Then he straightened up. On the horizon, a pillar of smoke was rising. Surely more Chaos at work… he tied the bag to his neck and spread his arms as he leapt off of the Sanctuary's roof. The membrane at his sides spread with his arms, and allowed him to glide, slowly sinking, over the canopy. The pillar of smoke came closer and closer… but as he got nearer, he saw that it was not a Chaos Spirit responsible for this. It was a raging fire, in an Echidna village.

Cursing, Kun'nuk'kles landed at the edge of the village. This place was too far from the rivers for them to put this fire out in time. A fire in a temple, of all places… and the townsfolk were watching it burn, not so much as lifting a finger! Well, he'd fix this mess, even if they weren't going to even try. Raising his staff, he cried, "Ak'kun leoht! Hydraquis sol'li-kinni! Sacred Pillar of Water!"

With that, a pillar of water rose from the ground, encompassing the fire. Steam rose from it, and it vanished. The temple was mostly intact, but charred. The Echidna townsfolk, as one being, gasped, and turned to Kun'nuk'kles. Kun'nuk'kles took a step back. This was not the reaction he had expected. Their faces were contorted in anger, and one of the villagers cried out, "What have you done?"

"What have I…? I just saved the temple of the Tri-fold Spirit from burning to the ground, that's what!" he snapped.

"Fool!" another voice from the crowd shouted. "The Tri-fold Spirit has abandoned us! Have you not seen the death? The only way to save us is to worship the Chaos Spirits, destroying this place!"

The crowd parted to let one tall, but rather ugly, echidna through. This echidna glared at Kun'nuk'kles. "Who are you, to stop our ceremony of ultimate change?"

"I am Kun'nuk'kles, Wizard of the Island of the Gods' Messengers. Who are you, to defy the Tri-fold Spirit?"

"I am the Elder of this village. You know, we had a wizard here, too. But when we turned to him to stop the death, he couldn't. None of his magic worked. None of it. Not even the fireball he tried to use to save his own hide," the Elder said as his eyes gleamed. "The rest of the villages around here have had the same results. You are the first to show even a twinkling of magic. But we won't let this offense go unchallenged… Seize him!"

Two Echidna warriors grabbed Kun'nuk'kles by the arms from behind, and in his surprise, he dropped his staff. He struggled, but apparently, the Power of Chaos Green was no good in this case. Another warrior grabbed the sack from his back, and picked up his staff. The warrior hefted the bag and shook it. It made a clinking noise, from the Emeralds inside. "No! Don't touch those!" Kun'nuk'kles shouted, desperately.

The warrior dumped the three Chaos Emeralds on the ground, where they pulsed with power untold. "What is this? Treasure you have plundered, no doubt, from hard-working Echidna villagers!" the Elder shouted triumphantly.

"No… those are not plunder… those are the Chaos Emeralds!" Kun'nuk'kles explained, futilely struggling with the vise-like grips on his arms.

The Elder paused. "Chaos Emeralds? I have never heard of such a thing. Where did they come from?"

"They are the Chaos Spirits you adore so much, Imprisoned within a cage of beryl!" Kun'nuk'kles snapped, and at once, he knew that this was not a good answer.

"The… Chaos Spirits? How could such as they be Imprisoned? You lie!" the Elder shouted. "To the condemned cell with him! And keep his staff away from him!"

The warriors nodded, and started to drag him away. They tossed him roughly into a prison cell, made of stone, with bars of burnished copper. As they slammed the door on him, he sat, and stared into space. This was it. He had failed. Was this the fate that the Watchers had come to see? Mobius would be destroyed, all for the sake of a single village's fanaticism.

No.

Kun'nuk'kles looked up, in surprise. "What?"

I said, No. This is not the fate we have come to watch. Have hope. Don't give up.

"Easy for you to say…" he muttered.