K so sorry its been a minute. Truth is the new pokemon games came out the other weekend and I have lost control over my life.

Lol

Liz-Feel free to share theories. I certainly won't correct your or say you're right or anything, but I love it when people speculate on my stories! Thank you for enjoying!

Gabe

It… wasn't the news anyone wanted to hear.

The reason Nadia had been gone for so was that the night after she told her sister about what happened with Tierra, Maria vanished. The water master, her other sister, and Alakshmi had been tearing up the city looking for her, hoping beyond hope Maria hadn't done something impulsive.

But something impulsive was exactly what Maria did.

According to Mai, Maria easily snuck into the castle a few days ago, leading the Spider Queen to believe that she was seeking refuge after learning some unfortunate information, and then proceeded to steal several titan tablets from the grand library, including the ones of the five civilization hybrids.

It was a deep cut to the order, especially the Masters that had known her. Kimora was angry, Chavez didn't seem to know what to do, Jaha tried to play it off but was obviously agitated, and Nadia…

Oh, Nadia. The icy master of water was broken.

All light had left her eyes. Any joy she took from being duel master or simply existing in the temple at any time was long gone from her face and she robotically went through each day with a permanent look of loss etched across her face.

No one bothered her, no one tried to talk to her, and above all no one spoke about she who is now not to be named. Alakshmi frequented the temple more often now, keeping close to Nadia and providing a bit of contrast to her cloud of sorrow.

Instead of sad or upset, Alakshmi seemed be constantly be angry.

I couldn't quite blame her. After the Choten and Tierra, I'm sure the last person the poor woman thought would betray her would be Maria. There have been many times now that I've accidentally stumbled into a moment between the water master and her ward. Nadia would have her hand on Alakshmi's shoulder or have pulled her into a one armed hug as Alakshmi vented about how unfair it all was, biting back tears all the while.

While this betrayal had certainly shaken the temple's roots, things continued mostly like usual. We kept our eyes out for both Titan activity and the Choten's goons.

So far, all seemed fairly quiet. The rebellion leaders had calmed the fighting ever since word got around that Raja now has the sword of fiery Cataclysm. We had expected this from the fire civilization, but it seems as if all sides of the conflict had suddenly remembered the artifacts were still technically out there just waiting to be found.

Unfortunately, the only ones that could do the finding would be humans as the rest of the artifacts were probably still lost to the null zone. That meant any breaches from cognitively higher functioning creatures turned from causing havoc out of fear to purposefully hunting down humans to send out into the Null.

So far, in the two weeks that have followed Maria's betrayal and the recovery of the sword of fiery cataclysm, six people have been found wandering the Null and twenty others had to be rescued on this side of the veil.

It was more annoying than anything, but on the plus side the Choten has been pretty quiet. My guess is he's sitting in his lair somewhere, looking over his new stolen treasures while Tierra got to know their daughter after twenty one years apart.

There's just no way I could ever see the Choten being fatherly. I Hope Tierra's enough for Maria.

"Welcome back," I gave Ray a halfhearted greeting as he collapsed onto one of the tables in the library. "How'd it go?"

"Well, thanks to the cyber viruses twenty plus preschooler's won't be traumatized for the rest of their lives." He grumbled. "It was like herding cats. The kids were freaked out, the three teachers didn't know what to do or how to handle anything, and it just made everything ten times more complicated than it could have been."

"Ray, Gabe," Chavez called to us from the temple entrance. "We need you two in the war room."

What he meant to say was they needed me to summon Sasha and for Ray to sit pretty as they spoke to the Regent of Light about how to locate the Heart of Light.

"I can provide you with scanners that will be able to ping when near the Heart, but nothing more. Light technology does not run as well as water in the Null zone."

"Why is that?" I asked. "Light and Water technology is very similar."

"I believe it to be energy sources. Water civilization technology runs primarily on hydro power while light runs on solar. The mist in the Null dulls natural light, which is what also is used to sense the heart."

"Okay. Well, I'm sure we'll find it with ease now that we've got scanners." I reassured her.

We left as a group of four. Chavez, Isao, Ray, and I split up with the scanners Sasha provided and we spread out.

I kind of wished we had more searchers, I hated being alone in the void, but everyone else was busy trying to figure out the state of the Kaiju realm.

Raja, Angelboy and Beowolf, the Great Stag, Rubyeye… all five titans were fighting for something in the kaiju realm, but all at the same time? Something wasn't right. This felt planned. And since Raja wanted the sword of fiery cataclysm, I guessed the other rebellion leaders would be very interested in the other artifacts.

Luckily enough for us, the heart would be returned directly to Sasha and the Light Civilization to be placed under lock and key for the foreseeable future instead of getting stowed away in the temple until someone or something found out and attacked us again.

Ray

Even with the radars, it took nearly six hours to find the heart of light. We regrouped at the midway point between all four of us and examined the heart for a moment. The plan was to give it to Sasha to be kept safe, but looking at it now, I wondered if that was the right move.

"What if… we just left it here?" I spoke up, and with how Chavez flinched at that, I could tell he was thinking the same thing. "We could hide it in case the Choten comes looking for it, and no creature could take it."

"The choten would find it somehow," Isao crossed his arms as he stared down at the artifact. "But we could just keep it safe in the temple."

"Like how we kept the temple safe from three different invasions?" Chavez scoffed. "Not an option."

"What are you guys even talking about?" Gabe was looking between all of us, obviously upset. "We told Sasha we'd bring it back for her. It's the same thing you two did for Raja, and we still don't know if we can trust her!"

"But we do know the light Civilization is in a civil war and their citadel has been broken into twice before." Isao sighed. "I'm afraid we have few good options."

"Yeah, we have one good option." Gabe surprised me with this. He stood taller, having grown enough to now look Chavez in the eye. Hell, I was nearly looking him in the eye now. "We give the heart back to Sasha. It was hers in the beginning, and it should be hers now."

It wasn't a bad argument, but the conviction Gabe had in his eyes left us all a little jarred. Chavez worked his jaw for a moment, but then sighed. "You're right. This is the best course of action for now."

With that, we all headed back to the temple and presented Sasha with the heart of light. She was definitely happy about it, and thanked us all immensely. Just as she was saying her goodbyes and promising to keep the heart in a secure and safe place, one of Jaha's darkness spies came out of the shadows below her feet.

"Urgent news. The Spider Queen has joined the Nightmare King, and they aim to take over all of Darkness. Some rumors say they harbor a dying Kitsune as well."

Dread fell like a cold rock down through my stomach. "Kitsune? Do you mean Ahri, or…"

"Hakura wouldn't leave her side," Kimora placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "The last we saw Ahri, she was carried off by the Nightmare King. It has to be her."

My worries were only slightly soothed. I almost wished it had been Allie, because then we would have at least known where she was and had a chance to save her.

"Well, at least it isn't another rebellion." Jaha sighed. "This just sounds like the politics of Darkness. Few would dare fight against two titans, they will rally many creatures to their side."

"It might as well be another rebellion." Nadia crossed her arms and looked to panopter behind us. "All five civilizations are in massive conflicts that could spill into our realm at any time. Two groups now have their artifact back, but will that cause more conflict or settle down Fire and Light?"

No one had an answer. Raja had promised not to use the sword, and Sasha seemed to have no intentions of using it, but she was under the orders of the light council. If they wanted to use it to end Angelboy and Beowolf's rebellion, they certainly could.

The Coten was free, all five civilizations were in all out war, and we couldn't do a damned thing to stop any of it.

"For now, lets focus on finding the other artifacts. When word gets out the heart of light was found, the creatures will become more desperate. If we find the other three quickly, the kidnappings should stop- or at least go down in frequency."

It was all we could do.

My phone beeped in my pocket, and I saw it was an alarm I set to meet up with Raven. Excusing myself, I headed out of the temple and to the park. She was waiting for me at our usual place.

"So, what'd you want to talk about?" I asked, plopping down on the bench next to her as I put on a smile.

"I heard about what happened with Maria, and how she left." She stated simply. "She stole from the Guard's castle, right?"

"Yeah." I didn't know what else to say, the smile I faked had disappeared immediately.

"I think I need to go to there. To the castle, I mean."

"What? Why?"

"She stole the five civilization creature tablets, right?"

Remembering what Gabe had told me, I nodded. I was surprised she knew about them. "Yeah, at least there were only two though."

"I heard my father talking about it with someone on the phone. He may have quit, but it sounds like the temple could use all the help it could get. And… ever since my accident happened, I've seen this in my dreams."

She handed me her phone, which was opened to the gallery, and there was picture after picture of a five headed dragon. Each head was painted a different color, one color that represented each civilization.

"What is this?"

"As a child, I called him Oro." She gave me a grave look.

Oro… and a multiheaded dragon… no freaking way.

"You've been drawing Orochi, one of the five civilization hybrids."

Allie

No one must know.

I ran Arachnos' words through my head again. It was a plan we had all come up with together, one that assured we could keep an eye on the choten and a cap on some of the bullshit he tries to pull.

The only problem was I had to keep it a secret from everyone.

"Are you ready?" Hero asked me.

I paused for a moment. "Remember, you are 'Hero', now. You aren't to go by anything else, even if it's Ahri."

"I remember." He gave a short bow.

Remembering all that Arachnos had taught me over the past two weeks, I sucked in a breath and imagined that my form was melting into shadows. Weaving it back together like a spider with threads, I pulled my shape into a recognizable form.

It felt… chilly, without all that fur. But with my new abilities I was able to weave new clothes for myself without problem. Hakura followed suit, transforming into his wolf-like dog appearance and trotting close to my side.

Pulling on a gauntlet I had taken from the Guard's castle, I opened a breach in the veil.

"It's good to see you still can control your mana as a human as well." A voice rang out behind me. "Leaving without a goodbye?"

"Sorry, Mai. I'm just anxious to get home." I turned and faced the older woman. She was kind enough to understand my predicament and allowed me to stay in the castle without informing anyone at the temple. "Also, I'll see you again, so long as you come to the temple more often."

"I'm still not quite welcome there, I'm afraid. Now remember, Arachnos taught you disguises, but you still have much learning and practice to do. Don't overestimate your abilities." Her smile turned serious.

"I know. And thanks. I owe you and Arachnos a lot."

"You owe me nothing but a visit every once in a while. Arachnos… well, you know what she wants."

"Yeah, and she isn't getting it any time soon." I turned to walk through the breach, but hesitated. "Mai, what am I supposed to tell them… about Maria?"

"Anything but the truth. Sometimes the truth is paid for in lives, and lives are not a currency we can ever let ourselves use."

"I understand. Thanks, again."

And with that, I walked through the breach, and into one of the lowest caverns of the temple.