I looked up to the yellow glowing sky, and breathed in deeply.

It's been so long since I breathed the fresh air of the realms.

I made my way down the hill I was standing on, going towards the stone bridge that led to my home, the one place that made me feel like everything would be ok. The once place that even when in it's worse time, it stood strong, and fought back.

My home, Shrouded Glade.

I walked through the stone tunnel, which was covered in vines and moss. It softly echoed the happy upbeat tune of the world ahead, and made it seem that the place itself was just eager to welcome back the ones who were lost. When I reached the end, the music I heard in the tunnel lit up my feelings, making me feel nostalgic over the memories I once had in this place.

I slowly walked down the curved, stone path towards both the pet shop and the not-so-distant warpstone. I was greeted by the pet store owner, and we started a conversation.

"Good to see you again, Tiff! How's Bubba? Or should I say, Chloe?"

"Nah, it's not Chloe, It's now what it was, Bubba. And he is okay, just getting used to Misty again."

"Do you need any help? I can lend you a hand! It's been so long since I've seen you AND your pets, and it would give us a chance to catch up after so long."

"Later today, Sandy. I've got things to do, which can't wait...for now. If I get a break, I'll whisper."

(Normal P.O.V)

Sandy looked down in sadness, wanting to spend some free time with her lost friend. Tiffany put a hand on Sandy's shoulder and smiled. " I'll Hang out with you later, I promise. It's just that... I have to retrieve something from the school. It's no big deal."

"Alright Tiffany, I'll see you later."

"Ok then, Bye!"

And with that, Tiffany left her old friend at the pet shop. She made her way towards the school, and up the moss-covered stairs. She walked by the cracked statue of the fallen Dwarf that was now known as "The Fallen Hero of the Glade.". She noticed that there were even more flowers than before the Sunset.

'Perhaps the Druids put them there.' Tiffany thought.

She then opened the school door and walked in. The turquoise-colored wooden walls were a bit chipped, but the place stood well. Tiff passed by a classroom with some students casting some weird spells upon some pieces of bread, and then giving it to each other. Upon eating the pieces, each student turned into a animal, like a wolf, a bear, and a cat. Some turned into spiders and other insects, while others just had effects thrown on them, like big heads, floating ghosts flying around them, bats, green fire, and just some other random effects. Tiffany giggled to herself, seeing that the beginner's class needed more practice in their spell-casting abilities.

"Ah...I remember that time, long ago..." She smiled to herself.

She made her way to a small room with a purple door. She knocked on it, and almost instantly, it was opened by a green-haired pixie who was pretty surprised that Tiff was even there.

"Tiff? Is that you?!"

"Hi, Teacher Tristan. How were you?'

"I wasn't expecting any returning players YET, are you here for your things?"

"Yes, but I was also here for something else also. Can I go in?"

"Oh, sure, follow me..."

Tristan lead Tiff inside the room which was filled to the brim with book bags covered in different icons from the areas of the Realms. Some had the Shrouded Glade icon, others with Seaside icons, and pretty much every icon from everywhere.

"Hmmmm... Your bag must be... Ah! Right here!" Tristan said as she pulled up a bag that had the name 'Tiffany Earthchampion' stitched on the strap.

"Hey, how'd this get here? This stitching?" Tiff asked.

"When you all suddenly disappeared, you and the rest of the Realm's things were left everywhere. Me and a few others decided to leave your things inside these bags that we made. It took a while, but we made all these bags with all your things, and so that we could find them easily, we stitched your names on them. They are nice, right?" Tristan explained.

"Yeah! Thank you for making all these!" Said Tiff, while she hugged the teacher.

"You're welcome. Say, wasn't there another thing you wanted?"

"OH! Right." Exclaimed Tiff. " Is there anyone else coming at the moment?"

"Not until later on."

"Alright."

Tiffany brought her voice to a low whisper.

"Have you heard about the Gloam return quests?"

"What?!" Tristan asked in shock.

"The word is getting out that players are receiving small quests from an unknown source, asking them to gather suspicious things in return for high-priced, rare items that you can't normally get."

"Have you seen the things?"

"Yeah, like small shards of Gloam stone, poisonous water, oddly specific magic spells written on old sheets of paper, and some other things. Most of us think it's to build up a new empire in Lavender coast, seeing how the quests are given out there, and more and more purple storm clouds are in the area."

Tristan was extremely shocked at this information that'd just been given out to her.

"Have you seen any...'Corrupted' players?" she asked.

"Yes, I have. In fact, with every new item I see one of them receives, I see more hatred in their eyes, like the items themselves are cursed with the Gloam, which I think is the case. They seem happy with the reward, but they all slowly lose their color. It's pretty scary."

Tristan looked over this information once more, and came up with a small solution.

"I think we have to inform the Headmaster Druid, and the Queen. We need to tell the Leaders of the Realms this information. We must keep a close watch on Lavender Coast, as we also need to prevent others from taking more items and becoming more corrupted."

"I agree. I'll ride my horse to the Sanctuary, my teleportation is kinda wonky." Tiff said.

"Alright, go quickly, I'll tell the Headmaster, then we will tell the Dwarves." Said Tristan.

"Goodbye for now, teacher. I'll hopefully see you soon."

"Goodbye."

And with that, the two left the room. Tristan towards the Headmaster's office, and Tiffany to the outside of the school.

When Tiffany finally got outside, she summoned her horse after a moment of confusion on how to teleport things and possibly herself to other places. Her black horse, Midnight, came to her in one piece.

"At least that worked. Come on, Midnight, we need to hurry."

They then rode off through the Glade back to the entrance. She waved goodbye to the pet park owners, and rode off into the Realms in a hurry. Her only quest that she received came by the name of,

The Rush to Sanctuary:

Objectives:

Report to the Queen.