Beyond landing on solid ground, their environment didn't change all that much. They were still surrounded by a thick sea of trees, no doubt in some unknown part of Subcon Forest in a time well before Vanessa's devastating storm. It was summer and the whole of the woods was alive. Birds and insects made for a quiet, soothing sympathy in the background, in contrast to the sharp clacks of wood striking wood that echoed through the air. Young voices shouted at one another in their play.

There were three children, each around Hat and Bows' age: Two boys and one girl, none of which the young aliens recognized. That much was to be expected since there were so many Dwellers, and of course the trio didn't even react to the sudden appearance of two new kids' standing not even a few meters away from them in a small grove. Hat and Bow may as well have been watching them from theatre seats. Still, the girls did keep a certain distance back, if only to get a full view of the scene before them.

Each had a version of one of the more standard masks, but kept them clipped to their belts or pulled to the side of their heads, so the young aliens were able to get a good look at their appearances. All three had different tones of medium skin—evidence of long days spent under the sun—and wore the simple, hooded tunics that were popular among the last generation of Dwellers. The two boys clashed with wooden swords in a mock battle, darting around each other in an expressive, if unpracticed manner. The girl, meanwhile, was content to sit under a wide oak, picking up whatever creepy-crawlies she could find and stuffing them into a small box lined with a pile of grass and dirt. Her ash blonde locks were tied low behind her.

"Take that! And that!" one of the young swordsmen exclaimed with a big grin, thrusting his weapon forward. His wild, dark hair shrouded his eyes from view.

The other boy—who shared the girl's hair color, but in a shorter, curlier style—was also beaming. His rich, chocolate eyes shown with excitement as he countered and then made a wide swing. Their swords locked, and they wrestled to knock each other back.

"Give it up!"

"Never!"

Despite their lack of skill, they were clearly going at it hard, enough so that both of their hands had red marks from previous strikes and how tightly they held their grips. They took heavy, tired breaths, but were both having too much fun to quit. It was like watching a pair of energetic puppies who didn't know when to stop.

Eventually, the blonde boy managed to get the other hand, slipping his 'blade' along the other's and pushing it to the side. The dark-haired child tried to regain control by retreating a step, but his sword was knocked further outward, leaving him open. For a moment, it looked like the former was about to land a serious hit against his friend; however, with a twinkle of mischief, he stopped himself short of actually hitting him. The latter—who had naturally braced for the blow—startled back and lost his footing, his landing cushioned by the grass.

The first held his sword out victoriously, "Scared ya!"

"You can be a real jerk, you know!" the other scolded, but he was still grinning just as much.

"I've gotta stay strong," he dismissed, helping him up, "if I'm ever gonna be ready for the real thing one day."

The girl shook her head from the sidelines, "There he goes again…"

Resting his sword on his shoulder, the young dreamer pouted at her, "I will be! Just you watch: I'll become a knight who can rival anyone from any kingdom!"

"You can barely lift a feed-sack. What makes you think you could wear heavy armor all day?"

"So? I've still got some growing to do!"

The blonde duo continued to bicker, one with firm passion and the other with playful mockery. The second boy, meanwhile, didn't seem to share his friend's enthusiasm. If anything, his eyes shone only with concern.

In general, a knight's life wasn't all titles, riches, and honor: It meant dedication under hardship. Nevertheless, from every memory Hat Kid witnessed that reflected Subcon's past, she observed that it had once been a relatively peaceful kingdom. People from neighboring lands came there for trade or to simply pass through, not attack the forest. True, internal struggles between humans and the various spirits likely still happened, but they also likely helped dissuade external conflicts since intruders would have to invade Subcon as a whole. That meant that the knights would face little fighting unless they were sent away to battle—again, unlikely, given their isolated state.

That really just left keeping guard and patrolling the village as their main jobs, which they also shared with the woodwards. From the look on the dark-haired boy's face, the other might as well have said he was going to war though. He cut in, shifting his gaze away from him, "You've been saying that for forever… Is that really still even what you want to do? The knights aren't that great."

His friend gave him an annoyed look of disbelief, as if he'd been personally insulted, "Of course they are, are you crazy?! They chase off any angry spirits that show up, catch bad guys, and protect the king and queen wherever they go! Besides, isn't your cousin one?"

"Well, yeah…" he admitted, "But he changed after he joined up. All he does is work and he hardly smiles anymore."

"That's how they all are: They're supposed to be serious and cool."

"Well, I don't like him acting like that…"

By those words alone, the second boy's worries for the first seemed to draw more from having already lost someone close to him to the time they put into their job rather than their job itself. He was a child missing a role model. Watching the scene, both Hat and Bow could dismiss it just as his friend did were it not for how the other young girl's brows tensed with uncertainty.

She drew her box to her chest, "They're a little scary…"

The blonde boy gawked at her in betrayed confusion, "Scary? You can't mean that. Witches are scary. Ghosts are scary. The knights are heroes—and I'm gonna be one of them! Watch and see!"

The first of the flashbacks didn't give them much, but when it was over, Hat Kid had a sick feeling in her gut all the same over the trio's debate.

She didn't know anything about what Subcon's knights were like before. Out of the three opinions though, she had to agree with the girl's the most. The only time she'd seen the knights were two of Queen Vanessa's personal guard—in the storybook pages detailing what happened to her and the prince. Twin hulking, armored bodies; expressionless helmets; a dark energy that seemed to radiate from them even before Vanessa had fully transformed into the monster she was now… They weren't just scary, they were terrifying.

Was whatever glory came from the role really worth becoming like that? Or were they truly something better before the ice queen's storm? Subcon's woodwards were the closest she had to compare them to. Hat Kid had seen those forest protectors in other flashbacks as well and there had been nothing out of the ordinary about them. Maybe a part of it had to do with who was in command, with Vanessa's family leading the knights and the prince's leading the woodwards. After all, even the architecture throughout the different territories was pretty diverse. Roles, ranks, and the practices between them may have been just as divided.

There was only one way to learn more, and that was to keep going. The first level of the rift wasn't anywhere near as hard to navigate through as what they'd endured to get to the spiders' nests. There weren't any thick webs to walk on, but the trees grew close enough together that it was relatively easy to leap from one to the next. The young aliens temporarily split up to collect as many rift pons as they could find, spotting the next storybook page almost at the same time as they finished up. Luckily, it was close to the latched-off exit.

"You are here because you have exhibited all of the virtues of which our order stands for—above all, loyalty."

The scene they'd now entered had a completely different atmosphere to the one they left behind. The warmth and light of summer was gone, as was the wide expanse of forest. They stood in some kind of stone chamber now, not unlike the manor's basement. The walls and floors were made up of cold stone, with torches casting a dim, rusty glow along their surface. There were no exits save for a single door, or decorations beyond rich tapestries bearing a crest only seen in tattered ruins in the present.

However, it was far from empty. Two rows of knights towered over the girls, their helmets held at their sides to reveal an assortment of faces. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about them, except they all wore the same, emotionless expression. A greying, middle-aged officer stood before them with his back turned, and at his feet knelt the only person who was familiar to the pair. It was the ash blonde boy, now a young man.

He'd followed through with his childhood promise. Lean baby fat had long been replaced by callused muscle. Simple tunics had been traded in for heavy armor. Most striking, the vivid passion that once flared in his eyes had been tempered: The unexperienced, spirited dreamer had been grounded by the brutality of his training, hardening him for the role he so feverishly wanted to take on.

His head wasn't dipped in respect or submission, as in most depictions of a knighting, but raised to face his commander. The officer carried some type of burner—his sword in the other hand—but Hat Kid couldn't smell anything coming from it. Rather, it emitted a strange air that was hard to describe beyond the suffocating feeling that pressed against her chest. Hat Kid could feel that there was some kind of magic involved: It wasn't very strong, but for the young man, it was like breathing in a dense smoke. It muddled his senses, making him more susceptible to whatever twisted process was taking place. If he had any strength left to fight though, he didn't use it. For whatever reason, by whatever persuasion, this was something he had decided for himself.

"I ask this again," his commander continued in a firm tone, "Do you love your kingdom? Do you swear before your brothers and sisters in arms that you will protect Subcon and its people to the end?"

There was no hesitation in his voice, "I do."

"Loyalty to your homeland means loyalty to the crown that shields it. As a member of our order, you bow to none but the throne. Just as we were before you, you were handpicked because you showed such devotion. Will you remain steadfast to it?"

"I will."

"Can you bear the burden of your oath? Truly, will you shed all ego and become their sword? Will you give honor to Their Majesties with your life of service?"

"I will."

"And do you swear to keep the royal family's secrets? Will you hold them as if they were your own?"

"To the grave, if I must. Upon my soul, I will."

This was more than just a ceremony to welcome a new, full-fledged recruit. Their words were not only polished, but powerful, like an incantation. With each promise made, the atmosphere felt thicker and thicker, as if—by that pressure—it could brand them into the young man's body. His gaze had shifted awa y from his officer's face to the burner in his hands, captivated.

Bow Kid tugged at Hat's arm to get her attention. Although the knights' expressions hadn't changed, their eyes had. Including the commander's, they all began to emit an eerie, red glow. It was scarier than when they shined through their helmets. With them on, the knights might as well have looked like faceless automatons rather than humans: Now, they looked possessed.

However, that wasn't the most jarring part. Hat Kid had seen how magic could warp memories—never altering them, but leaving obvious scars that an unwelcomed guest like her or Bow could see whenever they stepped into them. She'd first seen it in a similar case with one of Moonjumper's Dwellers, who had his memories overwritten in the form of red threads. The more distorted the memory, the more they overwhelmed it—as if to physically erase whatever the caster didn't want the victim to remember. As a sign of the spell, they manifested in the real world over a person's eyes if not the entirety of their soul.

This experience was far more subtle and gradual. The longer the young man stared at the burner, the more his clear, amber eyes started to drip with the same dangerous, crimson as those around him. With them, the memory too shifted: Everything—the deep tapestries, the hot torches, the glimmering armor, and ugly stone—all seemed to drain of their own color until only red and bleak greys remained.

It didn't exactly look like a forced takeover of the mind as much as it did hypnotic encouragement. Like in the case of the young man, the other knights had probably signed on of their own free will. This ritual was late and their numbers were sparse: Clearly, there was a strict vetting process to see who had what it took to join their ranks. As such, the magic seemingly only worked because their dedication to their roles was already so strong.

The glow is everyone's eyes soon faded—and, in the young man's case, it took the passion that once burned in him with it. Now, his will seemed bound to the other's, all with a shared desire to fulfill one purpose: To serve the kingdom and the crown.

Did Vanessa or the king and queen before her—her parents—know about this? Possibly, but for a ritual made to ensure a person's loyalty to them, they didn't seem to have much of a part in it. Surely, it would be stronger if it was conducted by the royal family themselves. If they were at least present, it'd make more sense for the knights to imprint on them easier. Moreover…

The commander raised his blade, lightly pressing it against one side of the youth, then the other. His movements were slow and stiff, and he looked to be in as much of a trance as his new subordinate. Not one of the knights was out of the magic's influence. This was an old curse running a hidden, unbroken cycle.

As Hat Kid wondered how such a horrible thing could even start, she remembered her second time meeting the snow women in the Horizon. The trio hadn't gone into many details, but had given her some background knowledge on the origins of Vanessa's powers:

"For many years, a king of Subcon ruled in solitude—no family or heir to his name—until, one winter, one of our sisters was drawn to his side. They loved each other, and she gave herself to him. He did everything he could to suit her needs in order to keep her at his side and the knowledge of her spiritual origin a secret from his people. He limited his staff to a loyal few, he abandoned his palace to instead construct a manor in deeper isolation further in the wood, and he kept their home as dark and cold as was to her liking so that she might never leave come the warmer seasons."

Limiting the number or servants to help hide his queen's identity as a spirit… That must've been when this started, and it continued with each descendant that inherited her powers. According to the story, the king from back then had sounded kind if horribly lovesick. Maybe he hadn't wanted this and the commanding knight who served him was the one who actually made the curse. Either way, it didn't matter: What did was that it remained. And Hat Kid had a bad feeling that it had more of a cost then they or even their last generation realized…