Chapter Six

Miranda reached for a chip as Irma turned the open bag to her. "This is indeed the truest depths of hell," the spider mused, sounding more upbeat than one should with that statement.

Irma glanced at the dark-haired woman. She never had much contact with Miranda, other than in her spider form, so having her sitting next to her, sharing snacks, was adding to the surreal feeling of everything.

Miranda, having no direct problem with the water master, offered her half of her chocolate candy bar, as Cedric wasn't a fan of the peanuts it had. Irma broke off a piece, nodding in thanks.

The rest of the group was less calm, especially the two newcomers.

Elyon had made a few trips during the hour it took for Will and Phobos to make it back to the forge to start their new task. Galgheita had dressed and gathered not only food from the kitchen, but the stash of Earth snacks she had, as she still crossed over once a week to attend Sheffield Institute School Board meeting and to help with fundraisers and community projects.

Then, at Taranee's request, Elyon opened a portal to Earth, to Will's apartment, as she was currently living alone with a few pets. They checked on the frog terrarium and made sure her cat feeder was full.

The portal was left open for a while, letting people take bathroom breaks and send messages or make calls to any needed commitments, like work, school, or family. After a small debate, they called Matt, asking him to be ready to cover for Will if she stayed trapped. While they had broken up a while ago, he was still close with her family, so he could cover while they handled the rest. He agreed, worried hearing she was trapped with Prince Phobos, and made them promise to come get him if they needed the magic of Earth to free her.

With the kingdom of Earth on alert, Elyon felt an increase in pressure to handle things before another kingdom was involved.

Lilian was new to her powers, with Cornelia revealing them to her last year when she turned sixteen. She took it well, with making Matt, Napoleon, and Huggles Earth Guardians, once they were relieved as regents. While Earth didn't have a strong magical heart, there was far less stress on it, as only Lilian and the Earth Guardians had direct access to it, and near no human able to pull from the natural source. It made them a considerable force to be reckoned with, as Lilian was following Cornelia's example and often went to help handle magical crisis across the universe.

"Is this real?" Caleb questioned, standing next to Cornelia, who hovered near her fiance, hands on the crook of his arm. "This is absurd."

Julian, who was insistent in coming, as he, thanks to his years as rebel leader, had experience dealing with magical issues, frowned down at the image. It was bizarre, watching Phobos wave his arms in such a panicked, emotional manner, while Wilhelmina stood there, face distorted into a look of pure disgust and loathing. It had been years since he had laid eyes on the prince. Seeing him unaged, while the years to its toll on those who opposed his dark, greedy nature, worried him. One day, the people would forget the threat of that man and let their guard down. And another generation, one when Julian was too old to fight or already gone, would have to start the bitter war all over again. He didn't want that to be his legacy. The man who stopped Prince Phobos, only for his lifetime.

"And you are sure forcing it open is too great of a risk?" Julian asked his queen, bothered by the scene before him.

"From what we know, yes," Queen Elyon answered. She had found Caleb and Julian up in the war room, preparing for the chance Prince Phobos was successful in his escape. This outcome was far from what they could plan.

They sent a tracker to find Blunk. Passlings liked to barter, so any that didn't have a loyalty toward them would try to leverage the knowledge they had, or even lie if they thought what they knew was better sold to a higher bidder. Blunk was the only Passling with a strong connection to the royal council. Elyon wondered if that was a bad sign after Miranda's hurtful rant.

Hopefully things would be solved before they even needed Blunk.

"Calm down, Keeper!" Will snapped, her voice harsher than ever before, making near all there stiffen, used to responding to the woman as a higher up. "This is manageable if you calm yourself!" she tried again, one hand lightly on her hip, the other gesturing at the distraught prince, who looked near tears.

Phobos pulled at his hair, messing the perfect strands, and turned to Will, blue eyes so wide it looked like his face would crack from the pressure.

"Manageable! Manageable?" he balked, beside himself in panic, voice in a higher pitch from stress. "This is manageable?" he demanded, spreading his arms and turning, stumbling over his own feet, robes, and long hair.

"Yes!" Will snapped, hand slipping down the curve of her hip, only to jerk her hand away to awkwardly float in the air. "Now wipe that pathetic look off my face and calm down!"

Phobos dropped to a crouch on the ground, hands on his head. "Your face. Oh, my god. Your face." He repeated over and over, rocking in the spot, form brightly lit by abnormally strong moonlight.

Will sighed, pressing her fingers to her temples with both hands. "Yes, my face. You are in my body and I, in yours. This is straightforward." She said, distracted for a second, pulling at her short, ruby hair, fingering the soft strands, only to then look at the wounds on her fingertips. "Our souls will naturally be recalled to the correct vessels. Just," Will stopped, looking confused as she looked from her hands to Phobos. "That is odd. Are you unable to see magic glow? With this much being used, it should be quite visible."

Phobos, who was now lying flat on the ground, staring up at the darker jungle canopy, fireflies drifting close, turned an empty look towards Will.

"Just kill me," he announced, voice full of despair. "End this nightmare." A few large, iridescent jungle bugs crawled up the side of his cheek and across his face, down the other side, but he failed to react or notice, expression blank.

Will, growing further disgusted at the sight, stomped over and pulled the prince up. Phobos was yanked up and, as Will used far too much force, he stumbled, making Will grab him by the collar to stop him from falling forward.

"Will is not taking this well," Taranee said, feeling bad for her friend, not sure how she would handle the situation if it was her in there.

Caleb looked visibly upset as he said, "Can you imagine being… Phobos?" He shuddered. "I'm pretty sure I've had literal nightmares like this."

Cornelia wrapped her arms around one of his as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Oh, honey, it's okay, it will be over soon," she assured.

Irma scoffed. "He's not even in there!" she pointed out, not bothered by his distress, but Cornelia's unnecessary coddling. "And he just got here!"

Cornelia glared. "Unlike you, this isn't a cinematic master piece to everyone else!" she snapped, pointing at the frog bean-bag chair Irma had borrowed from Will's house and was now reclining on. She had also borrowed an equally frog themed blanket that she was cocooned in, as the room had an almost unbearable chill.

"Enough!" Will yelled, catching their attention. She tried again to snap Phobos out of it, turning him around now and roughly shaking him. "Gather your wits!" Then added, exasperated. "What little you have!"

Phobos sagged more, shoulders dropped. "I'm sorry, girls," he called, looking at the sky. "I did my best. But this is how I die."

"No one is dying! You just escaped a stone titan! One body swap is not the end!" Will growled out, trying to get her companion to be of some use, but to no avail.

Will, finally fed up, stepped back and pulled her phone from her pocket, and held it up. "This is important to you, no?" she demanded, finally getting Phobos' attention. She gripped both ends in her hands. "Stop your sobbing or I will snap this in two."

Phobos gasped, horrified, and jumped to Will, only for her to move back faster. Will was clearly on the better end of physical abilities, as Phobos was tripping and fumbling over his own robes again.

"You asshole!" Phobos yelled, trying for it again. "Don't you dare! I haven't backed up my data in, like, forever!"

Will moved back, slipping the phone in her back pocket, hands snapping to her side as she tried to avoid touching her jeans more than needed. "Are you focused now? Are we able to proceed with this task?"

Phobos stood up, glaring, but now looked around, taking in the thick jungle around them. "Where are we?"

Will crossed her arms, only to uncross them as they touched her full chest, and placed them on her round hips, and then remove them from there as well. She dropped her arms to her side, back ramrod straight, skin flushed red. "If this is real, there is only one jungle on Metamoor; Galkagaruen."

"Galka- what?" Phobos tried to repeat it, confused, now pulling strands of hair away from his face, only to grow frustrated as the body length strands kept coming as he pulled. He tossed his hands up in defeat, hair even messier now.

"Galkagaruen," Will repeated, slower. "It is home to various ancient beasts and even older temples. While I have taken expeditions into its depths, without a map we are hopelessly lost."

"Unfortunately, that is true," Julian said. "I know several locations of temples and villages, but just seeing a random spot in the jungle is not traceable at the moment."

Elyon nodded, hoping the two would find a landmark soon.

Phobos took a step over to Will, only to stop, pale skin flushing deep with color. The next step he took had his legs awkwardly spread apart, walking with a pained focused as he waddled towards Will.

"Why is Phobos, uh, I mean Will, walking like that?" Hay-Lin asked, worried she missed her getting hurt.

Irma harshly snorted, nearing dropping the chip bag into the pool.

Cedric tried to disguise his chuckle as a cough as he looked at the other two men, who shifted with the shared answer, but also didn't what to voice it.

Miranda, less proper, now free to do and say what she pleased, grinned as she pointed down. "She has discovered her new leg, I believe."

"What?" Hay-Lin said before freezing. "Oh. Oh!" Slowly, she turned away to bury her face in her hands.

Galgheita, equally uncomfortable, moved to pat her back.

Most of the group, wanting to rip the image from their minds, in particular, Elyon, turned back to the bickering duo.

"Please stop making me look like an utter fool," Will harshly demanded, shaking her head at Phobos' walk.

Phobos was scarlet, holding his robes out with his hands to accommodate his wider walk. "Just shut up! You get to be me! And I have to be you! You know exactly why I'm walking like this!" Then he stopped, seeing Will adjust the hem of her shirt that was riding up to show a sliver of skin. "Don't touch my clothes!" he yelled, panicked.

Will released the shirt, her somewhat calm expression finally breaking as a look of utter mortification burst across her face. "Why must your clothes be so tight and small! Every time I walk, I feel them move! Unless you want something exposed, I have to make adjustments!" she argued.

Phobos let out a gasp. "It least all my shit is tied down! I have to deal with, ah, the boys," he near sobbed, returning to his waddle walk.

Will turned away, still having a hard time not folding her arms out of reflex, glancing at her chest before her eyes snapped up, face redder. "Fine! Just focus on our task!"

"We don't even know what that is!" Phobos pointed out, throwing his hands in the air.

Only, now close to Will, he squinted his eyes at her.

"What the hell?" he mumbled, suddenly distracted from his existential crisis, reaching out and swatting the air between them. "There is, like, a string between us."

Will nodded, calming now that they had a new topic. "I thought as much. Our souls cannot be removed fully from their correct host. There is a bridge between us, that allowed them to cross. They should drift to the correct bodies. Finishing the task, though, would probably be quicker."

Phobos swatted at the air, only to look at his hand and then around. "What the fuck are those things then," he asked, pointing at nothing in a bright beam of moonlight that filtered through the vines above.

Will rolled her eyes. "Your vessel is unable to view pockets of magic. I do not know what you see."

Phobos, now calmer, turned towards the empty air and cupped something. The air shimmered as the light became a solid, small ball of glowing fur. It twitched in his hand, shifting before rolling side to side, almost in a happy manner.

"That's a will-o-wisp," Will said. "The magical remains of a lost soul."

"It's cute," Phobos chirped, smiling at the little creature that was wiggling in his hand.

"God damn," Cornelia shuddered. "This is full uncanny valley vibes, seeing Phobos look like that. Ugh."

The current Will had the same issue. "Stop putting such pathetic looks on my face," she demanded, hands on hips again and this time staying. "Now leave that creature be. They are useless. They serve even less purpose than you right now."

"Geez," Phobos scoffed, holding the ball of light in both hands to him. "You can be nicer to them. They seem sweet."

"They are useless, mindless souls. Cast it aside and let us be on our way."

Phobos rolled his eyes. "You can see these cuties all the time, but can still have such a sour outlook? Hay-Lin would fucking love them."

Hay-Lin nodded in agreement. The little lights were cuties. She would indeed love them.

"I do not see them all the time. They are only near," Will paused, looking around. "Magic gates."

"What's a magic gate?" Phobos asked, reaching out, making another wisp visible, followed by another, and another, until a dozen were floating around. They followed him, trailing behind like little lost ducklings as he walked after Will, bumping against him when he stopped.

"All magic flows from Kandrakar. Gates are how the magic is released into the other realms. They are often well hidden and guarded by elder gods."

Phobos stopped again, making the fluff balls crash. He scooped a few up and petted them. "New question; what's an elder god?"

Will let out a long, dramatic sigh as she walked around the clearing, peering into the gaps between the trees, trying to find the path to go. "You truly know nothing. Did not Nerissa have an expansive magical tutelage? Able to summon Annihilators and even resurrect the dead? Those are both advance magics that take decades to learn. But you do not know of simple wisp?"

"Hey, asshole, she spent years glamoured as the mage, remember? She had time to learn all that shit. I have to do my damn job and chase down newly escaped criminals."

"Which you are doing fantastic with, by the way."

"Irma, stop laughing," Cornelia and Taranee both called out.

"Sorry," Irma giggled.

Phobos glared. "Are your going to answer my question?"

"Fine, I will do what the Oracle has failed to and give you a basic knowledge of magic. The very magic that flows from your kingdom," Will said, annoyed. "Elder gods are ancient creatures. They have always existed."

Phobos suddenly interjected. "Since the creation of the universe?"

Will nodded, narrowing her eyes. "Actually, yes. So you know something about them?"

Phobos tilted his head, looking at Will curiously. "No, that was something the Oracle had said about… something else. That never made much sense." Phobos looked at the cluster of wisp in his hands and back at Will. "Hmm."

"Well, yes, they were said to have been the first thing created by nymphs. They can travel through the gates and are the only creatures, other than nymphs, to step foot on the surface of Kandrakar."

Phobos nodded. "So a gate nearby is a good thing?"

"Maybe. Depends on our task. If we are here to confront the elder god, we will find out with certainty if we can die. If the gate is unguarded, then we maybe able to access the magic and overwhelm the forge, breaking free."

Phobos crossed his arms, not looking convinced. "I doubt the forge is going to let us 'break free'. There has to be some trick."

Will nodded. "So I pray we have what we need to fight what waits for us."

"So," Phobos started, looking around. "You said the wisp are near them? So you have found a gate before?"

Will shook her head. "No. They are scattered for a great distance around. Seeing them does not mean a gate is exposed. It could be deep underground, on a mountain top, or floating in a city among the clouds."

"Oh," Phobos said, looking at the collection of wisp. "And they can't help?"

Will laughed, darker than should be allowed by her friendly face. "They are mindless, useless, hollow creatures. They serve no purpose."

Phobos shook his head. "First thing; don't laugh like that with my body. I ain't the Wicked Witch of the West. And Second; wow, yeah, if you talk about me like that, I wouldn't help your ass either." He looked at the wisps nuzzling his hands. "Hey, little ones, are you able to help us? I mean, you are here for a reason. And unlike him, I think you aren't useless. I think you're cute as hell and would love your help."

"Keeper you are," Will stopped, staring at the scene unfolding.

The will-o-wisps shivered, lights glowing brighter at the attention, and floated away, forming a long trail off into the dark jungle. There, they waited, lights pulsing for them to safely follow.

Phobos grinned. "See, asshole, just fucking ask nicely and you can get some damn help."

Will, dumbfounded, didn't say another word as they started the task of following the wisp into the jungle.

Taranee turned to Cedric. "Are you able to see these wisp things?" Taranee asked, realizing her and Will had the same thought about Phobos and what the Oracle said.

Something wasn't right.

"Only with the aid of magic tools," he answered. "He claimed it was a right of his linage, to freely view the lost souls."

They looked at Elyon, who shook her head. "I've never seen any," she admitted. "But I've never been to a magic gate. I can call on Meridian's magic freely."

"But," Julian interjected, "You have been to Kandrakar. The mage, I mean, Nerissa, said they reside there in droves, as they can follow elder gods across realms."

Elyon placed a hand on her chin. "I guess I can't see them. Only Phobos can?" she questioned, looking at Galgheita, who shrugged.

"They appear in countless stories. They are peaceful, lost souls, seeking comfort," Galgheita explained. "It is said they wait for the chance to either be reborn or to rejoin the magic at infinity." She glanced at the pool, looking at the two following the wisp. "It is also said they only follow the will of the elder gods."

"This again?" Cedric hissed, annoyed. "If he had a connection to anything, anything, other than the royal family, we would have all known long ago."

"Unless he doesn't know," Taranee pointed out. "He didn't even know to just ask the wisp to take him to a gate. It was Will, in his body, that tried asking."

Miranda laughed, joyfully. "This is amazing. He had this ability all along and had to much pride to ask, fearing looking like a fool. Even on his own." She laughed again.

"Dear," Cedric called, trying to get her to focus on the problems before them.

"Don't 'dear' me," she said, still happy. "I wonder what other secrets the forge will dig up? It knows them and what it takes for them to bond. While the Keeper needed to know he would save her life. He seems to need to suffer humility at her hands." She waved at the sulking, quiet prince. "To realize he's not as all knowing as he thought."

"But," Elyon said, looking at the upbeat Keeper, who affectionately petted each wisp they passed, while sticking a tongue out at the following prince. "What does that have to do with a magic gate? What could be there that would humble Phobos? Would make Will trust him?"

"I guess we shall see," Cedric said, now wondering what was kept even from Prince Phobos, after all these years. Something the Oracle knew but was bound by his duty and oath to the nymph N'Ghala not to utter, not to interfere with.

In the pool, the two finally made it to the base of a huge, towering tree. The large roots were exposed above ground, twisted into an opening that led into the underground.

"Oh, look, a creepy ass cave. Joy," Phobos deadpanned, holding all the collected wisps in his arms, having now mastered the waddle walk.

Will sighed, annoyed at the sight of Phobos, legs wide, cooing at the wisp like small children, and looked around at the entrance. "There," she said, pointing to a sign at the base on the ground.

Phobos cupped a wisp in his hand, using it as light, reading it over, only to sheepishly laugh. "I can't read it. You have my… eyeballs."

Will, visibly bothered by the unsettling word choice, leaned over and read, "Survive death."

Phobos stood up, dropped all the wisps, and turned around. "Nope. Fuck that. Guess I'm a dude now. That's fine. I'll finally understand jockstraps." Only he turned back and started collecting the wisp. "Let's go kids. There has to be a less death filled cave we can live in."

Will grabbed him and pulled him back as he tried to quickly waddle away. "Enough. If there is a gate here, I can guide our souls back to their place. The forge uses magic, and magic has rules. We have a real chance to outmaneuver it right now."

"No," Phobos whined, hugging the happy glowing wisp to him. "It literal says 'survive death'. Like how can you walk towards that?"

"I am immortal."

"I'm not."

"You are in my body."

Phobos perked up. "Oh! Yeah. Let's go then."

Will slapped a hand to her face, following Phobos as he gathered a few wisps he dropped and walked into the cave. He asked the wisp to light the way, and they floated down the tunnel, spaced evenly out, to not leave any large pockets of darkness.

"They are the best," Phobos grinned. "Seriously, try being nice, Phobos. It gets you a lot farther in life."

Will grumbled under her breath, looking upset as she journeyed in.

For a long while, they walked down the tunnel, lit by the wisp that would float ahead once they passed to keep the tunnel bright. Deeper, Phobos said he could see more and more wisp, and started making an unmanageable amount visible until the light hurt their eyes, with them all gathered so close together.

"Turn them off," Will demanded, hands covering her eyes from the white light.

"I don't know how," Phobos admitted, squinting at the glowing mass in his arms. In a panic, he turned and tossed them down the way they came. That proved to do nothing as the lights floated back to him, into his arms, nudging him insistently.

Phobos tossed them again, and they flickered, happy, before returning for another throw.

Will's jaw dropped. "Are you playing with them?" she near yelled, dumbfounded. "We do not have time for this!"

Phobos stopped, glancing at the wisp, ready for another toss, and then to Will. Deliberately keeping eye-contact with Will, Phobos tossed them again.

"Why are you like this?" Will demanded, frustrated. "We don't have time for this!"

Phobos sighed. "You really need to chill. That anger is not good for my blood pressure. If I break out after this because of you stressing me out, I'm gonna be pissed."

"Then take this seriously!"

"So when I was freaking out, I was taking it too seriously, and now that I'm fine, I'm too calm? I think you just have a control problem," Phobos pointed out as he started walking again, army of wisp with him. "And you can't control me or the wisp with that sour attitude. You need to start asking nicely," he ended with a look over his shoulder and a wink.

"I have never witnessed someone just so… unbothered by his temper," Cedric said.

"Yeah, Will is pretty good with dealing with people one-on-one," Cornelia admitted. "And she's pretty hot-headed, so she doesn't really hold grudges when other people snap."

"I see," Cedric said, not voicing the second part of his thoughts. He doubted they would like it.

Glancing at the water master, who's eyes met his, expression heavier than she showed the others, he knew she saw it too.

This was bad.

Because no matter how much trust was between them, there could never be that.

Cedric looked at Miranda, enjoying herself far too much as she ate some cooked meat that Galgheita had brought, happily humming to herself, hand on her stomach.

Cedric realized the group wasn't giving the Irma enough credit, as she caught his glance. She followed his gaze, her mouth dropping open before grinning. Making it look casual, she grabbed a few more candy bars from near the bench, and placed them in between her and Miranda, closer to the dark-haired woman.

Irma grinned, excited, now understanding why Cedric and Miranda were so determined to gain their freedom and a safe life. Keeping her mouth shut, as it wasn't her business, Irma bounced the chair a little closer to Miranda, set on making friends.

Because, damn it all, she was going to be an honorary auntie to a snake/spider baby because it was going to be cute or terrifying, and she needed to know which.

The two in the pool finally emerged into a wider space. It was too dark to see beyond the glowing wisp near them. Phobos took a few steps away. There were crystals along the water's edge that glowed white as he neared. They seemed to outline a large underground pool. He kept walking, only to look back to see the ones he passed were now dark.

"Um, why is shit glowing near you?" Phobos asked. Only Will ignored him. She walked over to the edge of the body of water.

"This pool is tainted. Barely any magic flows here. But this might be enough," she said and dipped a hand in. The dark Heart, once completely ignored in their new task, tucked under Will's shirt, glowed brightly through the fabric, connected to Kandrakar again.

Phobos gasped, stumbling and clenching his head. Will pulled out her hand, looking at Phobos, a flash of genuine concern on her face.

"The Heart," Phobos explained. "I felt it pulling me."

Will nodded with understanding as she stood. "This maybe easier than expected. The Heart will want to correct this as well. It is bonded to both your body and soul. Prepare yourself."

With that, she grabbed Phobos and roughly shoved him in the pool; him crying out in shock, Will jumping in after.

Only once they were fully submerged, the room ignited with two colors of magic.

Pink, from Xin Jing, Nymph of the Elements.

White, from Elba, Nymph of the Moon.

Although, no one knew yet what the colors meant.