Warning: some blood

Taranee shivered under the sheltered marbled hallway at Sheffield Institute. Rain poured down around them as Irma recounted the tale of her disastrous date with Martin. According to her, an inhabitant of Meridian had been climbing around the Heatherfield Museum, dropped down in front of her, sniffed her, and identified her as a Guardian before fleeing.

"But are you really sure?" Hay Lin asked when Irma had finished her story.

"Like I said, Hay Lin, if it wasn't one of the inhabitants of Meridian, it sure looked like one!" Irma said firmly.

"At least the TV stations and papers aren't talking about the incident too much," Taranee said, shifting her crossed arms for warmth. "They reported it as a kind of group hallucination."

Will looked thoughtful. "If the monster recognized you as a Guardian, then I have no doubt about it. What are you guys doing after classes?"

"Why?" asked Cornelia.

"This won't take too much time," Will said. "I just want to figure out why one of those creatures was at the museum."

"Here," said Hay Lin, taking out the map of portals. "I think I can give you there answer. Look!" She unrolled it and spread it out on the floor, and the five of them peered down at it.

"Here you go, Will," Cornelia said, pointing. "Another portal opened at the museum!"

"Could I take a look at what you find so interesting, young ladies?" Principal Knickerbocker asked, coming up behind them.

Taranee's eyes widened. The principal could not see the paper map of portals that had a flashing red mark on it! Irma spluttered for an answer, trying to give Hay Lin time to erase it. Taranee heard a small gasp of surprise from behind her while she tried to cover Irma's failed attempt at stalling. No one noticed a petite blonde quietly walk by them into the main school building.

"Um, it's a study guide!" Hay Lin said, thrusting out the paper in front of her. On it was no longer a magical map, but rather a timeline for the seventh grade history class. "See? Cornelia and Will were just helping us review since they had the class last year!"

"I see," said Principal Knickerbocker. "So nice and detailed. It's good to see that you two older girls are looking out for your younger friends. Just don't lose track of time and miss class, hm?" And she walked away.

"How did you do that?" Cornelia asked as soon as the principal was out of an earshot.

"I don't know," Hay Lin said. "I wished super hard for a nice drawing to appear, and I felt a little magic, but I got this instead!"

"How weird," Cornelia said, inspecting it in greater detail. "I thought we didn't get to that far until the end of the year."

Taranee leaned over. "You're right," she said with a gasp. "We haven't learned any of that yet!"

Hay Lin skimmed over the timeline. "How did I make something that I don't know appear?"

"I mean, there's this little thing called 'magic' that we've all been exposed to recently," Irma said casually.

"I don't know, but you've gotta be careful," said Will. "Remember, I just moved to Heatherfield, so I shouldn't know what you guys learned- hey, wait, it's disappearing!" The history timeline melted away, revealing an extremely realistic pencil portrait of Principal Knickerbocker.

"I didn't even try to change it this time, but that's more like what I was trying to change the map into," Hay Lin said, confused. "I don't get it."

"That's just weird," said Irma.

"We should probably check out the weirdness that was going on at the museum later," said Will. "It closes at six, and I have an appointment to keep."

They gathered behind the museum that evening and transformed. "How do we get in?" Taranee asked.

"We'll go through the windows in the back," said Will.

"And the alarms?" Cornelia asked.

"Well, if I can talk to household appliances, I should be able to chat with the alarms," Will said. "Hopefully, I'll be able to get in a good word for us."

The moment Will spoke to the alarm, Taranee and the other girls could understand it. It took only a little convincing for Will to get it to let them in. Opening the window, they climbed through, and Irma led them to the spot where she had seen the creature of Meridian. "Here!" she declared. "This is where it happened. Do you guys see or feel anything that I can't?"

"Not really," Will said, looking around warily.

"But it's got to be here somewhere," Hay Lin said as she looked up and down. "The map said so. Concentrate harder!"

Suddenly, Cornelia cried out. "What's wrong?" Taranee asked, rushing to her side. Cornelia stood staring at a large painting. Taranee glanced at the plaque beside it. "The Never-Ending Spring, by Elias van Dahl," she read.

"Look in that crowd of people there, near that house," Cornelia said, pointing anxiously.

Taranee's eyes widened. "Wow, it's incredible!" Irma exclaimed, vocalizing her own thoughts. "If that isn't Elyon, it sure looks a lot like her!"

"Actually, I'm right behind you." Whipping around, Taranee and the other Guardians were faced with Elyon, dressed in foreign clothes. "We meet again, my friends," the missing girl said, raising her hands. "And this time, it will be to say goodbye!" A blast of magic had them trapped inside a magical bubble in an instant.

Slow clapping came from behind Elyon, and Cedric, the young man who worked at the bookshop downtown, stepped out from the shadows, dressed in the same type of foreign garb as well. He was accompanied by a hulking, blue creature of Meridian. "Excellent job, Elyon," he said.

"I'm getting better, aren't I?" Elyon asked, smirking. "As you see," she said, addressing them, "I have some powers of my own, and whether you like it or not, I'm stronger than all of you."

"But that's…" Irma began, confused, staring at Cedric.

"Oh, Cedric?" Elyon asked, smiling. "I know you've seen him before in the bookstore, but you've also seen him in a different light." In a crackle of green lightning, Cedric transformed into the massive snake-man that they had fought before. "Surprised?" Elyon asked, very obviously enjoying the looks on Taranee and the other Guardians' faces. "I was, too. But Cedric revealed to me many things, incredible secrets that I want to share with you."

Will leaned up against the barrier that trapped them. "What happened to you Elyon?" she asked. "I didn't know you for very long, but I can tell you aren't the same!"

Elyon laughed bitterly. "Ha! Look who's talking! If you haven't noticed, you've grown a pair of wings!"

"Listen to me, Elyon," Will pleaded, "Open your eyes! Forget these people! This world is your home!"

"You're wrong!" Elyon shouted. "I belong to Meridian!"

"And Meridian belongs to you, Princess," Cedric said in his serpentine voice. "To you and your brother, Phobos."

"Phobos?" asked Will.

And Elyon launched into her tale, telling them how she had been torn away from her true family after her parents, the king and queen of Meridian, had disappeared and her brother had taken the throne. "I lived knowing nothing but deception and lies!" Elyon cried. "I grew up loving those who had betrayed my family's trust and stolen me away from my brother! Cedric found me and told me everything – who I am and who you, the Guardians of the Veil, the enemies of Meridian are."

"What? The enemies?" Will exclaimed, slamming her hands against the barrier. "Elyon, I don't know what Cedric told you, but it's not the truth!"

"SHUT UP!" Elyon cried, pounding her fists against the barrier. "Because of the Veil you protect, the people of Meridian are forced to live on one side, with no way out. Because of the Veil you protect, my brother, my only living family, has been searching for me for years, without ever being able to reach me. Because of the Veil you protect, because of you, Guardians, all of Meridian has been suffering while I've been stuck here, living a lie, unable to help; this is how you've made yourselves my sworn enemies!"

"But we're not your enemies!" Irma cried. "We were friends, Elyon!"

"That's right," Elyon said. "We were. But not anymore! Look at you. You're not the girl who used to call herself my friend. How do I know that your 'friendship' wasn't just a ploy to keep me ignorant, trapped in a world that's not my own?" She turned away. "After stopping the impostors who made me believe they were my parents, I found my true home on the other side of the Veil, in Meridian, and discovered my powers."

"'Hidden forces' would be the most accurate definition," Cedric hissed.

"Perhaps," Elyon said, her hands suddenly blazing with light. "However, I also like to call it…" She raised her hands in front of her. "ABSOLUTE POWER!"

Energy exploded from Elyon's hands, hitting the barrier and causing it to shake. "Wh- what's happening?!" Taranee cried, trying not to panic.

"Let's all try to hit together," Will shouted. "Come on!"

They tried, but in vain. "It's useless, girls!" Elyon screamed. "You've lost! Soon you'll understand the pain of Meridian! Soon you'll understand what living as a prisoner means – forever!" And Taranee could only watch as the blue-white light engulfed both the barrier bubble and them, and everything faded to white.

~*\_/*~

Andromeda froze, feeling an explosion of power. Ever since the previous day, she had been feeling pulses of energy coming from the center of town. Michael had investigated and told her that the local museum was the source, and that a strange creature, probably of Meridian, had been spotted. She had felt a surge from the area when the Guardians had transformed earlier that evening, most likely to carry out the investigation they had been discussing when their principal had taken them by surprise, but this… this was something different from even the powers of five untrained girls combined. This power held hatred, hurt, and betrayal, and it was amplified in a way she had never experienced before.

There was a rap on her bedroom door. "Hello? Andromeda? Should we check that out? I mean, I felt that, and I'm not even a sensor. I've got my armory ready!" Ilenne called.

Andromeda shook herself. Grabbing her bag, she opened the door. "Let's meet the others."

Ilenne bounced eagerly on the balls of her feet, her violet eyes sparkling with excitement. She was dressed in exercise clothes and carried the knapsack that Andromeda had enchanted for her. "What do you think it was?" she asked. "I mean, that was pretty strong, and I didn't think the Guardians were that skilled yet. Do you think they're in trouble?"

"I hope not," Andromeda said. "They're so young and inexperienced."

Ilenne nodded. "Let's go, let's go, let's go! I wanna beat up bad guys, and I have lots of energy since I haven't gotten to do anything fun here yet!"

A quick elevator ride down to the ground floor brought the two to Gwen and the boys, who stood waiting for them. "Good, let's go," Conrad said, looking a bit more serious than usual. "Anyone who can produce that kind of power has no control over their abilities and needs to be stopped."

"I'm fairly certain that it came from the museum," Michael said as they unlocked their bikes from the rack.

"Doesn't the museum close at six?" Gwen asked. "We'll have to teleport in."

"I can manage that," said Andromeda as they biked toward the center of town.

"If we could teleport, why are we biking?" asked Ilenne.

"Teleporting five over a sizeable distance takes more energy than I want to spend in case of a fight," Andromeda answered.

"Reasonable," Ilenne said.

When they reached the museum, Michael was quick to get a read on the situation. "The goons are in there, and they're not alone," he announced. "Three of Meridian, one is the source of the blast."

"We need cover and transport," said Gwen. "Andromeda, can you handle both?"

"Of course," said Andromeda. She raised her hands and said a spell in the language of Salou, her homeworld, and they disappeared from sight, though they could see each other.

"It didn't work," said Conrad, looking down at himself.

"I don't know about you, but I like seeing my allies," said Andromeda. "Outsiders can't see us, though. Now, lay your hands on me." As soon as each of her comrades was touching her, she said another spell and they were instantly relocated inside the museum. Feeling lightheaded, she stumbled, and Gwen righted her.

"You alright?" the taller girl asked quietly.

"Spells for five have a larger drain than anticipated," Andromeda said. "It's no problem, though. I'll just have to work on my stamina."

"If you say so," Gwen said. "Michael, can you trace the location of the large blast? That's probably where we'll have to do the most damage control."

Michael nodded. "I can feel a huge amount of trace energy," he said. "It's coming from...that direction." He pointed.

"Lead the way," said Conrad, pulling a sword from his enchanted backpack. "I've gotta say, 'Dromeda, these bags are really the best." Ilenne nodded in agreement, drawing a crossbow and quiver of arrows from her own bag.

"The goons and the Meridian are approaching each other," Michael said as he guided them. "We should probably intervene."

There was a loud clatter of metal. "I assume it's that way?" Gwen asked, cocking her head toward the noise. Michael nodded. As they walked, they heard a scream and quickened their pace.

"You know, for someone who's supposed to know what's going to happen, you're rather calm," Conrad said to Andromeda.

"Nothing bad will happen," Andromeda said with confidence. She felt no burning urge to rush to the defense of the goons, and her instincts were usually right.

"Then why are we wasting our time?" asked Ilenne.

"It may depend on us being there," Andromeda answered.

"They're- they're gone," Michael said suddenly.

"What?" asked Conrad.

"The three of Meridian. I can't feel their presence anymore," said Michael. "They must have teleported."

"And the idiots?" asked Gwen.

"The local law enforcement will handle them," said Andromeda.

"Alright, back on track, then," said Michael. "This way."

Andromeda and the others followed Michael through the museum halls. As they walked, the alarms went off. "The goons are taken care of," Andromeda said offhandedly.

They stopped in front of a large painting which practically burned with energy. "This," said Michael, pointing. "Trace energy is strongest here."

Andromeda stepped forward to examine it. Analyzing the magic surrounding the painting, she quickly discovered that a simple but powerful magic of desire had been thrown on top of a much older, subtler, and more complex spell. "Imagined marks have become an illusory reality," she said.

"Pardon?" asked Michael.

"I suppose the time for the Guardians to know us is now," Andromeda said. "My analysis tells me that a powerful but extremely simple spell threw the Guardians of the Veil into this already-enchanted painting."

"Can we go in after them?" asked Conrad.

"Yes," said Andromeda. "Hold onto me." They did, and Andromeda said the spell. When they reappeared in a sepia-toned world, she was again light-headed, but could feel something odd. "No magic in an illusion, I guess," she said, looking at Michael. No longer was he thirteen and only a few inches taller than her, but now he was sixteen and over the first puberty bump. She looked down at herself to see her proper, fifteen-year-old body rather than her thirteen-year-old disguise.

"That's no issue," said Conrad, cracking his knuckles. He was about a head taller and much more well-muscled in his typical, eighteen-year-old body.

"But the clothes are," said Gwen, now also around eighteen or nineteen, looking no taller than her fourteen-year-old self, but definitely more mature. She took in the medieval scenery and dragged them away. "To the shadows." When they were safely out of sight, she opened her own bag.

"What are you doing?" asked Ilenne, now a taller and less bony seventeen-year-old rather than a scrawny thirteen-year-old.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one who carries a spare pair of clothes from my homeworld or situations like these," said Gwen. "Do you at least have a cloak?"

Ilenne dug around in her bag. "Yep! And a pair of eye protectors for flying, too!"

"No magic, no flying," said Conrad. "No cloak for me, though. It's not part of the Dai-Lon Plains ensemble. But let's see… sword? Mace? Axe? Fists?"

"Crossbows are the best," said Ilenne as she loaded hers. "Though longbows aren't bad. Or darts. Darts are cool, too. And slingshots!"

"We need to conceal our faces," said Andromeda. "I'm getting a prickly feeling in the back of my head, and that usually means someone is watching."

Gwen looked at her sharply as she paused in exchanging her hoodie for a tunic from her homeworld. "Specifically us or this world in general?" she asked. "Physically or magically?"

"Without my sight, I can't tell, but I'm inclined to think magically," said Andromeda. "From outside the painting. I'm sure they're focusing on the Guardians, as we are unknown at the moment, but we do need to be careful."

Michael tossed Conrad a cape from his bag. "I know I'm less broad than you, but it should suffice."

"Thanks," Conrad said, clipping it around his shoulders.

Andromeda draped her travel shawl over her head and around her shoulders. "We should probably have eyes from above. Is anyone willing to travel on the roofs?"

Ilenne's hand shot up. "You don't even have to ask! I'll be discreet! Conrad, gimme a leg up."

"Conceal your weapons," Gwen ordered. "We'll have to follow her from the streets." From the rooftops, Ilenne waved to them, pointing toward a massive, ornate building not terribly far from where they were. "Alright, don't let her out of your sight."

~*\_/*~

Taranee gazed up in awe at the Cathedral of the Last Tear. As Will explained to Elias van Dahl her theory about making paints from the tear, she examined the door. "It's blocked," she announced. But that proved to be no issue, as Elias called some men from the street to help him break it open. Just as the artist picked up the vial that contained the tear, however, a Meridian soldier burst through a portal.

"It's Frost the Hunter!" Will cried. "This proves that I was right. Hurry, go!"

Frost's mount reared up intimidatingly, and Taranee shuddered, remembering when they had encountered him during their first trip to Meridian. "How do we beat him without our powers?!" Cornelia exclaimed as she scurried back.

"We- we- we run for the exit!" Will yelled.

"He's riding a rhino!" Cornelia yelled back as they ran. "He'll catch us in no time!"

"Maybe," said Will. "But look!" Taranee watched as Frost's mount ran into the open without him, for the hunter had been so intent on catching them that he had not paid attention to the height of the cathedral door. As the growling Meridian soldier recovered, Taranee thought harder and faster than she had in a long time, trying to think of a way to fight the monster without magic. And then a fruit hit Frost in the face.

"Irma!" she and the other Guardians exclaimed, turning to glare at the jokester.

"But it wasn't me!" Irma protested. Then there was a whizzing noise, and Frost screamed. An arrow stuck out of his eye. The large soldier fell back and did not move.

"Where did that come from?" Will asked, shocked.

"Up there!" Hay Lin pointed to the roof of a building, where a slender, hooded figure stood.

Two more figures, both cloaked and hooded, detached themselves from the crowd and approached the fallen Meridian. The shorter of the two, gripping a dagger, knelt down to feel the side of Frost's neck, while the taller held a large sword over his chest. "He's basically gone," the shorter said. "He's brain-dead for certain. His body will follow soon."

"I'm taking no chances," said the taller, his hood and cape looking a little too small for him. "Stand back if you don't want brains all over you." He then raised his voice. "If you're faint of heart or weak of stomach, avert your eyes." And he plunged his sword down into Frost's forehead, and then into his chest for good measure.

Taranee stared, shocked and horrified. Frost's blood pooled beneath his body. The taller figure calmly scraped his blade clean on the ground. "What a mess," the shorter figure muttered. "We need to get rid of the body. I wouldn't want to come across this soldier under necromancy."

"Anybody got fire?" shouted the taller figure. "A soldier has fallen, and he should be given a send-off, regardless of his affiliation."

"I- I can pitch in some wood to make a pyre," a man said.

A murmur of "Me too" rippled through the crowd.

"My oven is burning," said a woman as she left to collect a torch.

As the crowd dispersed, Elias came running. "It works! It works!" he cried. "I can paint again!"

"That means the spell is broken!" Will exclaimed. "Our powers are back."

"We're not being watched anymore," a said a female voice. "We can reveal our faces."

The figure who had killed Frost flipped back his hood, revealing Conrad. The shorter figure beside him was Gwen. Michael stood beside Andromeda, who had spoken, and the figure on the roof, Ilenne, bounded down, the wind whipping her hood back. She plucked the arrow from Frost's eye, scraped it clean on the ground, and put it in her bag, where it disappeared, despite being longer than the bag itself. Each of them looked older than they had in school, and Taranee's brow furrowed as she tried to think how that could be.

"What?!" Will exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Yes, who are you?" asked Elias.

"Sir, they killed that monster!" someone from the crowd said.

Elias turned to them. "You have my gratitude," he said.

"Just doing our civic duty," said Conrad as he helped the men who came bearing wood for Frost's funeral pyre. "Alright, let's hoist his body up onto it." The woman returned with a burning torch, and the men parted to let her light it.

Michael brought his right hand to his chest in a strange salute. "Farewell, soldier," he said. "May you receive as much as you gave."

Conrad echoed him. "Farewell, soldier. May the gods judge you well."

Elias turned to the Will. "What are you going to do now?"

"We'll go back to our world," she answered. "We won't close the portal in this painting, though."

Elias looked confused. "Why not?" he asked. "Isn't that your mission?"

"Yes, but that portal is your only chance of going home," Will said.

Elias smiled sadly. "This is my home now," he said. "No one is waiting for me, not in Meridian or anywhere else."

"The spell is broken." Gwen stood by Conrad, Andromeda, Michael, and Ilenne. "When we leave, this place will become its own confined reality, created by the power of his mind, and accessible only to its creator. To him, it will become his world, while to us outsiders, it will be nothing more than an illusion on a two-dimensional surface."

"I'll be safe to live out my life," Elias said. "Do your duty as the Guardians of the Veil."

"B- but…" Cornelia said, unsure.

"Please, do it as a favor to me," the artist said, and Taranee could see the weariness in his eyes.

Will bowed her head. "Then so be it," she said. "Goodbye, Elias." They all hugged him, and then Will summoned the Heart. "Take us home," she said softly, and in a flash of pink light, the world faded.

They reappeared behind the museum as their normal selves, and they were not alone. The five new students, still aged and in their cloaks, stood with them. Taranee stood on guard, her hands in fists. "Alright," Will said to the five, the Heart flaring dangerously over her hand, "It's time we had a little talk."

~*\_/*~

So, I got to work today and whipped this out! Recognize anything? It was probably adapted from Issue 5: So Be It Forever, of which I own a copy, but not the rights. Did you spot canon divergences? (I hope you did) They belong to me.

Anyway, if you have anything to tell me, leave me a review and I'll get back to you!