Jeez.” Gilduirn sighed.

Aidan wasted no time, his disdainful gaze sweeping the room. “How dare you laugh? Did I not already say there will be no laughter? Prostrate yourselves before the Empress Amelia of Elysium. Crawl. CRAWL WORMS.” He broke his own statement by laughing hideously. Amelia was grateful most of the sidelong looks switched from her to him.

Finally, Amelia held up a hand, gathering the attention of her guild, of her friends of her family. Silence fell across the entire guild hall as everyone waited expectantly. Amelia grinned. “Hey. Let’s be world travelers.”