"It's absolutely wonderful, darling!" Natasha squealed as she watched the smoldering ruins of Rashelo quietly fall into the lake. She clapped her hands and kissed James on the cheek.
"It's all for you, my dear," James said with complete sincerity. "I'm glad it makes you so happy."
"Oh, it does! Thank you, Jamie! This is the best present ever!"
Several feet behind them, Mirror Stan snorted, though not loud enough to be heard. He was an exact mirror image of the real Stan, so his thought process was much the same. Right now, he was thinking that he would like to kill something, namely Natasha.
"And what about this…thing?" Natasha asked, turning toward Mirror Stan. She said "thing" as though she were looking at a particularly nasty pile of poo. Mirror Stan sneered in response.
"Its power is the same as Stan's," James answered. "It can do anything he can, but it's very servile. It will do whatever I tell it."
Natasha sneered back at Mirror Stan and turned toward James. "But what happens when we don't need it anymore?"
"Well, I kind of thought we'd keep it around for a while. It'll make a good servant."
"I'd rather just get rid of it. It annoys me."
James nodded. "If that's what you want, dear."
Natasha smiled. "I do. Oh, Jamie. I'm so happy!"
As they muttered sweet nothings to each other, Mirror Stan clenched his hands into fists. Get rid of me, will they? he thought. We'll see about that!
"And we're supposed to find what here?" Rosalyn asked as she gazed at the pile of charred timber and stone that had once been known as the Nameless Manor, or, more recently, Ari's house.
"You tell me. It was your idea." Ari carefully stepped across a few broken 2x4's and picked something out of the rubble.
"What's that?" Rosalyn asked.
"Remember that doll that was Marlene? I think it used to be part of her dress." He tossed the burned fabric aside and picked up a brick. "Yeah, it was. Here's her head."
"This is way too creepy," Rosalyn muttered as she picked her own way across the ruin.
"You won't find what you're looking for here," said a woman's voice. Both Ari and Rosalyn whirled about to see who had spoken.
"KT?" Ari asked, slightly unsure.
"I'm glad you remember me, Ari," the woman called KT said with a smile.
"What are you doing here?" Ari asked as he made his way over to her. Rosalyn wasn't entirely certain what was going on, but she followed anyway.
"Trying to help, although there isn't much I can do, I'm afraid." KT shrugged.
"What do you mean we won't find anything here?" Rosalyn asked.
"Just what I said. What you seek, an answer, cannot be found here, or anywhere else in this world."
"Then where do we go?"
"You can't go. Only Ari can go there."
"Why only me?" Ari asked, interrupting Rosalyn, who was about to ask the same thing.
"Because of the Shadow Evil King, Stan. He could have passed there, but he isn't here. He may already be there, unable to get back."
Rosalyn held up her free hand. "Wait a minute," she said. "Back up. First of all, what does Stan have to do with Ari being able to go there? And secondly, where is 'there'?"
KT took a breath to prepare herself for a long explanation. "Evil King Stan is a creature from the Diablerie, as you must know. He is descended from Shadow Kings there. That's why he's the Shadow Evil King here. His shadow power affects things, like turning your shadow pink."
"Does the entire world know about that?" Rosalyn muttered.
KT smiled slightly, but continued as though Rosalyn hadn't spoken. "It affected your shadow, too, Ari. Just not in the same way. He was there for so long, hiding, that a little of his power leeched into you. Not much," she said quickly as Ari opened his mouth. "Not enough to use, but enough to let you go into the Shadow Lands."
"Is that where Stan is?" Ari asked.
"I don't know," KT admitted. "But you'll find some answers there."
"What is the Shadow Lands?" Rosalyn asked.
"It's the part of the Diablerie that Stan came from."
Rosalyn gasped. "You mean Ari has go into the Diablerie without me to protect him!"
"A Hero will only perish there, and very quickly, I might add. Especially you, Hero Rosalyn."
"How do I get there?" Ari asked courageously.
"You are not going!" Rosalyn exclaimed. "Stan is not worth it."
"How?" Ari persisted, ignoring her.
Amidst protests from Rosalyn, KT explained. "Near where the World Library once stood, there is a Stone Circle. I'm sure you've seen it. Pollack broke it long ago to keep any other Evil Kings from coming into this world. If you can figure out how to fix it and activate it, you can go to the Diablerie."
"It didn't work very well, did it?" Rosalyn asked sarcastically.
KT shook her head. "But it did. For three hundred years, it worked. Those demons you recently fought were already here."
"How do we fix it?" Ari asked.
"That, I don't know. You should ask the woman who stands guard on Wap-Wap."
"But the Stone Circles don't work anymore."
"There is one near here. It'll work when you approach it. Now, I must go."
"Wait!" Rosalyn shouted. KT continued walking. "How do you know all these things?" No reply came back to her. KT was gone. Rosalyn ran after her, but shortly came back. "It's like she vanished into thin air," she said, mystified.
"I'm going to Traveler's Isle," Ari announced.
"Ari, you can't just go to the Diablerie! What will your parents say?"
"Considering these are the same people who were proud of me for becoming a slave to Evil King Stan? They'll be overjoyed."
"…Okay, point taken. But what about Marlene? Is Stan really more important to you than her?"
Ari sighed and looked at the ground. Then he looked back up; a fierce light had come into his eyes. "If it weren't for Stan, Beiloune would still run this world with Classification. I would be just another one of the Ignored, and living in Triste with everyone else that no one remembered. Marlene never would have been able to stop hiding from her father. You might not have a pink shadow, but you certainly wouldn't be the Great Hero. Just another faceless member of the Hero's Club, trying and failing to be remembered and loved, just like all the others. You know, Stan might an Evil King, but he's more of hero than anyone you could pull out of that club of yours, including you."
Rosalyn just looked at Ari for several long minutes, stunned into complete silence. She couldn't think of a single thing to say except, "You're right", but that couldn't be. Evil Kings couldn't be Heroes. Could they? To admit that Stan was a hero was painful enough, but to admit that he made a better one than she did was excruciating. Finally, much subdued, she said, "So when are you leaving?"
"Now." He turned to go, but thought of something and turned. "Tell Marlene…and everyone that I'll be back soon and not to worry."
Rosalyn nodded, then did the hardest thing she'd ever done in her life: she watched Ari walk away.
No one knew who had made the Stone Circles. They were just there, and always had been. Anyone who knew how to use them could be teleported to a place called Wap-Wap, or Traveler's Isle, where they could go wherever there was another Stone Circle in the blink of an eye. Anyone using the Stone Circles could go from the Highlands to Tenel in a matter of minutes, and most of that was just walking time.
Ari and his friends had been able to use them to go back and forth from place to place while they had been fighting Beiloune, but after the battle was over, the Circles had gone dormant. Until now, that is.
As Ari got closer to Tenel's Stone Circle, located right next to the circus tent, he saw a green flash of light. KT had been right; the Circle was working again.
He found Wap-Wap unchanged. It still appeared to be located atop some foreign cliff. The blue sky all around was the same one he knew from home, and he wondered, not for the first, if this wasn't just some part of his world that he had never seen. He couldn't have, of course; even if Wap-Wap was part of his world, it was surrounded by the blue ocean.
Nearby, a woman stood gazing out across the endless sea. She didn't turn as Ari approached, but he didn't expect her to. She was a very mysterious person; she spoke as little as possible in complete monotone and seldom faced her listeners.
"Do you know how to fix the Stone Circle by the World Library?" Ari asked.
"I do, yes, but you must have a very good reason."
"I have to go to the Diablerie."
The woman said nothing for a long time. Finally, however, she sighed. "The door to the Diablerie can be opened by replacing the center stone. But it cannot remain that way."
"So after I fix it, I have to break it again?"
"There is nothing keeping the demons away otherwise. The Master is powerless to hold them at bay now."
"How do I replace the center stone?"
"You can't. Only a person with a pure heart can repair it, and only someone with a black heart can break it. When you find them, take that stone." She pointed at the stone that linked to Tenel.
"Thank you," Ari said. The woman didn't reply, but continued to gaze out into the distance.
Rosalyn was just passing the circus tents when Ari shouted. She turned a bit too quickly and fell.
"Are you okay?" Ari said as he reached her. He held out a hand to help her up.
"Yeah, just clumsy," Rosalyn chuckled. "What's wrong?"
"I need your help after all." Quickly, Ari related what the woman had told him. When he had finished, Rosalyn said, "So who do we know who's got a pure heart?"
Ari grinned. "What purer heart than a Hero's?"
Rosalyn chuckled. "Me? If you say so. I guess that means Stan has to destroy it, then."
"That's what I was thinking. If you'll help me move the stone, and then guard the Circle for me…"
"Not another word!" Rosalyn held up her fist. "As a Hero, I give you my solemn oath. You can count on me!"
Carrying Tenel's stone across Wap-Wap was a laborious process until Rosalyn figured out that she could her Great Hero power to move it with one hand. After that, everything went very smoothly. Ari hauled the broken stone away, and Rosalyn maneuvered the new one into place. Once she had moved away, it began flashing black.
"I'll be right here," Rosalyn said. "You'd better come back."
"Don't worry," Ari said with a touch more bravery than he actually felt. He grinned. "You can't get rid of me that easily." Then he stepped into the light and vanished.
"I pray you're right, Ari," Rosalyn whispered. A lonesome birdcall was her only answer.