Chapter 16 – The Conference

Somewhere in an unspecified location… stood a fortress comprised of nothing but power and malevolence. Rocky landscapes, purple crystals and sticky puddles of Grimm surrounded it and the sky was intoxicated with a sickly blood red colour that stung your eyes.

One room inside this domain was oval, with tall, framed windows all around. A set of purple crystals stood at the base of square pillars that divided each window, with a melting wax candle on top of each.
At the back end of the room was an altar with candles standing all the way across it.
A conference table made of pure purple crystal stood at the centre, with six chairs made of unrefined tree stumps and tree bark as backrests on each side. At the head of the table, nearest the altar was a seat, also made of purple crystal.

Emerald and Mercury stood staring out of one of the windows on the right side. They both had broken noses and Mercury was hopping about on a set of crutches.
Cinder was also there, sitting on the right chair closest to the door. She had cut her black hair short and now wore a new long, red, sleeveless dress. The ninja had ruined her old one, and she had been looking for a new style anyway.
She looked distressed. A plethora of negative emotions were orbiting around her. Had it not been for the fact that she was inside the fortress, she could have been a free meal for the Grimm. The injuries she had received from the ninja had exposed her loathing of everything that did not go her way.

Three other people were also seated in the conference room.
The man sat opposite of Cinder was called Dr. Arthur Watts. He was a former Atlesian scientist, with an esoteric understanding of computers and technology. He had short grey hair, with a bushy moustache and always wore a suit to go along with his pompous demeanour.

Two seats away from Watts was a beefy and exceptionally tall man called Hazel Rainart. He had short brown hair, wore an olive-green overcoat, held up by a large belt, and a black top underneath. At the table, he had his arms crossed and was looking down, not making eye contact with anyone else.

Opposite him was a Faunus called Tyrian Callows, with a brown ponytail, a dark brown, leather jacket and white trousers. He had a long scorpion tail as well, which he kept wrapped around him like a belt. He was squatting on the table instead of sitting and had a hyperactive look in his eyes, which didn't belie his stability.

Cinder snapped her fingers to signal that Emerald and Mercury were to come and stand beside her. Emerald shoved Mercury out of the way to try and make space for her to stand between him and Cinder.
'Yes, yes, please keep your… posse… in check.' Watts remarked at their puerile behaviour.
Mercury growled, clenched his fits and leaned over to retort, but Emerald held him back.
'Good children,' he said condescendingly. 'Your attitude should be kept in line when you consider how you were bested humiliatingly by a Huntsman.'

The large wooden doors at the front of the room rattled as someone pushed it from the other side. Everyone in the room immediate stood up as someone stepped in.
It was a lady (well… sort of. She was barely meeting the criteria of being a proper human at this point), with deathly white skin, red irises, a long black robe and a white bun on her back with six offshoots. Her robes concealed her feet, so it begged the question as she moved whether or not she had any feet at all. Her footsteps were impossible to hear, as if she seemed to glide across the floor rather than take any actual steps.
She carried an innate, peremptory air with her that demanded obedience from others by simply being in her presence. She made her way behind the left side of the table and stopped by the altar. 'Watts…' she said. Watts turned to her. 'Is it your place to chastise others?' She raised and then lowered her hand to signal that they were all to sit down.

'I apologise, ma'am. I'm not particularly fond of failure.'
Salem took her place at the head of the table. 'I see your reason for intolerance for defeat. I share it too, but it is I that will appropriately reprimand young Cinder and her cronies for their lock of success at Beacon.' she said firmly.
Dr. Watts had something on the tip of his tongue but decided not to speak his objections. 'Of course, ma'am.' He replied subserviently.

Salem returned her attention to Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. 'So, I've heard the stories of your siege at Beacon. If what I know is already correct, then I am right in saying that you three have disappointed me immensely.'
The three of them said nothing.
'What point should I address first? Your failure to get the robot killed, find either the Relic or the Fall Maiden; your lack of control over the Grimm; or the number of casualties on our side compared to our enemies?'
Still, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury remained silent.

'It was not a rhetorical question, I'll have you know.' said Salem, raising her volume slightly. 'Which part of your incompetence will I talk to you about?'

'If it were my doing, I would go from least concerning to the biggest problem of them all.' said Watts.
'In that case, let's begin with the Grimm and how you failed to manipulate them properly.'

A sound came from the window behind the altar. It was very brief and sounded like a fairy scattering dust in its wake. Salem turned to it but shook her head and dismissed the noise because she could no longer hear it.
'Now then, I want to discuss the Grimm and how this impacted the life of the robot girl.' said Salem sternly. She put both of her hands down onto the table. 'The original plan, as you all know, was to let Pyrrha Nikos kill the robot, with the assistance of Dr. Watts providing us with the means to hack our way into Beacon and Atlesian computers. Pyrrha and the robot were paired against each other. Emerald makes Pyrrha suffer an illusion that the robot is very dangerous and will accidently kill her by extreme force - magnetism beats metal of course - Cinder makes the broadcast to instil as much calamity as possible into the people; and the rest carries on from there. Can any of the three of you therefore give me a sufficient reason or excuse why the Nevermores began attacking the colosseum before these things happened? What went wrong and did not everything go according to plan?'

Cinder's mouth was dry. Her theory of something or someone leading the Grimm to Beacon prematurely was merely speculation and a completely unproven theory. Nevertheless, she attempted to use it as her shield and whispered into Emerald's ear so that she could voice Cinder's thoughts.
'My lady, Cinder says that Grimm are attracted to negative feelings, and the Grimm that attacked Beacon were from Mountain Glenn. Right up until the point of their attack on the stadium, before the robot girl was supposed to die, nothing that we could see had changed in the area. We believe therefore that someone or something must have lured them to the stadium earlier than they should have.'

Salem rolled this idea in her head. 'That would require either a ludicrous amount of negative emotions or something that actively went out of its way to get the Grimm's attention. If you cannot prove something as preposterous as this, then do not use such transparent justification.'

'But ma'am, what else could explain the Grimm's behaviour? We did nothing to provoke it.'

'I ask questions. You answer questions.' Salem snapped. 'Even if your speculation is true, you should have seen the provoker coming. How could you possibly fail to spot something that could catch the attention of multiple Nevermores all the way from Mount Glenn?'

'We were standing in the city and not really near the colosseum.' said Mercury. It was the closest we could get to it without actually being in the stadium.'

'This does not nullify you losing control over the Grimm though. As a result, the streets were cleared of Grimm faster than they should have been, and even the Grimm Dragon was slain. What do you have to say for yourselves about that?'

'I cannot adequately explain why the Grimm went rogue my lady, but perhaps it was the beast that slayed the Dragon which caused the unnatural disturbance of the Grimm.' said Emerald. 'It was full of anger and hatred. It called itself the "World-Ender"'.

'Except for the fact that it arrived after the Dragon began its attack on Beacon and certainly well after the Nevermores assaulted the colosseum. Your premises aren't bad, but your deductive reasoning and logic are flawed, child.' said Salem harshly.

'Yes ma'am.' Emerald replied miserably.

'Speaking of the Grimm Dragon, its death is a rather large setback.' Watts interjected.

'It was killed by something completely out of our control.' said Mercury.

'We couldn't have expected something like that appearing at just that moment. Not even two dozen trained Huntsmen and Huntresses could even scathe it. How were we to stop it from killing the Dragon?' agreed Emerald.

'Perhaps you could not defeat it, but you could have made a better effort at protecting the Dragon. Did it not cross your minds to get more actively involved in the battle, rather than stand on a rooftop at a sniper's range?' Salem asked.

Cinder leaned over to Emerald and whispered into her ear once again. 'We decided it would be better to wait and see what the beast did. Since it was so occupied with the kids, Huntsmen and Huntresses, we hoped it might kill them for us.'

'And it didn't…' said Salem.

'But, look at the bright side, my lady, it destroyed the Beacon Tower for us.' said Emerald, trying to sound as positive as possible.

'You should not receive credit for results and outcomes that were brought about unintentionally.' said Watts. 'This does not make up for the rest of your faults.'

'Watts, I said that I would be the one to berate these kids.' said Salem forcefully.

'Of course, ma'am. I just thought that that point had to be made.'

'I do agree with Watts.' said Salem, turning back to Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. 'The World-Ender did the job that you and the Dragon were supposed to do for you, therefore I obviously cannot praise you for this, especially when so much more went wrong.'

'Yes my lady.' Emerald agreed dejectedly.

'Repeat the name you heard it say.' Salem ordered.

'It sounded something like "Aytrox".' said Mercury. 'I don't know how you spell it, but that's just what I heard. To be honest, I couldn't hear it properly.'

'And describe what it looked like and what it did.'

'It was massive…' said Mercury onimously. 'with armour all over its body, big wings, glowing red eyes, a pumping heart and a giant sword with a beating heart of its own.'

'How big are we talking about? Be more specific…' Hazel muttered. His voice was deep and growling.

'Like, huuuge. Bigger than everyone in this room put together, At least two storeys high with enough power to chop down entire, large buildings, like it did with the tower. Trust me Hazel, not even you could take it on.'

'And what makes you so sure about that?' he glared.

'Because it made short work of everyone it encountered. Like Emerald said. Not a single shot from more than twenty weapons even remotely hurt it. Even Ozpin and his colleagues could do nothing to it. It did get distracted momentarily by a man with a spear, but otherwise he was pretty much indestructible.'

Salem placed her chin in her palm. If Ozpin had not been able to take it on, then it was not out of the question that she would struggle to face it. Although maybe she wouldn't need to. 'Is there anything else worth knowing about this humongous sword wielder?' she asked.

'Its voice was deafening.' said Emerald. 'Every single one of its shouts made me want to pull my ears out. It was not just a bark though. Aytrox's bite absolutely hurt. Please pardon my rudeness, my lady, but even you could falter at its feet if you misplayed a fight with it.'

She couldn't know for sure what Aytrox was capable of. If it was true to its title of 'World-Ender', then it could possess power that Salem herself would be envious of, or a key to her final end goal. There was no telling how she would fare against him without actually engaging in a battle. Salem was powerful, very powerful as a matter of fact, but the idea of a demonic beast being able to destroy everything in its path and defeat entire armies certainly could give her a run for her money. She had not felt this way since facing Ozpin in his prime.

'Oh, that sounds like a guy that is more than worthy of a sting!' said Tyrian, speaking for the first time. He had been resisting the urge to speak but had to let out his thoughts. 'I would go and find this Aytrox and bring him to his knees!'

'Except for the fact that you probably couldn't. And even if you were capable, he's currently frozen outside of Beacon.' said Emerald, who always felt uneasy by his psychotic behaviour.
'He's frozen? What are you talking about?'

Cinder whispered into Emerald's ear yet again. 'We didn't see and don't know exactly what happened, ma'am. Something fell out of the sky and it just froze Aytros and the rest of the school. We can't explain what caused it or how it happened.'

'Are you familiar at all with this phenomenon, my Lady?' Watts asked.

'Not at all…' Salem replied. 'But I am not concerned with how it happened right now. The Relic should still be there, along with the Fall Maiden. Cinder, was it not you who suggested that they would be located underground?'

'Y…y-yes…' she managed to mutter.

'There's a slight problem though…' said Emerald.

'Speak, girl.' Salem permitted.

'The, umm… golden star covered the whole ground surrounding Beacon in solid gold.'

'And this is a problem because…?'

'I mean, we don't know what the stuff is made of, we might struggle to force our way past the coating without destroying too much stuff in the process. If we accidently caved in or destroy either the Fall Maiden or the Relic, then that puts a damper on our plans. We don't even know if the gold is harmful to us.'

'Young Emerald, you don't know until you've tried. A layer of solid gold is not going to get in my way.'

'But keep in mind that Aytrox is there too. It might be best not to awaken him, based on what we know at present.' Watts added.

Salem stood up and went to the altar. She picked up a candle, brought it to the table and placed it down few metres away from her. The blood red sky was darkening. 'Where did Ozpin and his friends go after the fight ended?' she asked.

'Honestly, I have no idea.' Emerald replied. 'We awoke after being knocked out and they weren't at Beacon. The battle was over and that's when we saw the school and Aytrox covered in gold.'

Salem sighed. 'Nevermind.' she said, her patience thinning. Before she could continue, she heard the same sound again. As with last time, it was for a fleeting moment and was very subtle, but distinct as well. She wanted to ask if anyone else had heard it, but decided it wasn't important enough. 'Before we finally move on to the obvious goliath in the room, I want you three to tell me how you were defeated in the first place. Stand up you three. Why is it the case that Mercury is on crutches? And why is it that your nose is broken, Emerald?'

They did and swallowed their breath, knowing they were going to get heavily scolded, and humiliated a second time.

'Judging by your injuries and what I heard from the feedback I got from Dr. Watts in passing, I'd say you didn't just lose, but you were utterly trounced. Is that true?'

'Yes…' said Emerald as innocently as possible.

Salem slammed her hands down on the table and stood up as well. 'You are three highly skilled and formidable combatants! One of you even has power that transcends most Huntsmen and Huntresses and their Semblances! You were able to defeat a Season Maiden as a team. Who defeated you?! Explain yourselves!'

The three conversed quietly together, planning what to say to their mistress.

'Oh, and I want to hear Cinder tell me what happened.' said Salem adamantly. 'She is an adult and can speak for herself.'

Cinder took a deep breath and cleared her throat before talking. It hurt her throat to simply make a sound. 'Emerald and Mercury beat Pyrrha Nikos, quite handily for that matter, and they held her out so that I could shoot her with the fatal arrow…' as she spoke, her breath became heavy. 'But then… a shield consumed her, and it deflected the arrow straight into my shoulder. Then this ninja appeared. He had this floating energy-like sword with him, and he told Pyrrha to stand next to it. I can't properly tell you what happened next though. He flew towards me in the blink of an eye and seemed to go through my very body. At that point, I sort of lost control of my actions and began swinging my swords at him uncontrollably. After that… it all happened so quickly… he slammed one sword through my shoulder, somehow got me on my knees, and stabbed me in the leg once before I lost all consciousness…'

The words had barely been audible over Cinder's raspy voice and the eerie moan across the domain, but Salem still caught every one of them. 'And what about you two?' she said, addressing Emerald and Mercury. 'I was hoping to hear more from Cinder, but it seems that you two fell after she did. Spit it out to me then.'

Emerald spoke first, with a stone in her throat. 'As… the ninja beat up Cinder, Mercury and I continuously shot Pyrrha, but for some reason our weapons did nothing to her. Once Cinder was down, the ninja turned his attention to us. I swear, he moved faster than light. I felt my weapon being wrenched from my arms and that was the last thing I remember before having the lights snuffed out of me.'

'Just one punch to your nose and you dropped?' Salem nagged. 'Cinder underwent multiple strikes before losing. You on the other hand only received one on the nose and that was enough to put you to rest? Is that what I'm hearing?'

'Yes ma'am…' said Emerald quietly.

She scowled, trying not to lose her temper. 'And what about you?' she said to Mercury.

'Umm…' he murmured.

'Surely you must has some sort of recollection of what happened?!'

'Yeah, yeah I do. I'm just… trying to word it right…' he responded, scratching his head. 'He used Emerald's weapon to grab one of my boots from off the ground and pull me closer to him. He then used one his swords on my ankles put couldn't cut through the mechanical parts.' He hesitated to speak once again.

'And what happened after that?' Salem demanded impatiently.

'I didn't see how he did it, but he made his sword all glowy and it seemed to strengthen its striking power. He cut his way through the metal and did some serious damage to the inside.' Mercury paused, chewing on his own frustration. 'When he was done doing that, he pulled me even closer and just punched me extremely hard in the face. At that point I just lost all vision and awareness of myself.'

'Presumably you were punched in the nose as well, judging by your plaster on it.'

Mercury gently stroked the plaster. 'Yeah…'

'Sit down.' Salem said imperiously. The three of them took their places. 'You three disappoint me! You're a disgrace!' she said, on the verge of exploding, but she only just about kept her composure. 'Are you three effectively saying that you lost because he caught you off guard? Did he really move so fast that you had no time to defend yourselves?'

'I guess that's the best way you could explain it.' said Mercury, feigning a smile.

'I find this really hard to believe.' Salem responded and sat down. 'In all your years of fighting experience, you've dealt with foes who have had the element of surprise and moved faster than the eye can see and in virtually every occasion you have come out on top too. That's how you three have gotten to where you are now: by playing dirty and expecting the unexpected. This guy didn't even get the jump on you, and you still failed to react in time?' she fumed.

'What did this fellow look like?' Watts asked. 'Was he wearing anything that might suggest where he came from?'

Cinder, Emerald and Mercury pondered the question. 'He was wearing almost all blue.' said Emerald.

'And he had a mask on, so we couldn't see who he was.' Mercury added.

'Something unusual about him however was how his body seemed very otherworldly.' said Cinder.

'Elaborate on what you mean by that.' Watts persisted.

'Only a bit of his body was actually visible and not covered by garments, most notably his arms. They seemed to be fading in and out of reality.' Cinder tried to explain.

'And he had that giant floating sword next to him as well.' Emerald pointed out.

'That might have been a part of his Semblance.' Mercury hypothesised.
'I doubt it.' said Salem. 'The way you describe him means it's too unusual to be a mere Semblance. Admittedly in sounds like something more substantial than a Semblance.'
She stood up once again and went to the altar to bring another candle back to the table. This time she placed it at the other end, near Cinder and Watts before sitting back in her seat. 'We've only mentioned this topic briefly, but we can't ignore the sudden appearance of a second moon in the sky and the fact that the cycle of day and night have appeared to become longer.'

'Is there anything in particular you want to talk about regarding this issue?' Hazel asked.

'It's a general concern. We should discuss what we think has happened, by what means, how and for what reason.' Watts suggested. 'There may be some science behind it that we can identify.'

The sparkling noise could be heard for a third time. On this occasion it sounded like it came more from the direction where Cinder, Emerald and Mercury sat, although it still sounded like it was from the outside. Salem growled and leaned over the table to see if she could figure out what was making the irritation.

'What are you looking at, ma'am?' Watts asked.

'Do you hear that sound?' Salem asked frustrated.

'Forgive my uncouthness ma'am, but there are a lot of funny sounds around here.'

'It's a glittery sound. I've heard it three times now.'

'Perhaps your senses are a bit more tuned than ours.' Watts commented. 'You are the Queen of evil after all.'

'Oh, you're not crazy my lady, I heard it too.' said Tyrian deliriously. 'Well, I'm crazy, but both you and I see and hear alike.'

'Ugh… forget it. If I hear it again, I'll indicate in the direction it comes from. Back to the issue at hand.'

'Knowing you, my lady, I would've thought that you of all people might have caused, or at least could explain how, such an event came to be.' said Tyrian sycophantically.

'I wouldn't start an open debate if I had the answers already.' said Salem.

'Oh, no, that is obvious, but I am merely stating that this is all probably within your grasp and understanding.'

'Your flattery is certainly welcome Tyrian, but even I am not infallible. You will rarely ever here me criticise myself, but I shall do so now. It is not within my ability to make an entire moon just come out of nowhere or change how light and dark weave in and out of each other. However, I do have a theory.'

'What is your theory on?' asked Hazel.

'The seemingly impossible has not always been actually impossible.' Everyone else in the room gave her a perplexed look. 'I've existed for a very long time and I have seen Remnant go through some crazy phases where the very laws of nature have been broken. A sceptic is likely to believe that magic doesn't exist, but the supernatural is super for a reason and beyond most of mankind's belief and comprehension.'

'Where are you going with this?' Hazel said drearily.

'Let me finish.' said Salem. 'When there is such thing as the supernatural, it is not enough to depend on science and our understanding of the universe via observation and evidence alone. If even an ounce of occult activity can exist, then who's to say where the limits of reality lie? I am powerful; that's a fact. But the universe is infinite and ever-expanding. The probability of there being other planets and worlds out there with their own intelligent life forms is exceptionally high, based on the ratio of the universe's size compared to the number of solar systems and planets within them. And with planets like our own, there is potential for beings of immense power like myself to exist as well. There could very well be a divine or supernatural hand that has hung a new moon in the sky and decelerated the speed of Remnant's rotation on its axis.' And she knew from first-hand experience that this was more than possible.

'It is an interesting theory ma'am, but do you think it is a likely one?' asked Watts. 'As you say, we are dealing with the supernatural after all: the unexplainable and transgression of physics and nature. Anything could be plausible.'

'On its own, my idea holds little concrete outside of it being a mere possibility that is hard to verify when other explanations also have to be falsified. What gives it more weight however is the sudden appearance of this ninja who possesses otherworldly spiritualism based on Cinder's description of him, as well as the "World-Ender: Aytrox". It would help if I saw them with my own eyes to confirm this, but I'm almost certain they aren't from Remnant.'

'In other words, you're saying they're from another world?'

'If it was just the ninja, I wouldn't use him as a basis for my hypothesis, since young Black is right in saying that his display could have been linked to his Semblance, but Aytrox is not something you would find on this planet. He would be from somewhere else.' she smiled.

'Does this… please you ma'am?' Watts asked, noticing her smile.

'No, not necessarily. But it fascinates me.'

'Well, let's go back to your theory ma'am. If we assume that some potent being has created a new moon and has also reduced the speed of Remnant's rotation, then what do we do from here?'

'Before that, I must confess that I have withheld something. It's an inner feeling: a sensation if you like.'

'What kind?' Emerald asked.

'It's a feeling of Remnant shaking violently. It happened only five days ago and the queasiness it made me feel was unprecedented.'

'If I may ma'am, I would like to add that seismic activity has been reported off the coasts of Western Sanus and Eastern Anima. The earthquakes were especially violent out at sea, however not as much damage was dealt in the Kingdoms themselves. It didn't correlate as science or geography would have suggested. But perhaps this is what you and your sixth sense felt.'

'Yes, maybe. But anyway, as I was saying, we need to possess an awareness of what is going on and what's happened as we prepare a siege of the ruins of Beacon. The Fall Maiden and the relic are still ours to collect. So long as we avoid Aytrox and Ozpin's gang, then it'll be onto Spring and Haven next. But for no-'

For a fourth time, the sparkling sound was omitted. This time it came from outside the two massive wooden doors. Salem stood up and thumped the table with her right fist. 'Did you hear it?' she said loudly. 'It came from outside there.' she pointed.

After she stopped shouting, a childish giggle sounded from outside the doors as well.

'Hazel, go and see what is causing that irritating noise.' Salem ordered venomously.

'Yes, ma'am. Hazel stood up and stepped to the wooden doors and pushed both of them open.

The hallway it led to was dark and lit only by a few gloomy candles. Hazel squinted across the dark corridor. He could see nothing.

'Psst, up here!' whispered a voice.

Hazel looked up and immediately jumped back in shock as he saw a little girl with long, flowing, glittery hair, a blue top, scarf, shorts and socks floating above the doorway. Her face was beaming with excitement and curiosity. 'Hi!' she said.

The girl floated down and strutted into the room without a care in the world. It took Hazel a moment to recover from his stupefied surprise. 'Now hold on there, little girl!' he bellowed. 'Where do you think you're going?!'

She turned around and stuck her tongue out at him.

'Why you LITTLE!' he dove for the intruder, but the brat cartwheeled out of the way and Hazel landed flat on his front by the conference table. He snarled as he pulled himself up in a rage.

Tyrian leaped off of his seat, set his wild eyes on the intruder and sprang like a cat.

Out of nowhere, she created a mini portal that caught Tyrian in his trajectory. He dived straight through it and emerged above the table, landing on it frontwards with the candles underneath him. He screeched as the flames burned his chest and he leaped up and danced around the room in pain. The girl laughed. 'Is this the best physical representation you can manifest?! It completely lacks zazz!'

Salem watched her courtroom turn into a circus in horror. 'ENOUGH!' she screamed. She summoned a ball of dark energy and sent it towards the girl.
In response, she jumped upwards to avoid it and volleyballed a large bubble towards Salem before she landed back on the ground. 'Catch!' The bubble hit Salem and popped.

'I demand to know who you a-' Salem fell asleep after two seconds.

'There are so many weirdos here… it's awesome!' Zoe commented. 'I don't like that old hag though, she's ugly!'

Watts, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury remained seated, afraid that any movement they made would provoke the child. The nuisance faced all of them in turn. 'Oh, hey there! My name's Zoe! Do you wanna play?!' They all remained silent. 'Could we play a game, pleeease?! Grownups can play too you know!'

Eventually Watts spoke. 'Who are you?' he said as calmly as he could.

'I already told you, my name's Zoe! What's your name?!'

'My name is no concern of yours.'

'Please tell me! I'll give you a chocolate mooncake!'

Watts turned his head from Zoe, to Hazel, to Tyrian, to Salem and then back to Zoe. 'I don't mean to be churlish, girl, but I suppose that you yourself have been exceptionally so already, so I'll ask you more forcefully: how did you get in here? Who are you? And tell me more than just your name.'

'Grownups are so stubborn...' Zoe whinged. 'I'm just a girl who likes playing with people and realities!'

'No one knows where this place is. How is it that a girl like yourself could waltz in here? Answer my question, you brat!'

'You're mean, old man! Portals!'

'Excuse me?'

'Portals! Look!' A portal opened next to Zoe's left side. She reached inside and pulled out a vanilla ice-cream cone. 'Here you go!' she said and lobbed it at Watts. It landed squarely on his head upside down and splatted over his neatly combed hair. Watts stood up, swiped the cone off of his head and clenched his fists. 'Oops, sorry!' said Zoe. 'I assumed you would catch it. I guess old people aren't very good at playing ball games… That's a shame.' She turned her attention to Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. 'You guys look younger than that moustached moron. Do you wanna play cosmic table tennis?!' she tossed a sparkling ball up and down in her hand. The three of them couldn't muster and sort of coherent sentence. 'You can talk right?!' Zoe asked. She looked at Emerald and Mercury more attentively. 'Oh, are you two boyfriend and girlfriend?! How did you two get together?! You must tell me!'

Emerald and Mercury chuckled nervously. 'Umm, look…' Emerald stammered. 'I don't know what you want from us, but we're not here to play. We were in a serious meeting until you came.'

'A meeting?! That's boring! Why don't you at least have some food to munch on?!'

'Listen kid.' said Hazel. 'I can see you're a slippery, little devil. So I'm instead going to ask you to skedaddle. If you don't, I swear on my life I won't miss the next time and I'll snap your neck.'

'All words and no action!' Zoe retorted. 'Besides, I can help you! I've been listening to everything you've been saying from outside!'

Salem awoke in a daze. She shook her head and recovered her senses.

Zoe was walking across the table as though it were a tightrope. She saw that Salem was awake. 'Hi there you ugly old hag! My name is Zoe! What's yours?!'

Salem couldn't believe her ears. This little miscreant had just walked into her domain with no regard for breaching another person's property and now she was throwing around insults. 'The NERVE of this little girl!' she thought, but knew that there was something very unique about her. She might as well not attack and just go along with her game for now. But the girl still had to know her place. 'You are lucky that I haven't vaporised you yet.' Salem threatened. In truth she had no idea how formidable Zoe was, however she thought that perhaps intimidating her would be a way to get her under control. 'You have no idea what I'm capable of, and my powers are far beyond your comprehension. If it wasn't for the fact that I find your childishness mildly amusing and that I want to know how you got here, you'd be dead before you could even blink.'

Zoe yawned disrespectfully. 'Blah blah blah, empty threat from a generic witch. I've seen it all in other worlds already.' said Zoe. 'I'm Zoe, and now that I've introduced myself to you all, you have the obligation to introduce me to everyone here. After that, I can help you with your "otherworldly" dilemma!'

Salem squinted at Zoe suspiciously. There was no way they could take someone this immature seriously. What could she possibly know about what would be of any use to them with regards to Remnant and the new moon. But then again, if she had the audacity, and the capability, to walk into her layer without a care in the world, then it might be worth hearing her out. 'Fine. My name is Salem. Everyone, please say your name to satisfy our self-entitled guest's needs.'

Everyone said there name – even Tyrian wrangled enough sense to stop and say his name clearly. 'Great!' said Zoe happily. 'So, I eavesdropped on your little conference. I'm not sorry about that by the way, since I have the answers you want.'

'My first question in that case is: were you the one who made that glittery noise while we were all talking?'

'Yeah, it was! Sparkles! I love sparkles!'

'So you claim to be able to answer our massive questions. If you were listening to us, then tell me what has happened. Why is there a second moon in the sky? How is it that the planet's rotation has slowed down? And most importantly of all, where did you come from?'

'Oh, so many questions! I don't wanna spill the beans on too many of them though. If you guess where I'm from, then you can probably tell what has happened to your planet.'

That was a giveaway. "Your planet." she to herself. 'You're from another world, aren't you?'

'Bingo! You're right on target! Answer more questions right and I really will give you some chocolate mooncakes!'

'If you're from different world, then it was someone from your world who put a moon next above our planet.'

'Hmm… you're partially right! Keep going, you can do it!'

'Let me make a guess.' Watts interrupted. 'Do you live on that moon and did someone move it next to our planet?'

'No, not really. The mooncakes have nothing to do with the moon, and I don't live on it, that's for sure!'

'Okay… in that case, you live on a planet somewhere far away and for some reason someone decided to move your moon next to our one?'

'You're still a bit off! I'll give you a hint though: think about the earthquakes you just mentioned.'

Watts pondered the thought. It seemed so unreal, but he made a random shot in the dark and guessed the ludicrous. As he had said himself, they were dealing with the supernatural. 'Has your world… merged with ours?'

'Another strike!' said Zoe energetically. 'That's correct! And guess who did it!'

Everyone looked around the room. The same inconceivable thought was flowing through all of them like a rushing river.

'You're not seriously telling us that…' Hazel began.

'Mm-hmm, go on!' Zoe encouraged.

'You did this..?'
'Boom! There you go! You got there eventually! All of you get chocolate mooncakes!' She reached into her hair and pulled one out. 'Umm… except that I might only have one chocolate one left… Would strawberry be okay though?'

'I don't care about your cakes!' said Salem bitterly. 'If you claim to have merged your world with ours, then do you care to tell us why you did it?'
'You may not care, but does everyone else want a cake?!' Zoe said to the rest of the room.

'Sure, I could go for a cake.' said Mercury insouciantly. 'Toss one over here.'

'That's the spirit!' said Zoe as she reached into her hair, pulled out a strawberry bun and tossed it Mercury. He caught it and bit into it. 'Hmm, tastes pretty good.' he said with his mouth full. 'You guys should try one.'

'Before you serve dessert to everyone here, tell me why you have been so reckless to merge two planets together.' said Salem. There was ice in her tone.

'I was just bored, so I found your planet and felt like merging it mine to see what would happen! My planet's called Runeterra, just to let you know.'

'Hmmm…' Salem murmured. How could a girl like this be so powerful?

'So this is what's apparently caused the earthquakes and the reason why the clocks have slowed down…' said Watts. 'How have the seas and gravity not been heavily affected by this then? How do we know you're not fibbing?'

'Old man, I make the rules! I don't follow them! Every reality is finite and waiting to be replaced by something different! I love playing with realities and making my own out of them.'

'This is complete nonsense…' Watts muttered. 'I'm sorry ma'am.' he said to Salem. 'I'm not buying this. We can't listen to a child who has probably been granted power that doesn't belong to her and take her unverified word as truth. Even if the planet merging aspect of the story is true, it must have been done by something far exceeding her.

'Suit yourself old man! I'm just telling you the truth! It's up to you whether or not you want to believe it!'

Everyone sat in stunned silence. Even Tyrian was unflinching.

'Welp, I'm off now! It was great to meet you all! Uhh, except the big ape and the scorpion, you two attacked me. I'm think I won't leave you two any cakes, but the rest of you get one!'

Hazel gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, whilst Tyrian shook with anticipation. He had wanted to sink his teeth and stinger into the this girl the moment he had laid eyes on her.

'I might come back and visit, but for now I have so many places to explore and a boyfriend to go and visit! Well, he's not really my boyfriend yet, but I just know he'll say yes!'

'He's a fool to say yes to her.' Mercury whispered to Emerald.

'I heard that!' Zoe yelled and turned to both of them. 'Don't be so mean just because you're a cute couple!'

'We're not a couple, just for your information.' said Emerald indignantly. 'We'll all just allies here and nothing more.'

'Hmm, well anyway, here's some cakes for everyone!' Zoe said as she pulled even more out of her hair and placed them on the table. She leaped off of it and landed by the wooden doors. 'Bye, bye for now! Promise me we'll play games later!'

'Hold up, you are not going anywhere!' said Salem, who stood up and moved towards Zoe with her arms open. 'I can't trust you leaving with full information of who we are!'

'Don't worry Salem, I don't know anyone else on your planet, so I have no reason to tell everyone about you! I'm really good at keeping secrets! I promise!'
She skipped around the table towards the altar, scat singing to herself.

'Tyrian, grab her!' Salem ordered.

In an instant, Tyrian launched himself off of his chair towards Zoe with his tongue out of his mouth. But just like the first attempt, Zoe moved out of the way and created a portal that caught him mid-flight. Tyrian dived straight into it and the portal closed. This time however, another one didn't open in the room.
'Oops…' said Zoe. 'I um… may have sent him somewhere by mistake…'

'Where?' said Hazel, cracking his knuckles as he rose from his seat.

'I don't know, honestly.' Zoe replied. 'I promise I'll find him for you! Once I bring him back, we can play a game together! Please?! Pretty please?!'

Salem and Hazel had had enough. Salem sent a ball of black energy at her and Hazel lunged.

'I guess I'm not welcome here anymore. Gotta go!' said Zoe. She created a portal beneath her feet, and she stuck out her tongue, pulled her lips out with her fingers and blew a raspberry as she was sucked away.

Salem's black energy hit where Zoe had been, only Hazel was now there with his arms outstretched as he had attempted to grab her. The blast hit him and he was sent flying into the altar. His heavy body collided with it and knocked all the candles down with him.
He grunted as he picked himself up off the floor.

Salem slammed her fists down onto the table. This whole meeting had been ruined. Tyrian was gone, their location was exposed and she was at odds with a delinquent with too much power.

'Ma'am, please calm down.' said Emerald.

'It's just like she said, she has no reason to tell anyone about us.' Watts added. 'If we cooperate with her, then we should be fine.'

'Yes, that's true, and I think I have an idea.'

'What kind of idea?' Emerald said, her interested heightened.

'She's got power. Apparently, she can warp reality. But she's a child, and children are easily manipulated. If she does come back here, I think we could possibly use her to achieve our goals much quicker.'

'Child or not, do you think you would be able to convince someone like her? She's immature, but fearless and probably wouldn't just let you force her into serving you.' Watts countered.

'It won't be easy, but if we give her what she might want, then she might be okay with giving us something in return.'

'But do you actually want her to come back?' Hazel asked.

'Not for certain, but if she does come back, we'll be prepared for her next time.'


'I thought you were chasing that boy on the boat.' Aurelion Sol commented.

'Yeah, I was! But he was asleep on the boat and I didn't have the courage to wake him up! I thought he wouldn't like it if I did that…'

'How very thoughtful of you.' he remarked sarcastically. 'If only you were this considerate around other people who want nothing to do with you.'

'Don't laugh at me space dragon! Do you know how hard it is to speak to someone you love?!'

'Thinking that someone is cute, whom you have never talked to before, is not the same as loving them.'

'How would you know?! You've never fallen for anyone in your life!'

'That's because no one can impress me. I'm one of a kind. But I do know that love is as real a force as it is gravity. You should try it once in a while.'

'I do! I've been trying to get a boyfriend for centuries!'

'Lust does not count as love, and you should never get your hopes up, because there is no one in the universe that would like someone as obnoxious and intolerable as you.'

Zoe wiped a tear out of her eye. She had hardened to Aurelion Sol's mordacity and strictness, but words as hurtful and unsympathetic as those could still fracture her soul. 'You're so mean space dragon. Why are you so horrible?'

'I'm just being truthful. That's all.' Aurelion Sol let Zoe sob for a minute before resuming their conversation. It was pathetic. 'Are you finished with your tears yet? You said you had something interesting to tell me.'

'Huh? Oh yeah! So, I met with this witch and her cronies! They treated her like she was some revered goddess and she behaved like she was the most powerful thing in existence!'

Upon hearing this, Aurelion Sol began to laugh hysterically. 'Hahahahaha! REALLY?! That is adorably amusing! Her standards must be exceptionally low if she thinks she knows what true power is!'
'To be fair, when she met me, she was quite awestruck after I told her who merged her planet with mine. Honestly, she seemed like the kind of evildoer who wants to take over the world.'

'Ahh, the blind mortals with superiority complexes; they're all equally laughable. Generic, but amusing nonetheless.' He juggled three giant fireballs in his hands, humming to himself.

'So have you been humoured yet, arrogant space dragon?!'

'Not too much has happened so far, but I have been pleasantly entertained by some of the things I have seen. Witnessing the Darkin attack the school was an unexpected turn of events and I must admit though that I was shamefully excited by seeing Pantheon show up to the battle. Although I am thoroughly displeased with Bard interfering and saving the day every time something thrilling is about to happen. I get his purpose and what he does, but he's an absolute killjoy sometimes.'

'Yeah, but it is what it is. Just like how doughnuts have holes in them and the fact that Ezreal's so cute.'

Aurelion Sol sighed and crushed his fireballs in his fists, extinguishing them.

'Anyway, I'd better go. I promised the witch I'd go and find one of her bad guys.' said Zoe.

'Hmm, what are you talking about?'

'I accidently opened a portal and sent him somewhere. I have no idea where he is.'

'Remnant and Runeterra are two rather big planets. Someone as infinitesimally small as you is going to have an extremely hard time locating him.'

'You find him then! You're gigantic!'

'No. Why would I help you?'

'Because… I dunno! Because we're friends!'

'We are not friends.'

'Friends are supportive of each other and don't tell nasty jokes!'

'Then what does the evidence suggest?'

Zoe pouted like a child. 'Fine! I'll search for him myself!'

'That's a good girl. Showing some sort of independence. This certainly is a mediocre display. I am almost impressed. Almost…'

She stuck out her tongue and flew towards the planets. 'I'll come back soon!' she said.

'Please don't. I was enjoying the view without you here.' said Aurelion Sol sardonically. 'You know what, I take it back. Go and pester Ezreal once you've found this guy. He is infinitely more likely to be interested in you than me.'

'Yeah, I was planning to see him again! By the way, are you going down there at any point?'

'I am content with just watching the show at the moment, but if I get bored, I might make an indelible entrance to whoever I think needs a fright or a show. Do you know what the name of the witch you met with?'

'Yeah. Her name's Salem.'

'Salem is it? I'll take note of that.'

After one last giggle, Zoe flew back to Remnant.

Aurelion Sol realised after she had gone that he'd forgotten to ask where Salem was located. 'Never mind.' he said to himself. 'This pantomime has only just started, and I have the best front row seat in the theatre. There's no hurry to mingle with these specs of dust just yet.'