"Okay, I can see it! Mystery, how much time do we have left?"

"Minutes before sundown, at best. You'd best speed up if you can."

"My foot's on the floor, Mystery, the van's not going any faster!"

Vivi and Mystery were approaching a large and verdant forest, starkly contrasting with the vibrant reds and oranges of the setting sun. Vivi's nap had cut into their travel time far more than Mystery had expected, and now they were racing against the clock.

"We shouldn't have stopped as long as we did. Crap, crap, CRAP!"

"Don't worry so much. We don't even know if this will be a proper solution to–"

"Sorry, Mystery, but I'm not gonna risk it. We're too close to an answer to lose it now!"

Vivi finally approached the limit of the forest as the sun was beginning to dip beneath the horizon. Vivi anxiety-ridden that she was late for the appointment of a lifetime, grabbed Arthur's backpack, stuffed the compass and the book inside of it, and slung it over her shoulder on her way out of the car.

Mystery followed close behind as Vivi ran to the edge of the forest, but stopped before she entered. She murmured to herself, "This isn't right…the Bookkeeper's note said we were supposed to find a palace, but…this isn't a palace…"

"Nevertheless, you are in the right place, my dear."

Vivi whirled around, and there, out of nowhere, was the Bookeeper, in his full sapphire regalia. Vivi stared for a moment, surpridsed by his sudden presence, but then recovered quickly, saying, "You know, people don't really like it when someone sneaks up on them like that, especially when you can teleport right behind them."

"Do they? I always thought humans did have the strangest thoughts on what was socially permissible."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Mystery looking away, an irritated look on his face. She made a mental note to get the full story about his issue with the Bookkeeper later.

She looked back at the Bookkeeper and said, "Are you sure this is the place? I don't really see a palace here, or any buildings at all any buildings in there, let alone a palace…"

"What you define as a palace is dependent on your point of view. Now come. You are both expected, and I simply cannot stand to be late for appointed meetings."

The Bookkeeper gently ushered Vivi forward, and the trees slowly bent out of the way, revealing a dusty pathway into the dark wood. Vivi and Mystery slowly walked forward, as the Bookkeeper stayed behind. Vivi turned around to ask him, "You're not coming?"

The Bookkeeper drew circles lazily in the dirt with the end of his staff, avoiding eye contact. "Unfortunately, no, my dear. My duty is to watch, but not to act. I'm afraid I've interfered enough already. You'll be fine, just stay to the path and you'll find your goal." With that, the Bookkeeper stepped into one large circle he had drawn in the dirt and was engulfed in a sapphire pillar of light. When Vivi looked after the light had faded, he was gone. Beside her, Mystery muttered, "Typical, as usual."

"Okay, you have GOT to cut back on being so mean to that guy, he's done nothing but help us so far!"

"If you call his sideways, manipulative ways of controlling the world 'helping', I suppose you're right."

Vivi shrugged her shoulders in exasperation at the small spirit walking beside her, and together, the two of them walked into the darkness of the wood.

—-

"Mystery, you got some kind of flashlight magic we can use in here? I can't see a thing."

"Let's stop for a moment and recognize the fact that you just referred to a set of ancient arcane forces as 'flashlight magic'."

"Cut the sarcasm and help me maybe?!"

"Oh, if I must. But I won't be able to sustain it for long, mind you, or very far."

And like that, a small orb of crimson light appeared over their heads, floating with them to light up the path.

They followed the winding path for some time, squeezing past the briars and vines in the choked forest. Vivi was surprised that any trees could even grow here, with all of the weeds and parasitic plants wrapping around them, blocking out all of the sunlight. It was impossible to see very far; Mystery's light only extended a short distance in front of them.

Suddenly, Mystery stopped, and a tremor passed through him. Vivi paused and asked, "You okay? Do you need to take a break?"

"No, no. I just had a strange feeling, is all. I haven't felt like that since Mauta drained me of my power."

Suddenly nervous, Vivi said, "Do you think she's going to use your power to do something?"

"I wish I could say for sure, Vivi, but I just don't know. For now, we had best focus on the path ahead," Mystery said, and continued walking, with Vivi close behind him.

Vivi was wondering what they would find in here when she noticed something in the distance. A small, golden glimmer. She started to walk towards it, but it vanished as soon as she got close. She turned back to the pathway and saw, further down, the same golden flash. But as she approached, again, it went out and disappeared when she got too close. That was when she got an idea.

"Mystery, turn off your light."

"What?"

"I think it's scaring whatever's making that light away!"

Mystery complied, and the two of them were both plunged back into darkness. Then, the lights reappeared, in multitudes, and approached Vivi and Mystery. They stayed just beyond the path's reach, just out of touch. Vivi began to slowly feel her way towards the lights, careful not to prick herself on any of the thorns. Mystery called after her, but she was too focused on the lights.

Interestingly enough, though she wasn't concentrating on it, Vivi wasn't getting hurt by any of the vines or their thorns, even when she knew in the back of her mind that she probably should have stepped on something sharp by now. She was too busy following the little golden light, slowly edging closer and closer. Finally, she was close enough that she caught one right in her hands, and cupped both hands around it so that it wouldn't escape. Kneeling down in the unkempt grass and vines, she began to open her hands slowly to inspect her catch. She was half expecting it to be nothing more than a large luminescent insect, but having spent the last few days steeped in the supernatural world, she knew better by now. Sure enough, as she uncapped her hands slowly, out popped a small, floating, spherical spirit, chiming like a bell. Vivi slowly smiled as she stared down in wonder at the small spirit, who was just as interested in her, it seemed. It cocked its head at her, and jumped down from her open hands to land on her skirt, jingling as it floated on air.

Other golden lights flared in the darkness beyond, and Vivi began to slowly stand, brushing the dirt off of her knees before walking towards the lights. They were in two lines, directing Vivi forward. She took time to look at the spirits as she walked between them, chiming their jubilee as she passed and smiled at them. Eventually, Vivi's lit path came to a stop in front of a strange black shape, indiscernible in the near-darkness. The small orbs rushed around the perimeter of the circular clearing and as one, flashed bright. Their light revealed a ring of tall, ancient trees, regal and powerful, dominating the sky with their height. In the center of the circle was an old tree stump, almost thick enough to use as a bed comfortably. Vox suddenly darted out of Vivi's purse and chased after some of the orb spirits, trumpeting after the little bells. The small orb spirit that had led Vivi to this place jumped forward, and floated dreamily down, slowly coming to rest upon the stump. It jingled happily, making Vivi smile and laugh.

And as Vivi laughed, everything changed.

The golden balls of light all pealed together, and as they did, tendrils of light extended from each of them. These tendrils came together, began circling, forming a loose cylinder of light which bulged and extended. As it did, a deep, happy laugh resounded through the forest, and a gentle, cooling breeze swayed through the tree branches, as delicately as a lover's whisper. The lights suddenly contracted into a single small point, and then burst outward, bright as the sun. And out of this supernova, the light took form.

Four golden arms, slender and graceful, snaked their way into being, followed by a lithe and slender body. The form grew hair, long and midnight black, from its head, a giddy smile etched into the face. The body floated above the stump, back arched, both in stretching sleep away and triumphant ecstasy. The beauteous form landed softly, on the stump with graceful feet. Slowly, its—her—eyes opened, a deep red sparkling with energy and vitality.

The spirit curtseyed deeply, and looked to Vivi, smirking playfully. "Hello, little one. Welcome to my palace."

Vivi stared, awestruck by the fantastic display she had just seen. Slowly recovering from her stupor, and realizing semi-embarrased that her mouth had been hanging agape the entire time, she asked, "Um, ah, w-what's your name?"

The spirit smiled again good-naturedly. "I am Jinaya. You did well to find me here. My children are drawn only to those who are pure of intent." With that, she gestured to the small orbs beneath her. One of them stopped to stare at Mystery, who had appeared beside Vivi. It chimed joyfully, then jumped on top of his snout, which, due to his current size, sent them both tumbling down in the grass.

Vivi, suddenly remembering why she had come in the first place, brought out the crystal from under her turtleneck and said to Jinaya, "I'm sorry for the trouble, but do you think you could help my friend? He got hurt real bad—actually, I think he died—and I was told that you might be able to help."

Jinaya reached a gentle hand forward, then took the crystal from Vivi's hand. She floated it between her palms, scrutinizing the orange light pulsing within. Eventually, she said gravely, "This spirit has been tainted by the presence of death. I doubt there is much even I can do for him. I am sorry, child."

Vivi was crestfallen. This was not the answer she was hoping for, to say the least. Finally, she said, "Oh. Well, thanks for—"

"I wasn't finished, little one. I said there wasn't much I can do for him, not nothing," Jinaya interrupted, with a clever smile on her lips. She closed her eyes in concentration, and began to hum, floating cross-legged above the stump. The crystal was enveloped in a golden glow, and as Jinaya hummed, her children jingled along with her, watching. Vivi and Mystery stared, hoping for the best—

–And then Jinaya's hands flew away from the crystal as orange light spilled outwards, pixelated orange squares composing themselves into the shape of a body. Vivi ran forward as the orange light took a form that she knew well, from its arms to hits gangly body to its trademark spiky hair. The orange silhouette came to rest in a sitting position on the edge of the stump. Embedded deep in its chest, the crystal was still visible, pouring out energy to support the body of light. Slowly, the orange silhouette's head lifted, and two fully white ovals opened where the eyes would have appeared. The ovals blinked once, twice, and then a mouth appeared, a white line. The line vibrated as the hologram spoke, saying in a strange, muffled voice, "….Vivi? Vi, is that you?"

Vivi could barely stop herself from bursting into tears, seeing her best friend alive again. Mystery smiled at Arthur, and Vox rang out his musical cries in delight. Vivi whispered, "Hey there, Arty." She threw out her arms to embrace Arthur, but the second her arms touched him, they went straight through, causing his image to glitch and shake. She suddenly recoiled, saying apologetically, "Yikes! Arthur, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

After the image calmed down a bit, Arthur replied, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a little woozy is all. Where—where are we? I thought we were—OH MY GOSH!" Arthur immediately grabbed for the spot on his chest where there should have been a gaping hole, and instead finding nothing but orange light making up his entire body. Freaked out at first, then moving to pure confusion as he examined his new body, Arthur slowly asked, "What—what happened?"

Vivi answered cautiously, not wanting to upset Arthur too much, "Arthur, Lewis killed you. He dropped you off of the cliff where he died a year ago. We managed to save you though, with this crystal that was in your pocket." Vivi pointed at Arthur's chest, where the soul crystal still radiated energy steadily.

"Lewis did this?"

"Yeah, he did. I'm sorry Arthur. I know you wanted to try to apologize to him for everything, but I think he's beyond saving now."

Arthur began to reach for Vivi's shoulders, then, realizing he couldn't do that, he asked her, "Did he at least realize who actually did this to him? I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"The spirit that possessed you? I don't know. Honestly, he was so obsessed with killing you there in that cave, I don't even know if he thought about it too far."

"Excuse me." Jinaya bent down beside Arthur, who jumped nearly a foot in the air when he saw her. She had a distraught look on her face. "Did you say a spirit in a cave? Was she green?"

Vivi narrowed her eyes as she said, "Yeah, she was. Do you know her?"

Jinaya stood up again, slowly, and said, "It is obvious we have much to discuss."