Eclipse
EvermoreElements
Prologue

Rapunzel stared at the fire as it crackled against the wood. The rest of her group were scattered around their campsite, with Eugene right beside her. He was staring down at a piece of paper that he would not let anyone else look at. Rapunzel, herself, was remembering the conversation that she and Eugene had with Lord Demanitus within the maze.

"I'm running out of time. Listen. One must unite the Sundrop and Moonstone to summon the ultimate power. The fourth piece of the scroll contains instructions to wield that power" the monkey informed them.

"Wield the power?" Rapunzel asked, unsure if she will be able to control herself with that amount of power.

"In the right hands, it can be used for good. In the wrong hands, it could be deadly. Now you know why I tested your faith; to ensure that the purest of hearts controls the power. However…" Demanitus drifted off, clearly wondering if he should inform them of the next part.

"What is it?" Eugene inquired, his hands sitting on Rapunzel's shoulder even though his gaze was entirely focused on the man turned monkey.

"In the event that another takes the power of the moonstone before you, the sun and the moon created a kind of failsafe while they were one. When I found out, I refused to write it down," Demanitus looked down at his feet before looking back to the lost princess and the missing prince.

"Why wouldn't write down something that was so clearly important and tied to the sun drop and the moonstone?" Eugene asked while Rapunzel asked: "What failsafe?"

"I refused to write it onto the scroll because it concerns a child, and I could only translate a piece of it before it got destroyed," said Demanitus.

"The failsafe is a child?" Rapunzel said, shocked.

"Yes. They were called Eclipse by some, the heir of Demanitus by others. Only some things are known about them and once together, all the clues point to an obvious person. However, to keep the child safe, only people who know what the facts mean know who it is" Demanitus informed them.

"Cos that ain't confusing," said Eugene while Rapunzel rubbed her hands down her face.

"How many facts do you know?" she sat down on the ground grabbing a quill, ink, and paper from her bag. Eugene joined her.

The monkey informed them of the two facts that he knew and enlightened them with one more piece of knowledge about the mysterious figure.

"If the Moonstone and the Sundrop do end up fighting, Eclipse won't hesitate to protect one of them. The one that is protected will win."

Rapunzel looked down at the paper she held in her hands. She had quickly written down the two facts that Demanitus knew about his supposed heir but she had no idea who they could be related to even if the answer felt like it should be more obvious.

The first fact stated that the child was more intelligent than Demanitus, which is why they were nicknamed his heir even though the Engineer was clearly not given a choice. The second fact said the child was the child of a Knight of the Brotherhood. Rapunzel only knew of two members of the brotherhood and she cannot imagine Adira or Hector having any children.

"You still trying to figure out who it is?" Eugene whispered to Rapunzel. Both of them agreed to not tell the others anything yet. They were unsure of the news that Eclipse would bring – the fact that failure was that strong of a possibility that a child would be cursed in this way. Eugene then handed Rapunzel the slip of paper that the monkey had given him. She gasped, holding the paper closer to her.

At the end of Rapunzel's journey

One of her party shall turn against her

"No," she said, "no one here would turn against me. Eugene, where did you get this?"

"From Demanitus. It makes sense, why else would he tell us all he knew of Eclipse" Eugene pointed out. Rapunzel nodded, even though her heart didn't want to believe that any of her friends would betray her when she needed them most.

Then Cassandra betrayed her.