Upon arrival in Goug Machine City, Reis quickly ran to Mustadio's workshop, the owner running at her heels. She was quite eager to see this machine, one that Mustadio had described in his paper as being 'able to transport people between dimensions'…possibly even to the land of the dead, she thought.

Mustadio pressed the steel switch labeled 'on' on the sphere-like golden surface of the machine. There were about four rounded gaps in the surface, each with a coloured gem inserted in the hollow. A flat, rectangular crystal panel sat on top of the globe, flanked on either side with a series of strings inside a felt-covered box.

A series of random scenes flashed through the panel, followed by random buzzing from the strings. The screen turned black and silence enveloped the room. A slide with two hand-patterns drawn on them slid out from a tray at the middle of the globe, stopping in front of Reis.

Uncertain of what to do, Reis placed her hands on the hand patterns. A green glow surrounded her slender fingers, and then subsided.

'Reis? Reis? Is that you?' a familiar voice said from the vibrating strings.

It sounded a little soft, as though the speaker was distant.

Reis recognised it at once, the voice that she had longed to hear for a month.

'Beowulf!' she yelled, jumping for joy. Tears of happiness streamed down her cheeks.

'Where are you?' he asked.

'I'm in Mustadio's workshop, talking to you through a machine he discovered,'

'Oh…so that's why I can't see you anywhere,'

Reis was overjoyed. Her months of loneliness-at least the ones that were meant to follow-were subsiding away with this great find. She jumped when she heard another familiar voice.

'Reis? How is my sister?' the voice of Ramza Beoulve said through the strings.

She had forgotten about Alma.

'Umm…errh…she's fine,' she stuttered, unable to find an excuse for leaving her behind. Ramza's instructions she had not followed very strictly, even from the start.

'May I please speak to her?' Ramza whispered.

This was the very thing that Reis was afraid of.

'She's gone shopping somewhere in the city,' Reis said, the excuse the only one she could think of.

'I thought I had told you to watch over her,' Ramza said, voice dripping with disappointment, 'Why did you let her leave?'

A silence fell on the workshop.

Meanwhile…

A red dragon approached Alma, who thought that Reis had been gone for an extremely long trip down to Beowulf's grave. The red dragon spoke to her in a broken human speech, the voice still coarse and animalistic.

'Reis still gone. She at Goug. She tell me to bring you Goug. Jump, my back. We go now. She said urgent,' the dragon said, struggling for the right words. Reis had apparently used her telepathic link with dragons to call the nearest one to Alma.

Alma clambered uncertainly onto the red dragon's back, who spread its wings and took off with a blast of wind backwards.

Over hills and through clouds they went, sailing through the skies at an incredible pace. Flocks of chocobos could be seen in the green fields below, scattering at the (apparently) terrifying view of the large dragon. Alma was certain that she saw Lionel castle after five minutes of flying, with Zigolis Swamp below them after another minute. Landing on a dry plateau just outside Goug, the dragon led Alma into the city, ignoring the gapes and gasps from passers-by.

She went to the centre of the city, looking back behind her as the dragon took off into the skies again. Reis was waiting there, examining all the exits for Alma. Eventually she spotted Alma, and the two left for Mustadio's workshop.

Ramza's voice could be heard from the strange machine, demanding Mustadio to let him speak with his sister. Thinking that it would be wise to leave Alma to speak with Ramza, she left the room, and collapsed on a chair. Mustadio returned to the workshop, muttering something about 'work' and 'must go'.

Reis woke up some time in the evening after being woken up by Mustadio.

'Reis, I have a favor to ask of you…' Mustadio said, clasping his hands together.

'What is it?' Reis asked, rubbing her eyes.

'I believe that you have the twelve Zodiac Stones?'

'Yes, that is true. I picked up the twelfth after I killed Buremonda…why, that evil…(she swore)…'

'May I please ask you to place them all on a table?'

She did exactly that, wondering what Mustadio was going to do. There was the twelve stones, glimmering in different colours. He picked up two of them, and placed them together. Strangely enough, it was a perfect fit. Piecing the other parts together, he formed a sphere of multicoloured gems. Confused, Reis simply stood there.

The sphere burst into light, illuminating the entire room in a blinding white light. Once or twice Reis thought a voice was whispering in her ear about 'the crystal of creation'. What on earth could this mean, she thought.

When the light had subsided, Reis found a glossy blue stone in the middle of the table. She picked it up, feeling considerable power within the stone, powerful and yet gentle.

'I think this may have something to do with the machine,' Mustadio told her, 'Come,'

Reis followed Mustadio into the workshop, where Alma was still talking rapidly to Ramza. After telling the two to quit talking for now, they inserted the sphere into the recess at the side of the machine.

It rumbled and shook, a crack neatly appearing in the middle. The two halves separated, revealing a flat plate of some material on the ground. Sparks of energy flew from it, gently rising before falling down again, dissipating without a trace.

'What do you think this could be?' she asked Mustadio, puzzled.

'We can't tell until we've used it,'

'I will use it then…who knows if it will take me to Beowulf?'

'A little risky…but alright,' Mustadio said, catching the look in her eye.

She stepped onto the platform. The world around her began to fade. She could see Mustadio shouting something, but it was inaudible. Everything faded to black and she knew no more of it.