Sarah watched Matthew intently, a fact that he was oblivious to. She tilted her head, cleared her throat, and tried various other subtle gestures to catch his attention, but he was completely lost in thought, his body moving subconsciously. “Matthew,” The girl could not bear the silence any longer, “what’s on your mind?”

“Just the past week. So much has happened in such a short amount of time. I tried to find clues on where Luke and Elizabeth could have gone, tried to figure out how they even escaped, but there’s just not enough clues. I know there’s a secret passage allowing them to get in and out of the castle, Luke’s journal told me that much, but I don’t how they got out of the kingdom.”

The girl joined in her leader’s pondering, the two getting close enough to their destination to see it across the horizon.

“Sarah, you know why I didn’t object to you coming with me?”

“No, I really don’t. I’m actually surprised you trusted me so quickly.”

“That’s because I didn’t.” That had caught her off-guard. “You know more than you let on, so I want to make this clear: you need to tell me all you know right now. Where are you from? I know you’re not from Lumina, I could just tell you were lying the other day. Why did you want to join my group? What do you know about the kidnapping?”

The blonde sighed, “You’re right, I’m not from Lumina, I’m from Umbro. My team learned about you and your team when we came to Lumina; you see, being a hunter or a guardian isn’t lucrative in Umbro, it’s too small and connected that we don’t need many people in the profession. We had to come to Lumina to get work, during which we learned about a whole team of prodigies.

As for the disappearance of the princess and your brother, I only know as much as anyone else. We were only coming back from a mission when we heard the news.”

Looking into her eyes, Matthew believed her story was genuine, but one detail was still amiss. “You said your team disappeared though, what happened?”

“The queen requested everyone to search for her daughter, including us. We split up to look for her, much like you guys, and we agreed to meet back in Lumina after we spent a week investigating. After one week, I came back but no one else was there. After two weeks, I grew worried. After three weeks, I realized they weren’t coming back. Not long after that, you showed up.”

“This has been going on for over three weeks?” Matt closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. “I’m worried that whatever took the princess is dangerous. Luke can’t protect her, and she can’t really protect him. But it doesn’t add up, what do these things have in common?”

“Hey Matt, can you show me your shield real quick?” The knight stopped his headache induced questioning, handing her the shield. Instead of taking it, she pointed to the moon symbol on the front, “You know what this symbol means?” He shook his head, wondering what this had to do with the topic at hand. “It’s from the Umbro kingdom, it symbolizes darkness.”

“Why is it on a shield?”

“Because darkness stands for protection.” Matt was mystified at the explanation. “How do you know this?”

“Because I’m an elf.” That didn’t explain anything for him. “We elves are a tribe of archers, living up in the woods of Umbro,” the girl pointed to her bow. “I noticed the bow. But what does have to do with the whole…knowing elements thing.”

“You see, some of us elves believe in a character connection with the elements. Basically, each element represents some part of a person.”

“If darkness stands for protection, what does light stand for? And the rest?”

“Light represents sight and guidance. Fire is compassion, water healing, ice reflectivity, electricity rashness, nature liveliness, earth steadfastness, metal is to mold, wind is fluidity. Time and space are said to represent the same idea: to be destined.”

“So as a user of light and metal, I would be someone who…guides and molds people?”

“Perhaps. You could be someone who sees the differences in metal, spots the change in someone being molded, or even mold how people see things. It could be any combination of physical and mental traits, and it’s not limited to one combination.”

“So why are you telling me all of this?”

The archer turned her gaze toward the ground. “You just looked really tense, and…” Sarah had stopped, unable to find the right words. Putting his hands on both her shoulders, Sarah looked up, now face to face with the knight. “Thanks. Sometimes I forget to take my mind off things when I’m going nowhere.” The girl smiled, a feeling of accomplishment setting in as her partner appeared less burdened.

Reaching the outskirts of the town, the duo felt uneasy. Matt had never been one to assess fashion, he typically wore muted colors, but even he had noticed the surreal trend around him. Not only were town’s people wearing bright colors, there was an astonishing lack of variety. Women wore bright pink or sky-blue dresses while the men wore black or tan dress clothes. “Sarah, do these people seem strangely dressed to you?”

“Yeah, I’m not a fashionista, but now that you mention it.” The girl pointed to a nearby restaurant, “Look how full that place is. Do people typically eat at this hour?” Matthew checked a watch that he had gotten during his time in Temperas, seeing it was three in the afternoon. “I guess there’s never a wrong time to eat, but this does seem…off.”

As the two continued, Matthew squinted his eyes, swearing to himself that he saw a figure sneaking around. “Matthew” a whisper emanated from his surrounding; his attempts to gauge its location were futile while among the crowd of people surrounding him. “Matthew” the voice continued, the young man giving chase as best he could. Desperately attempting to reach the source, he had barely noticed the crowd disappear, along with his partner. Before he could turn back, he saw something disappear into the foliage outside the town.

The knight ran through the forest area, even though he lost his target. “Show yourself! Who are you? How do you know my name?!” After getting no response, he figured the person was sending him on a wild goose chase, if it was a person and not a mirage. “I must be going crazy.”

“Hey, don’t leave yet!” As he turned around, the whisperer had made their appearance known.