The air chilled. Normally, Deon would imagine more fabric onto his tunic in response.

But his blood was pumping too hot.

He walked beside Skrili, still lugging both of their travel bags, as they followed Hiroko, Kotono, and Phillip down the straight pathway towards Azvaylen’s capital. They only seemed marginally closer to the dreary city than when they first set foot on the trail.

“Are you ready?” Skrili asked him lowly.

Deon nodded. “I think. I need to be.”

“Good.”

Kotono visibly shuddered before them, red energy shaking off of her like pollen off a flower.

Hiroko clutched her hand. “You sure you’re up for this?” she checked gently. “We can hide you somewhere until we come back, or—”

“No. I want to help,” Kotono said immediately, shaking her head. She squeezed Hiroko’s hand tight. “I have to try and save Zayza. If I don’t…what kind of friend would I be?”

The hue around her turned golden and remained for several moments. Hiroko smiled, but the concern lingered in her eyes.

She’s like a fire in the woods waiting to start, and Hiroko’s the only thing keeping it from spreading, Deon observed.

He watched them power forward, hand-in-hand. Their sheer trust was unmistakable, even if it seemed Kotono needed it most.

Deon abruptly felt Skrili lift her bag off of his back. She silently strapped it around herself.

“Huh? But it hasn’t been three weeks,” Deon said. “That’s what I owed you for the whole Team Special ordeal, right?”

Skrili shrugged. “Close enough. Just keep doing the laundry part.”

Deon chuckled at her sudden change of heart.

“If you ever get worried about your power-up when we’re fighting,” Skrili uttered, “count on me, okay?”

Deon’s heart warmed. Clearly, Kotono and Hiroko’s interaction had put the thought back in her mind, too. But despite her insistence, Deon hesitated. He kept picturing a battered Pang after his power-up awoke and he unleashed it on her. All he could hope was that it wouldn’t resurface in their impending dangers.

“Okay?” Skrili repeated.

Deon blinked back to the present. Skrili’s gaze was adamant, finally encouraging a nod from him.

“You got it.”

Kotono and Hiroko glanced back at them with soft eyes, still holding hands.

“What’s up?” Deon wondered.

“N—nothing,” said Kotono.

“We were just saying you two are cute together,” Hiroko explained.

Skrili’s nose reddened as she abruptly became transfixed with the ground. Normally, Deon would expect her to dismiss the notion immediately. And maybe it was because her two heroes said it, but this time, she didn’t.

“Oh,” Deon uttered, scratching his head.

Even still, the Azvaylen towers appeared disappointingly distant; the group hadn’t gained much more ground despite their rushed stride. Deon was almost keen on trying to imagine five of his bug-wing contraptions to fly them all along, if not for the obvious spectacle it would cause or the sheer difficulty it would require.

For now, he had to keep believing Lammy was okay. It was the only thought preventing his urgency from transforming to uncontrollable rage.

He could feel it festering, burning within, waiting.

And only time would tell if his bond with Skrili had grown strong, like Kotono and Hiroko, enough to keep it from destroying everything in its path.

~

“Is it just me,” started Deon, “or is the city getting cloudier?”

He guessed about forty minutes had passed, though wasn’t able to confirm with all of their TeamTracks switched off. And at last, the capital was practically upon them. It wouldn’t be much longer.

But a blackish fog had been emerging slowly from the far side of the city for the past few minutes, hovering over the nearby buildings and gradually dispersing.

“Huh…it does look that way, doesn’t it?” Hiroko agreed. “That’s strange.”

Too far away to uncover the cause, Deon focused ahead on their immediate situation.

A black gate marked the only entrance into the walled city, wide and tall enough for Gibblezgorv (though probably not Fabinwaf) to pass through comfortably. Several armored men stood before it wielding bladeless swords Deon figured were the same as the magical ones from before.

“So what’s our attack plan?” he asked everyone.

“Well first, we figure out our way in,” Hiroko said. “Can those guards see us right now, Phillip?”

“We’re hidden,” he said. “We’ll need to be swift.”

Setting the new pace, Hiroko increased her march.

A set of hooves clamored against the path behind them. The consciousnesses turned to find a guard on horseback speeding along. Unaware of their presence, he passed by and continued towards the gate.

“He’s probably from the Worldline,” Skrili warned. “He’s telling them what happened.”

“Then they’ll be on guard. We’ll have to steer clear of the gate; they’ll be looking for something off,” Hiroko advised.

Deon eyed the dark brick walls enclosing the capital. Their height exceeded the trees in Nightwood Valley, but not by much.

“I’ll get us in, no problem,” he assured. “Phillip, can you hold the illusion for a little while longer?”

“I’ll give my best effort.”

“Then let’s head off to the side,” Deon said.

They trekked through the short grass for the remaining few minutes of travel, which proved easier on their feet than the path they’d been following. Soon the wall towered staunchly before them: the newest obstacle between them and their loved ones.

Deon smirked, unintimidated. “Alright, here it goes.”

He imagined five planks of wood on the ground before each fighter and stepped onto the one before him.

“Hop on,” he instructed. “Phil, just keep us invisible and stuff, until I land us on the other side.”

“Phillip,”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Skrili stepped forward confidently—she’d done this enough times by now not to give it a second thought. Once the rest were in place, Deon commanded the planks to raise them all into the air.

He set his plank slightly behind the others to keep everyone in his sight, allowing for easier focus on imagining. But after a month of training in this style, it came easy.

He eyed the guards at the gate. They simply stood there while the messenger on the horse turned to head back to his post. Phillip still had them duped.

They ascended above the wall, and the capital only seemed more dismal up close. But the dark fog at the end of the city dominated their attention as they flew. It rose from an unseen middle point of the towering, looming black castle in the distance.

It wasn’t fog, but smoke.

“Something just happened,” Hiroko noted calmly yet cautiously.

Kotono whimpered, her eyes on the dark spectacle and her arms out in a dramatic attempt to balance. Red light began flickering around her.

“No sparkles, please,” Phillip requested. “It’s harder to mask that.”

“S—sorry…I’ll d—do my best…”

She didn’t have to wait much longer, because Deon floated them all gently past the wall and into the city. Thankfully, they happened to arrive above a plain back street behind a series of stout stone buildings. He lowered them steadily, and with light clanks, they touched down into the capital.

Kotono sighed.

“Easy. Nice work, Deon and Phillip,” Hiroko said, crossing her arms. “Now: we’re gonna need to get some information so we can figure out where they might be keeping Zayza, Lammy, and Pang. That means walking around and doing some investigation.”

“I mean, the smoke rising from the castle seems like a giveaway. Shouldn’t we just go where the action is?” Deon suggested urgently.

“This country’s in a fragile state. That could be anything,” Hiroko stressed. “I’d rather have a solid lead, and a plan, before we run into the place with the highest security and risk blowing our chances right out the gate. We don’t know everything we’re up against.”

Deon gritted his teeth, but he understood. That blur of a man and his team had captured Lammy and Zayza so swiftly. If their efforts became suspicious, he wondered if they’d get stopped in their tracks just as instantly.

It seemed like the worst time to be patient, and yet, he forced himself to nod.

“Zayza never invited us here—and I get why—so we’ll have to depend on what we can learn from the locals,” Hiroko added.

“Should we split up to cover more ground?” suggested Skrili.

“Good thinking. Let’s divide up by consciousness team.”

Deon, Skrili, and Kotono nodded in agreement.

Gloom suddenly loomed around Phillip. He shifted awkwardly.

“Oops…sorry, Phillip.”

“Um…you can come with us,” Kotono invited softly. “Welcome to the team!”

The five consciousnesses moved quietly towards the end of the alley, about to enter a main street. Hiroko faced them all once more.

“The royal family was really involved in the Consciousness League, so there’s a good chance it’s popular with the citizens,” she warned. “We should disguise ourselves and try to fit in.”

“Heh…I know just the thing…” Kotono said slyly. “Phillip, we have an extra pair of—”

“We’re not doing the drug dealer disguises,” he interrupted. “How are you two so good at fighting, yet so terrible at being discrete?! Here.”

He focused on the champions for a brief moment.

“Now you look different to everybody but the five of us. I can sustain it as long as we stay together.”

“I guess that works better,” Hiroko realized. “Okay, let’s see what we can find out.”

~

Deon and Skrili hurried along a neat central road, hoods just above their brows. Deon had imagined larger, cloak-like versions of his tunic for both of them to help shield their hair and faces from any suspicious onlookers.

They agreed to reconvene with the rest in roughly an hour back in the same alley. A pointed tower sat central to the city with a round display that could only resemble a clock, so they had all decided to use that as reference.

“Where should we start?” Deon wondered.

“The others headed west. So let’s take the east side.”

Very few people roamed the narrow and curvy stone streets, and they all seemed to have somewhere to go—most on foot, and some on horseback. While their clothes reminded Deon of Fantasy Country’s Conscious City, this place was far from being as bright or lively.

But that wasn’t the only difference: there were no dragons. In fact, any trace of the magic that fueled the Fantasy Country Mainland was absent.

Deon and Skrili wandered beyond the series of stone structures that had been surrounding them, into a new area of smaller, humbler wooden buildings. Signs they couldn’t read hung in front of buildings and promoted apparent shops, but their patrons were nowhere in sight.

Peering all around, Deon sighed. “How are we supposed to get information if we can’t find any—”

“WATCH IT!!”

Thick metal crashed against Deon’s face, and he stumbled a step back. A soldier had emerged from an intersecting street, almost tripping after their collision.

Deon fumed. “You watch it!”

“All I’ll be watching is your backs as you return to your abode, citizen!” the soldier barked. “What are you two doing out here? There’s an active advisory!”

Suddenly, Deon felt Skrili wrap herself clingingly around his arm.

What the? he wondered.

“Oh, we’re very sorry, good sir. We hadn’t heard of the advisory,” she said, trying to match his exquisite speech. “Come now, my dear. We’ve had too much to drink again. Let’s be off to our home.”

Still draped on Deon, she guided him with pretense clumsiness away from the guard, whose stance eased up. Catching on, Deon tried to match her behavior and grumbled to himself about manners like a bitter old man.

“Well then…please be more attentive next time, you two,” the soldier said, undoing his harsh tone.

“Yes sir,” said Skrili.

Once they were a good distance from him, Skrili took a turn onto a random side street. She steadied her walk, but kept her arm wrapped around Deon’s.

“So our disguise is a drunk married couple, now?” Deon questioned.

“I had to improvise. Don’t be so hot-heated next time,” shot Skrili. She checked his face. “You’re blushing.”

“I’m trying to look drunk!” Deon made up. “Anyway, it sounds like we need to get inside for now or we’ll deal with guys like him again.”

They continued down the lonely road in search for some sort of public building, or even a hiding spot. But nothing seemed promising. At the very least, now the lack of Azvaylens outside had somewhat of an explanation.

“Look,” Skrili said, her eyes forward. “There.”

At last they found an old door propped open, connected to the shortest store on the street. As they neared, Deon could see a short old woman pacing around through the window.

“It’s a bar,” Skrili noticed.

“I guess that’s perfect for us, then.”

They wandered inside, but stopped just within the doorway when a glare of sheer annoyance met them. The old woman, in a half-maintained dress seemingly just as old and clearly meant for work clothes, paused from sweeping the floor. Every bar stool was empty and nobody stood behind the counter.

“Obviously, we’re closed,” the lady croaked, her sophisticated accent making up a bit for her rasp. “Just like everywhere else.”

“The door was open,” Skrili pointed out calmly. “We’re just looking for a place to wait inside during the advisory.”

“Why? Don’t tell me you’re homeless. There’s no excuse anymore,” the woman argued. “Queen Layla picked up where her parents left off; there are plenty of opportunities. Go stock for the Multiverse Resource Buildings, or work for the Worldline—they provide housing.”

“We’d have to go back outside to get there,” Skrili emphasized.

The woman tensed, unable to contrive a new excuse. She let out a sigh. “Very well…just until the advisory lifts. But I’m not making drinks.”

Deon and Skrili nodded their thanks and stepped further inside. The woman was quick to close the door behind them.

“Why is there an advisory to stay indoors, anyway?” Deon asked.

“Is that a serious question? A chunk of the castle exploded moments ago. Do you think perhaps that’s it?” the woman said. “You didn’t hear the monstrous boom at all? Nothing?”

“We…were drunk,” Skrili tried.

“Clearly you must have been. There’s been an attack on our kingdom,” shared the old lady. “It’s yet another one of Princess Zayza’s terrorist acts. As soon as they brought her back here, she struck again. I knew they should have killed her the second they found that little wretch instead of waiting around to execute her. She’s too dangerous.”

They’re…they’re gonna execute her? Deon thought in horror.

“First she kills her own parents, then her sister, just for the throne,” the lady rambled on, “and now this. Azvaylen has done nothing but thrive since the late King and Queen made friends in the Multiverse. But she doesn’t care about that. She doesn’t care about you and I. She wants control, and she’ll stop at nothing.”

Deon remembered Kotono’s insistence of Zayza’s innocence, but as she and Hiroko stressed, they were in the extreme minority. It was likely dangerous to question her involvement.

“Rumor has it, they keep the worst criminals in a dungeon deep beneath the castle,” the woman said. “So she’s already there as it is. It had to be her.”

Deon’s ears perked up. He and Skrili exchanged subtle glances.

“Beneath the castle?” Skrili repeated.

“It’s just a rumor: the underground dungeon. I’m surprised you haven’t heard it,” the woman said with a shrug. “However…my nephew is a royal guard in the castle, and when I asked him if it was true, he hushed right up.”

So I was close…Lammy, Zayza, and Pang might be under the castle, not in it, Deon thought.

He was grateful this lady chattered a lot for someone who didn’t seem to want company. Now, they had something to go off of.

“All citizens of the Capital, report to the courtyard for a message from our Queen…All citizens of the Capital, report to the courtyard for a message from our Queen…”

The voice echoed unnaturally through the entire street. Deon and Skrili could hear the amplification clearly, even through the closed door. As it turned out, some sort of magic was present in this reality besides the glowing swords.

The instructions continued on endlessly. Deon turned to find the street already flooding with people, filling the city with life it seemed devoid of minutes ago.

“Oh, thank the Dreamers—Queen Layla is alright,” the old lady gasped, her voice now full of reverence that was totally missing when she spoke of Zayza. “I must find my coat at once…”

Skrili nodded to Deon. Recalibrating their hoods, they opened the door and returned outside.

The duo bumped shoulders with scurrying citizens, having to match their pace to maintain their herd-like flow. Deon scanned for more soldiers, but only noted the one he ran into and another farther down the street. Neither appeared on-edge. They barely guided the people along, their weapons sheathed.

These people were rushing to the courtyard of their own volition. They wanted to be there.

“Found everyone,” Deon uttered to Skrili.

“Speaking of that, we should try and find the others,” Skrili planned. “Now we have a lead.”

“Right.”

The walk proved much longer than Deon had expected. Eventually they reached a wide central street and met even more citizens. In a straight-shot, though still minutes away, waited the castle: their apparent destination. The smoke had totally dispersed by now.

With every step, Deon felt he was closer to Lammy. If not for all the spectators, he would dash straight there and find the door to this secret dungeon.

Soon few streets remained before the massive black archway to the castle. It, along with the wall stretching all around the area, matched the powerful stones fencing in the entrance to the capital. At the very top, a statue of a woman remarkably similar to Zayza towered above the hundreds of attendees, seemingly welcoming and warning them all at once.

Deon and Skrili reached the wide archway where dozens of soldiers ushered people in. They, unlike the others, kept their light swords activated and flickering.

The team lowered their hoods a bit as they passed.

The archway opened back up into the castle’s courtyard, wide and long enough to fit most attendees snuggly. Its pure, pearly floor was bare aside from a glorious blue fountain in the very center. It featured yet another statue of a woman in a dress with her hands pressed together before her chest.

Deon and Skrili piled into a spot towards the back and stood in wait. The black castle loomed before the crowd in eerie silence, its stage-like central balcony overlooking the courtyard from high above. All eyes were focused there, where several guards—easily the largest Deon had seen so far—stood ready at each corner.

Just when Deon remembered to try and find the others, a giant black arrow faded into existence in the air before the balcony. Nobody seemed to pay any mind.

“You see that?” Deon whispered to Skrili.

It pointed off to the left, and she was already following its trail with her eyes. Deon did the same while the arrow stretching farther over the oblivious citizens, curving until it pointed down towards the rear left corner of the courtyard.

There, much taller than most of the people around him, stood Phillip gazing back at them intently. He gave a quick nod.

Oh—nice use of illusions, Deon realized.

He and Skrili struggled to squeeze their way through the packed crowd. As they reunited with Phillip, they finally noticed Kotono and Hiroko beside him.

“Silence please. The Queen of Azvaylen will now share an important message.”

The voice powered across the courtyard. Deon and the rest returned their attention to the balcony, where the soldier who had just spoken returned to his position.

Then Deon’s mouth almost dropped when a girl likely Lammy’s age stepped forward in a gold-adorned, pale pink dress. She disappeared behind the railing for a moment, not quite tall enough to see over it, but then her light blonde hair waved lightly in the wind as she reemerged, stepping up onto an additional platform.

Her gray eyes observed her citizens with a sharp seriousness that, given her youth, came across more like a pout.

“Layla…” Kotono whispered breathlessly, and Hiroko frowned.

Deon eyed them for clarification.

“That’s Zayza’s little sister. She was next in line to take the throne,” Hiroko muttered lowly. “She’s only fourteen.”

Just a year older than Lammy, Deon thought in bafflement.

But the audience greeted this young Queen with heartfelt cheers, comforted and encouraged to see her alive and well.

The guards hushed the crowd.

“My beloved Azvaylens, as you are aware, there was a surprise attack on our castle,” the girl began eloquently. “From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your cooperation in our efforts to keep you safe until we neutralized the threat. Likewise, I’m forever grateful to our Capital personnel and soldiers, who risked their lives to protect their Queen.

“And now,” she continued, “I stand before you for two crucial purposes. First: to assure you that your leader is alive and well. And second: to affirm that I will not be intimidated by cowardly acts of senseless violence.”

Phillip suddenly took a small step forward, eyeing the Queen with a peculiar squint.

What’s with him? Deon wondered.

“As I am sure you suspected, my people, this assassination attempt came from secret supporters of former Princess Zayza,” Layla revealed.

“Something isn’t right…” Phillip uttered.

Deon and the rest turned to him cautiously. His eyes stayed fixed on Layla.

“W—what do you mean?” Kotono pressed.

Certainty flooded into Phillip’s stare. “That isn’t Layla,” he said. “It’s an illusion.”