Varian didn't take the time to check his surroundings; his hand immediately launched out towards his father's bow and scrambled to extract an arrow from the quiver. He had just managed to nock the fletching to the corner of his grimacing mouth when the sharp, clanking footsteps stopped outside the door. He held his breath, waiting for the knob to turn. Sweat slid down the back of his neck, cold as ice, and his heart raced in his chest as he aimed where he believed the man's head would be.

The door creaked open, just a hair, before he heard Xavier's deep voice. "Come now, young man! You don't think I would hide an escaped prisoner in my own personal bedroom, do you? Besides, don't you need a writ seal from the king to investigate a man's private quarters?"

Varian heard a hissing sigh from the other side of the door. "Fine," the guard said gruffly. "I suppose you're right." The door didn't close, but the footsteps began to echo further down the hall. "Sorry," he heard the guard apologize. "It's just that we've all been a bit overzealous about security lately, and we really did hear a suspicious report from this area."

"Oh, it's quite alright," Varian heard Xavier casually dismiss the apology. "I can't imagine the stress it has all been for you."

"Yeah, it's been…interesting. But just so that I have something to report back, it really is just you and your niece here?"

Niece? Varian's eyes darted to his right. Shay wasn't there. "Would you like to meet her?" he heard Xavier offer. "I'm sure she would be –"

"No, no," the guard protested quickly. "That won't be necessary. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Of course. You have a wonderful day, now!" More footsteps drawing further away, the sound of a door closing, and then silence flooded Varian's ears.

A few moments later, Shay burst into the room, gasping when she saw the arrow trained over her head. "It's alright!" she exclaimed, ducking down just in case he let loose. "It's just us, now."

Varian lowered his weapon with a sigh and collapsed back onto the blanket. His body still thrummed with adrenaline, but his heartbeat steadied. "That wasn't fun," he wheezed. He lifted his head to stare at her. "Where did you go?"

Shay's cheeks colored. "The privy," she mumbled.

"Oh." Varian set his head back down, staring up at the ceiling.

Xavier's burly form filled the doorway behind Shay, his dark eyes somber with guilt. "You must forgive me, children. The guards have been particularly quick to scare. It is alright, now."

"It doesn't feel alright," Varian admitted out loud, his dour tone betraying his bitter irritation.

He heard Shay step forward after a moment and kneel down next to him, folding her hands in her lap to keep from wringing them. "Yesterday was…hard for you." Her mismatched eyes were sober. "I've been too foolish to see."

Varian looked up at her and shook his head. "It's not your fault. I just…" He sat up and looked to Xavier, drying the sweat of his hands on his pantlegs. "For the first time in a while, I'm not sure what to do."

Xavier cracked a white smile. "Isn't that why you came to me? In fact, now that I think about it, that's why anyone comes to me." He chuckled, and the sound painted the room orange with warmth. "Today, my smithy is closed as I attend to…personal matters." He winked one dark eye and unfolded his hands from the pockets of his apron to beckon to his guests. "Come! You must eat and prepare for a little adventure."

"Where are we going?" Shay asked.

Xavier tapped the side of his nose with a playful, calloused finger. "Someplace where we may be able to find answers to your predicament."

It was mid-morning when Varian pulled his hood over his tousled head and followed Xavier out into the streets of Corona. Rudiger hid in the folds once more, his hot breath licking under Varian's chin. Killy stayed behind, the hare dozing comfortably by the door as they filed out into the open air. The sun broke out between somber clouds, flickering white light filtering in fleeting frames through the frayed fibers of his cloak. The smell of melting snow mingled with the scent of rotting leaves and wet cobblestone, a heady aroma that made Varian feel cold and lonely with nostalgia. He kept his blue gaze towards the ground, refusing to look at anyone they passed. Shay noticed him pause for a moment, and she reached shyly for his fingers to pull him along. Varian allowed himself to be led wordlessly behind their cheerful guide, listening in and out of a very one-sided conversation.

"It has been a long time since I've heard anything about the Celestials," Xavier explained as he parted his way through a crowd. "Very few have heard of them, and even fewer believe they truly exist. In a time when magic did not feel the need to hide from this land, the existence of these elemental guardians was accepted as much more plausible." He glanced back at Shay over his shoulder. "I'm sure your mother has taught you about them."

Shay shook her head.

"No?" The blacksmith's eyes widened. "I'm surprised. I should have thought that Lyra would have told you of the pact she made with the Seven Sisters in her youth."

Varian ran into Shay as she abruptly stopped; her grip on his hand tightened to the point of pain. "What?" she gasped.

"Ah," Xavier mused, unfazed by Shay's reaction. "So, you've heard of them, at least." He led them south, past yawning shopkeepers and down into a grey alley. Varian noted absentmindedly that they were heading closer to the abandoned aqueducts, ancient waterways that had been walled off nearly two centuries ago. "And what is it that you know of them?"

"I know that they're dangerous," Shay exclaimed. "Their power was invoked by blood mages during the dark times!"

"Yes," Xavier agreed solemnly. "But they were also called upon to cast light into the darkness, to feed fires when all kindling was gone, to banish weakness from the frail and forlorn." They were alone now, standing before a bleak stone wall. Varian could see an outline in the man-made face, a rough edge in the laid brick where an opening had been filled. They watched Xavier reach for a stone on the right, his large fingers deftly tracing a small rune etched into the surface. "The Seven Sisters serve as the Stellar Celestial, the weakest and most essential of the elemental paradigm." He pressed the stone, and it slid against the mortar until a booming noise reverberated on the other side of the wall. There was a sharp crack, and then the wall started to give way, sliding itself aside in a plume of dust. "You can imagine, then, how much more powerful the other Celestials must be."

Varian frowned as he peered into the depths of the revealed tunnel, batting away the dust with a dismissive hand. "What exactly are we supposed to find down here?"

"You said that Lyra spoke of the Celestials in your vision," Xavier explained as he produced a torch from the dark and used a flint to light it. The flames illuminated a sagely glint in his gaze. "It would explain the seemingly boundless magic you now find in your possession."

"That doesn't answer my question."

Xavier spread his arm out into the darkness, an invitation for Varian and Shay to follow. "Perhaps this will. Come. Let us see what answers lie in the deep. Though I warn you, whatever answers you may find, you might not wish to hear."

Varian sucked in a deep breath, his chest expanding to its limit. Then he took the lead, Shay still clinging to his hand as he strode unflinchingly through the tunnel entrance. Rudiger scrambled out into the black, his claws skittering on the cold stone. The light of Xavier's torch licked at the dim walls, illuminating sheets of white algae and black mushrooms creeping from the cracks. Varian glanced once behind him and saw the light from the entrance grow smaller and smaller, then disappear entirely as they rounded a corner, surrendering them completely to the light Xavier held.

"Shay," Varian whispered as the ground beneath them began to slope downward. "What do you think? Do you know where he might be taking us?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted after a moment. "But I can feel something. Something ancient and old." Her red eye flickered in the dark as she blinked. "Something that's been here for a long time, I think."

"Xavier," Varian spoke for the blacksmith to hear. "How do you know of this place?"

The man chuckled; the sound of it seemed to brighten his torch. "How did you learn of the vault beneath the castle? How did you manage to replicate and modify the potion I made? I know of it," he said when he heard Varian's breath stop. "If your exemplary skills hadn't been used to commit treason, I would be much more impressed with your intellect."

Varian made a disgruntled sound; again, the blacksmith hadn't really answered his question, but he decided to let it go.

"How did you meet my mother?" Shay suddenly asked, her small voice hesitant and apprehensive.

"I met your mother many years ago now," Xavier answered. "In truth, she found me. She has always been very good at finding people. She had come to me for a precious metal, just a sliver she could use in an experiment of hers. She can't have been much older than either of you. I can still remember the look in her eyes when she offered payment. I could tell it was nearly all she had, and it certainly wasn't much. She seemed to be alone in every sense of the word. I encouraged her to keep in touch, but when she left, I believed I would never see her again. I was surprised then when she returned less than a month later. She didn't ask me for anything. She just sat by and watched me work. Curious child, she was. Simple, and yet so very complex. I think she came to look upon me as the father she never had." They heard him chuckle again, but the sound had less heart than before. "A shame I didn't fill the role as well as I should have."

Silence swelled in the pitch, amplifying the sound of Varian's breath in his ears. Shay said nothing as she dwelled on Xavier's words, but her grip on Varian's hand had turned cold. Rudiger scampered in and out of the shadows, the creature's eyes glinting like pearls in the firelight. They kept going deeper, and a muffled boom reverberated through the air from the upper walls. "We must be close to the harbor," Varian speculated out loud. "Sounds like waves on the sea wall."

Xavier nodded. "So we are. In fact, this tunnel leads to the sea floor."

"That's impossible," Varian scoffed. "There's no way that kind of structural integrity would hold under the weight of a body of water like that."

Their guide didn't answer. He led them further on, and the tunnel began to brighten up ahead. Shay let go of Varian's hand as darkness ebbed, and a sight unfolded before them unlike anything they had ever seen. The tunnel ceiling stopped, and they stood on the border of the island's sublevel. The stone beneath their feet continued forward, and rough sandstone walls funneled the way forward, but the open ceiling submitted to a roof of sea. There was no barrier between the tunnel and the ocean water surging and pulsing above them; Varian was certain that if he was tall enough, he could reach up and soak his hand in it. Colorful streams of fish streaked in silvery strands, blinking curiously before darting away. Sunlight filtered down through the depths, gracing the tunnel with arches of wavering blue beams. There were no words to describe the sudden reverence that permeated the alchemist's soul as he stood in awe of what he couldn't even begin to explain, and he actually felt tears well in his wide eyes.

"How?" he breathed.

Again, Xavier didn't answer. He blew out the torch and placed it with care into a sconce at the end of the tunnel. He led the way down the new path, a wide smile on his bearded face. Varian followed slowly, marvel dragging at his heels as he drank in the sight like a man half-scorched with thirst. He realized after a few moments that Shay had said something to him, and he managed to tear his gaze away as the girl returned to the mouth of the tunnel to retrieve Rudiger. The racoon had been cowering in the shadows, too fearful of the otherworldly phenomenon before him to continue on his own. "It's alright," he heard her say as she crouched for the creature and returned to Varian's side.

Rudiger leapt like a cat into Varian's chest, shaking and shuddering with his face hidden in his paws. Varian impulsively kissed the racoon's ear and turned to follow Xavier once more. More fish swam overhead, saltwater droves twinkling like stars in the blue expanse. He could feel the moisture in the air, smell the tang of it in his nose, taste it on his tongue. "How?" he asked again, not expecting an answer. He wasn't sure if he had grabbed Shay's hand or if she had grabbed his again, but he held it like it was the only tether he had to the real world. Like Xavier, Shay didn't say a word.

They walked on, listening to the sound of the sea. Xavier was a dark pillar of purpose ahead, striding confidently as he led the way. After what seemed like hours, he finally stopped at a metal plate on the ground, just wide enough for them to stand on. Varian could see that the plate was engraved with a number of symbols and runes. He recognized two of them: the symbol of Corona, and the strange emblem from his father's chest, map, and the door to Haderon's tomb.

"Xavier," he asked, indicating the symbol with his foot. "Do you know what this means?"

"That is a symbol from the kingdom your father once served," Xavier explained, "from another lifetime I'm sure he's never spoken of."

Varian shook his head, reminded of the passing statement Xavier had made the night before. "No, he hasn't." A memory flashed through his mind of the argument he'd had with his father, just moments before he'd become trapped by the wicked amber in Varian's lab. Not for the first time, he wondered just what was written on the note in his father's frozen hand, trapped under ten feet of crystal he couldn't break. He took a shuddering breath to calm his nerves. "But I'm sure he will, when this is all over."

Xavier hummed a neutral note, then planted his feet on the plate. "Come," he told them. They gathered close together, and as Varian stepped forward, his heart picked up speed in his chest as the plate began to lower. They descended slowly through the air into a vast, domed chamber, the floor lined with mosaics of marble and limestone. Fluted pillars circled the concave ceiling, the hole left by the plate funneling a piercing beam of light into the space around them. Rudiger dared to peek out from behind his paws, and his shaking stopped. Shay's jaw was latched tight, her red eye struggling to view it all as it darted and swept every which way.

"It is said that this chamber was crafted by the Celestials themselves," Xavier explained. "It is here that we may be able to contact one of them…hopefully whichever Celestial has taken an interest in your ambitions."

The plate touched down into the dais at the center of the chamber, sliding into place like a puzzle piece. Varian hesitated before stepping off; the instant he did, a resounding boom echoed through the chamber, like the crack of lightning bolt. Before Shay and Xavier could follow, the plate lurched upwards once more. Shay was jolted to her knees, and she cried out Varian's name as Xavier held her secure on the escalating platform; the blacksmith's eyes were wide with shock.

"No!" Varian shouted. He dropped Rudiger and threw himself into the space where the plate had been. He stared helplessly as his friends as they grew smaller and smaller over his head. The sound of Shay's pleading voice grew further and further away. The pillar of light turned into a dim ring, like a solar eclipse, before the plate slid back into its place on the surface. Varian lost his breath as the chamber plunged into black, the darkness pressing against his vision like a smothering blanket. He reached a hand over his tight, hammering chest, clutching a fistful of fabric as he scrambled through his bag for a bioluminescent agent.

"That won't be necessary, son of Quirin."

Varian jumped, startled by the voice. It sounded like a woman, deep and contralto. He stopped searching through his bag and reached for his father's bow instead, drawing an arrow to the string. "Who's there?" he demanded.

In response, a circle of light bloomed around him, ethereal light shimmering in swathes of otherworldly blue. Varian hadn't noticed before, but the walls of the chamber were made completely of the black rocks, their glassy surface resonating in a ring of terrible, beautiful magic. Varian could feel the now-familiar tingling on his scalp as the streak in his dark hair began to glow.

As the light of the spikes filled the chamber, a woman appeared from the shadows. She was at least eight feet tall, proportionally larger than any human Varian had ever seen. She was clothed in the same light as the black rocks, flickering in white flames over her statuesque form. Her face was perfectly symmetrical, her features delicate as porcelain, and her eyes burned white in the dark of her floor-length black hair. Shots of blue sparks zoomed like falling stars through the strands like fireflies in a forest.

"You can pick your jaw up off the floor now, young man," the woman mused at Varian's slack-jawed expression. "I am easily thousands of years too old for you."

"I –" Varian clapped his mouth shut, and he straightened his posture. He kept his bow steady, but he drew the string only halfway. "Who are you?"

The woman smiled. "Intelligence and bravery. I was aware of the first, but not the second." She stretched a hand out towards him, her fingers loose and curious in the still air. "I have been given many names by the tongues of men. Lune, Luna, Lunaris, Lycanthris, Tsuki, Gealach, Solsbane…take your pick."

Varian swallowed. "Luna," he blurted.

Luna smirked. "The one your language is most familiar with," she mused as she lowered her hand.

"You're a Celestial," Varian said.

"That is the term by which mortals refer to us, yes."

Varian frowned, his hand tightening on his arrow. "I thought Celestials weren't supposed to have a physical form."

"Generally, we don't. But, considering how skeptical you are about matters outside the realm of what you call 'science', I assumed a form that would be less…well, would you prefer if I looked like this?"

The arrow in his grip clattered to the floor as Varian threw his arm over his eyes, shielding himself as the Celestial transformed into an orb of lunar light. The heat of it made his face flush, and waves of energy nearly knocked him off his feet. He felt Rudiger latch onto the back of his leg, the racoon hiding his masked face in the leather of his boot. Varian managed to brace himself, forcing his arm down as he squinted through the glare.

Then there was another flash, and the light in the chamber returned to its human form. Luna assumed her smirk once more as Varian's vision readjusted. "I thought not," she said with a note of unexpected warmth.

Varian tried to collect himself, his thoughts racing in his head too frantically for him to form a proper sentence. "So," he pinched the bridge of his nose. "So then…Are you the one who did this?" He held his hand out, and blue sparks fell from his fingertips.

Luna laughed; the sound was like a high, tinkling bell, bright and full of energy. "Is that not why you are here?" she exclaimed. Then she suddenly became sober, her white eyes brimming with moonlight. "The gift I have bestowed upon you is not something I 'did'. It is something I took careful thought of, something I have pondered across multiple lifetimes. In each life but this, I selected no champion. But in this life, it was absolutely necessary."

Varian paled. "What do you mean, 'each life'?"

Luna frowned, and she actually planted her hands on her hips. "It is so difficult to explain in human words." She sighed. "I am not mortal, but neither am I deity. I am a being that exists within a number of possibilities, and so I live within those possibilities in a number of different ways. It is how I was created, to serve my purpose in all realms of knowledge and purpose. I believe one Demanitus used the term, 'quantum causality', if that helps."

It did help, but not much. Quantum causality was a concept Varian had only briefly explored; the idea of it was beyond theory, branching into an area of speculation that no scientific practice could explain, at least not one he had heard of. "Okay," he exhaled. "So, in this lifetime, you're saying something's different. Something that made it necessary to give me this…gift."

Luna's eyes narrowed even further. "It is a gift, son of Quirin, one you must use if you are to put a stop to the machinations of the wicked one."

"Stop the – no!" Varian stammered. "No, no, no, I'm 'stopping' anything, and I'm nobody's champion. I just want to free my father!"

The Celestial's hands balled into white fists, knuckle bones peering eerily through her pale skin. "Freeing your father will be of little concern to you if the entire world is destroyed," Luna said in a commanding tone. Her voice reverberated through the chamber, echoing in Varian's ears. "Zhan Tiri must be wiped from the face of life. He is a spoil, an abomination upon the planet we Celestials would grace with our light. He thirsts for poison and shrouds his followers in the antithesis of joy. He would seek to destroy our will and claim his own. You must prevent this. I demand it!"

"But why me?!" Varian shouted.

Luna took a step forward, just one step. "You are special, son of Quirin. In every lifetime, only you have the mind and capacity of will to best serve as my harbinger. In any other lifetime, it simply would not be feasible for me to choose a vessel, a champion of my will. And so, you would remain untouched by my hand."

Varian still wasn't satisfied. "Why is it feasible in this lifetime?"

Luna raised her hand again, her slender fingers extending towards the plate at the top of the chamber. "Because of her."

"Her?" Varian's angry expression softened. "Shay."

The Lunar Celestial nodded slowly. "In every other timeline, that child is dead."

Varian's blood froze. "What? Dead, dead how?!"

"Killed by the man with the burning sword."

"Caius." The witch hunter, the one who swore he would never hurt his own flesh and blood. That day, when Varian had found the Crimson Caster's home. If he hadn't come, what would Shay have done that day? The day after? Would she have gone to Ghislaine, by herself, for the last time? Varian wiped a hand down his shocked face. "Because I wasn't there. Because I would still be in that cell."

"Just so." The ring of light around them flared as Luna's voice rose even more. "Your escape from that prison set in motion a chain of events that could never have happened in any lifetime but this. It is why you have my gift, the blessing of the Lunar Glory. With this blessing and that of the Coronan princess, you will be able to slay the demon Zhan Tiri and prevent him from poisoning the rest of the cosmos. But you cannot do it without Pleiades."

Varian's head hurt, blood pounding in his forehead as he kneaded his temple with the palm of his shaking hand. The princess…Rapunzel. "The Seven Sisters…But Xavier said Lyra commanded their power, not Shay."

"The Crimson Caster has been sealed away, cast into the deep by an unholy power the demon commands." Luna took another step and swept her hand upwards, illuminating an expanse of images on the chamber ceiling. Varian watched as symbols blazed across the limestone; he saw constellations intertwining with sunbeams and crescent rays of moonlight. "The Seven Sisters call upon multiple vessels," the Celestial explained. "With the child alive, Pleiades now has a medium through which to act as a mediator between the sun and the moon, between myself and Solaris. Without that tie, there is no way for my power for unite with his." The light seemed to dim in her eyes, and a forlorn expression ghosted across her perfect face. Then her gaze was firm once more, and her white eyes settled on Varian's flushed face. "We must have Pleiades. There is no other who can serve as the bond."

Rudiger whimpered; a high, keening sound that Varian barely heard through the roaring in his ears. "But I…I can't," he breathed. "The princess would never agree to it. Even if she did, she's halfway across the world!"

"You are my champion," Luna declared. "Distance is meaningless, your purpose assured. The Sun's vessel will submit."

"You don't understand," Varian pleaded. "She won't trust me. No one does!"

The Lunar Celestial strode forward, each step closing the distance between them. She towered over him, a beacon of unyielding authority. She paused, then reached with both hands and placed them carefully on his shoulders. Then she smiled.

"I trust you," she said.

Varian felt something well up inside him, something warm and bittersweet. It seemed to fill him from his toes to the crown of his head, flooding his heart like a dam had burst open. They stood there like that for what felt like hours, communicating something that Varian couldn't describe in words. He didn't ask why, didn't ask how. He bowed his head as he realized the feeling inside him was humility.

"What must I do?" he asked.

"You must obtain my tear." The Celestial took her hands away, leaving Varian feeling lighter on his feet. "The man Demanitus once called it the Moonstone."

The stone from his dream flashed through his mind again; Varian was certain it was the same.

"If Zhan Tiri gets ahold of what is now your right to possess, everything I once sought to protect will be decimated. You must retrieve my Moonstone. Only you can wield its power properly, without corruption or despair. My power is meant for rebirth, not destruction, to start again brighter than before. Do this, and your father will be spared the devastation of this planet, along with everyone else you now hold dear. If you don't…" Her smirk returned, her teeth stark white against her lips. "Well, I won't have a need to kill you myself because you'll already be dead."

Varian's brain felt like it was going to explode. "How do I find it?"

"Pleiades will show you the way. They are the pathfinders, the strand that will lead you through the dark."

"What about the Crimson Caster?"

Luna chuckled; this time, the sound was deep and ominous. "Defeating Zhan Tiri requires the power to destroy worlds, transform and renew them at your very will! I should think it goes without saying that once you've conquered Zhan Tiri, the one called Lyra will go free."

The words slipped out of Varian's mouth before he could stop them. "Are you sure?"

The Celestial bent down until her face was directly in front of his. "Am I sure?" she repeated the words slowly.

"Okay, fine, stupid question," Varian grumbled.

Luna stood up straight once more, a look of mirth twinkling in her depthless gaze. "I like you, son of Quirin. Know that as you travel, wherever the moonlight reaches you, there will I be also. You do not walk this path alone. You walk in the sunlight, where I cannot live. I will light your way in darkness when you cannot see. Together, we will succeed. I am with you, Varian of Corona. Fear my gift no more." She lifted her hand, and the plate overhead began to descend. As it did, sunlight spilled down into the chamber, and all other light disappeared. Varian saw one last smile on the Celestial's face before it faded into the shadows.

"Go, son of Quirin," her final words drifted to him. "Claim your destiny."