Chihiro Hatsuki's Skylanders

by Tilde-Heart

Chihiro Hatsuki is an ordinary Earth kid whose life is turned upside down when the Skylanders, the magical guardians of another world, land in her backyard and promptly tell her that she's a magical portal master! Now, Chihiro must help the Skylanders defeat their archenemy Kaos and restore the Core of Light that protects their world. (Canon-divergent retelling of SSA)

22. Chapter 22

And here we have chapter twenty-two! We're really getting into the final stretch now, just two more Eternal Sources (And their remaining components) to get! I wonder what trials await...

Greenswitch: Honestly, the troll family conflict was probably one of my favorite parts of that chapter! I definitely had a lot of fun with the concept and execution, so I'm glad others enjoy it as well!

Watch Seeker: Thank you for all the kind words! It makes me glad to know that people were excited to see that everything's back in action!~

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"Hugo, move the telescope a little to the right," Cali said as she peered through the Far-Viewer, "I can't get a good range on this."

Hugo nodded, then jumped to the Far-Viewer's panel to toy with its many bells and whistles. As he pressed a few buttons and twisted a couple knobs, the Far-Viewer turned and stretched out in accordance with Hugo's actions, its telescope grown slimmer and slimmer as it stretched to the heavens.

Both Hugo and Cali were silent with anticipation as Cali peered through the Far-Viewer's telescope… But Chihiro was a lot less tense as she jumped up out of nowhere and slammed her hands down on their shoulders!

"So, did you find the Eternal Undead Source yet?" Chihiro asked as she nudged Hugo's shoulder.

"CHIHIRO!" Hugo exclaimed as he pried her hand off of his shoulder, "Be patient! You've asked us fifteen times already!"

"Sorry, Huges." Chihiro withdrew her hands and scratched the back of her head, "It's just so exciting! We're so close to completing the Core, after all!"—Chihiro pumped a fist in the air—"And now that I'm better, I've been raring to go on some missions!"

Chihiro giggled as her pumped fist fell back to her side, all while her feet tapped against the autumn earth without her even thinking about it. After all, that week she spent laid up in the infirmary was absolutely miserable, it felt good to be back in top shape again!

"Given all that you need to catch up on, you should probably be raring to work on some homework first, young Chihiro," Master Eon reminded as he floated towards Chihiro and landed on her shoulder.

Chihiro completely froze as Master Eon's warm light tickled her shoulder.

"Crap, how did I forget?" Chihiro exclaimed as she ruffled her hair.

Chihiro's feet stopped tapping as she paced back and forth and scratched her head. She was so caught up in the joy of finally getting better that she completely forgot about all the work she had needed to catch up on! Between the missions she sat out, the spells and reading and other homework she had to set aside for recovery, she was probably so behind on her training! And not to mention her exams! Her stomach was already tying itself in knots at the very notion of how far she had fallen behind…

"Now that you've remembered, follow me," Master Eon said as he floated away from the Far-Viewer, "We'll discuss matters within my citadel."

So, Chihiro was pulled away to worksheets and magic practice, what a shame… At least, that was what she assumed would be waiting for her as Master Eon lead her over to his citadel and magically opened the door. But, the moment the door flung open, the sweet aroma of honey and fresh baking hit her nose instead! But from what? Chihiro stepped inside and turned her attention to the seating area, then gasped as she found just what brought the aroma!

"Pancakes!" Chihiro cried as her eyes sparkled with glee!

There on the table sat several stacks of delicious blueberry pancakes, all topped in honey and whipped cream and fresh blueberries and all sorts of other toppings, all completely untouched and practically begging for someone to eat them!

It looked so delicious, Chihiro could hardly think of anything else as she scrambled over to her seat with such velocity she kicked up clouds of dust in her wake! Well, not that she noticed as she summoned magical utensils and scarfed down pancakes topped with even more blueberries and an extra helping of whipped cream by the stackful. After what was probably her third stack of blueberry pancakes, Chihiro smiled as she leaned back in her chair and licked the whipped cream off of her face.

"Man, I can't remember a time when I ate this much!"

Chihiro made a wistful sigh and rubbed her stomach, her eyes closed in content, then they popped open again as a soft light fell over her.

"My, you certainly are feeling better, aren't you?" Master Eon remarked as he chuckled and flew out of his seat, "I had a feeling a good breakfast would lift your spirits."

"You bet!" Chihiro grinned and leaned forward, "I'm back and better than ever!"

Though Master Eon had no face, the gentle and warm way he glowed gave enough indication that he was just as pleased as she was. The two of them laughed together for moments, then Master Eon's glow solidified into something less bright as he floated back to his chair.

"Now, young Chihiro, since you're feeling much better, it's time to discuss your training. You see, we've adjusted the schedule of your studies a bit, to compensate for the time spent in recovery…" Master Eon said, his tone now matter-of-fact, "So, we've decided to start your next exam!"

Upon hearing this, Chihiro completely froze while her magical utensils slipped out of her hand and vanished before they hit the floor. Her eyes twitched while her hands turned all shaky and tingly—she was having her next exam? So soon? Chihiro forced a grin as her eyes fixed on Master Eon, but he just bobbed up and down in affirmation like he couldn't pick up on her nerves at all.

"Now, this exam won't be held here. Rather, you will be taking it at the Fairy Kingdom!"

Wait a second, she could finally go back to the Fairy Kingdom, after all this time? Chihiro made a shrill gasp of utter delight as she looked towards Master Eon with a pleading gaze, just to be certain he wasn't pulling her leg, then whooped and hollered with glee as he bobbed up and down! Finally, she could go back! After all, the last time she had seen it was when it was in ruins and under Kaos's control, surely, it had become a lot more beautiful since then! She couldn't wait to run around and see all the sights!

"I CAN'T WAIT TO GO!" Chihiro shouted at last as she jumped off her chair then hovered back down into its spot, her worries completely forgotten, "There's gotta be so much to do and see! I bet they have those pumpkin carriages and fancy towers and stuff…"—Chihiro made a small grin—"Even better, I can see Persephone and everyone again!"

Chihiro kicked her legs against the base of her chair with utter delight, then her cheers devolved into giggles as her legs finally slowed.

"It's not a visit for fun and games, young Chihiro." Master Eon flew over to her and laid down on her armrest, "When you arrive, you will go to a local village and spend the day helping its residents with whatever tasks they give you."

"Like a mission, right?" Chihiro leaned further back in her chair and made a carefree grin, "Sounds simple enough! I mean, I've gone on a ton of missions with the 'landers—"—Chihiro's eyes widened as her chair toppled down before she even realized—"WHOA WHOA WHOA!"

Chihiro grunted as her chair hit the ground with a thunk, then as Master Eon flew over her, she giggled and ruffled her hair. "But still, all I have to do is help people, right?"

"It's not quite as simple as that." Master Eon levitated the chair and Chihiro with it back to full height, "To begin with, you will be acting on your own. The Skylanders, nor Hugo and I will be there to help you,"—Master Eon sat back in his own chair—"Thus, you will be entirely responsible for your own actions."

Chihiro jumped out of her chair and rubbed her aching head as she watched Master Eon sit down, though her smile still didn't relent.

"Still, that can't be that bad!" Chihiro replied as she shoved her hands in her pockets, "I mean, how many things have I led us to victory on? Helping a couple people will be a snap!"

"Being a leader is more than just taking charge, however. A good leader doesn't just know when to lead…" Master Eon looked up at Chihiro with a soft, lavender glow, "But when to follow as well."

Chihiro chirped and tilted her head. A leader who doesn't lead, but follows too? What exactly does that mean? She had wanted to ask, but something in her gut told her that she was probably supposed to know already.

"Now, the ship that will take you to the Fairy Kingdom should arrive soon," Master Eon said as he floated out of his chair and back towards the door, "Follow me."

Chihiro nodded, then clasped her hand as she reluctantly left her seat. Her head was hung low as she trailed after Master Eon, and a couple of those knots started to tug at her stomach again… But, she lead plenty of missions, and she knew how to help people! This wouldn't be so bad, right? Well, just thinking about it was making her shake, so as she left the citadel she turned her attention back to the world outside.

There, Hugo and Cali both fixed their eyes back on the Far-Viewer, their earlier tension now returned to them. Cali frowned as she pressed a button more and peered into the telescope. As she made a soft hum, she turned a large brown knob slightly to the left…

"Have you found it yet, Cali?" Hugo asked as he poked his head closer to the telescope.

"Just gotta move this a little closer," Cali said, completely ignorant of Hugo as she fiddled with the knobs a little more, "And…"

Cali zoomed in a little more, then smiled and pulled herself away from the telescope. Cali smiled even wider as Hugo's anxious smile matched her own… But then she groaned and held her head as she fumbled backwards.

"Ugh, I don't feel so good…" Cali groaned as her balance grew looser with the clumsy, light footsteps to match. Before she even knew it, she had stumbled backwards and tripped on a rock!

"Cali!" Hugo exclaimed as he caught Cali and laid her down on the grass, only to groan and lay down himself, "Ugh…"

Chihiro and Master Eon both froze as they caught sight of Hugo and Cali, all half-awake and sprawled out on the leaf-covered ground. What had happened to them? Wait, Chihiro didn't have time to ask that question!

"Cali! Hugo!" Chihiro exclaimed as she broke away from Master Eon and raced back to the Far-Viewer.

Cali and Hugo moaned and laid down, their faces deathly pale and more akin to that of ghosts than mabu. They seemed completely out of it as they rolled their heads around until the sound of footsteps pulled them from their daze.

"Are you alright?" Chihiro asked as she rested Cali on her shoulder and looked them over, "What happened?"

Hugo only groaned and fell flat on his back.

"Hugo!" Chihiro called as she laid Cali down and tried to help him back up. However, when she pulled him up he only groaned and fell unconscious!

"HUGO! SPEAK TO ME!" Chihiro exclaimed as she frantically shook Hugo awake!

"Urrrrrrrr…"

Chihiro frowned and rested Hugo back on the grass. "Well, he did speak…"

"What happened here?" Asked a soft, almost enigmatic voice as a familiar cloud of smoke and magic hovered beside Chihiro.

Chihiro looked up and winced as she caught sight of Hex, but Hex herself paid little mind to Chihiro. Rather, Hex instead turned her attention to the Far-Viewer's telescope.

"Oh, I see." Hex frowned as she turned a few knobs on the Far-Viewer's panel, "It seems you found the Eternal Undead Source."

As the Far-Viewer receded into its natural appearance, the lightness faded from Cali and Hugo's faces while the color returned! Soon enough, they both grunted and pulled themselves back to their feet.

"Ugh, what happened?" Cali asked as she scratched her head, "Last I recall, I saw the Eternal Undead Source, then I felt super dizzy and gross…"

"That's what happens when the living reside among the Eternal Undead Source," Hex warned as she magicked up an illusion.

With a gesture of her hands, a cloud of smoke with several people surrounding a skull emerged from her palms. The people danced and played around the skull with pure glee at first, but soon enough began shuddering and falling to their knees before they passed out entirely.

"Like all the Eternal Sources, the Eternal Undead Source radiates with some of its element's most powerful magic." Hex grimaced to her side as the illusions disappeared into thin air, "Unfortunately, that element happens to be Undead. Those who aren't undead can't stay around it for long, lest they themselves meet the grave as well."

"Well, that certainly throws a wrench into our plans." Cali grimaced as she scratched her cheek, "But still, we do need the Eternal Undead Source…"—Cali's eyes bounced between Hex and Hugo as she frowned—"Isn't there some way we could contain it or something like that? So it can't harm anybody?"

Hugo hummed as he pulled a book from his lapel and flipped through his pages.

"If this is to be trusted, then we could theoretically find a vessel for its powers…" Hugo replied as he closed the book and tossed it back into said lapel, "But it would need to be something strong enough to capture all that undead energy."

"Now where would we find something like that?…"

Everybody fell deep into contemplation for a few moments, save for Chihiro who just peered up at the heavens that in turn had grown duller and darker. Strange, it was far too early for it to get dark!

"Huh, what's up with the sky?" Chihiro asked as she craned her head further up.

"And why's everything so dark?" Hugo asked as he shook his head and looked up, "It's not time for the sun to set yeTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"

Hugo yelped and scrambled backwards as he looked towards the sky, which had been painted into a cataclysm of churning purple and black clouds that stormed as tornadoes did! This was no ordinary kind of weather for sure!

Chihiro frowned as she looked over Hugo, who looked just as bad as he did when he came in contact with the Eternal Undead Source's energy, pale face and all. "Judging by your reaction, I'd say this is a bad thing?"

"VERY BAD!" Hugo answered as he hastily clawed for his books, "When that happens, it normally means there's something very amiss with the undead!"

"Like ghosts and vampires and stuff?" Chihiro placed her hands on her hips, "What's so scary about the undead, anyways? We work with the undead all the time!"

Chihiro giggled as she looked back at Hex, but Hex didn't seem nearly as amused.

"That's what you think!" Hugo flipped through his books, then shuddered and slammed them, "For all we know, the gates to the underworld could have gotten loose and brought masses of undead energy with them, or some ghostly king could have decided to expand his kingdom to the living's ream… Oh, I can hardly bear the thought!"

Hugo shuddered again and ushered Chihiro along as he bit his nails. "Anyways, I think I hear something coming from the beach, why don't you check it out?"

Chihiro just shrugged, then shuddered as a cold hand laid itself on her shoulder.

"I can feel a strong undead presence coming from the beach as well," Hex said as she turned back around, "Chop, we should go."

The sound of metal clanking clattered behind Hex as another figure, a thin skeleton dressed in bulky blue and gold armor, made their debut. In one hand they brandished a shiny silver sword, while in the other they held a blue and gold shield, the colors of which strikingly complimented their armor. Despite the scratches on their armor and their worn bones, they seemed as battle-ready as ever!

"Indeed, my lady," Chop Chop replied with a firm nod, "Let us make haste!"

Chop Chop dropped another cold hand on Chihiro's other shoulder, and in response she shivered and yelped.

"COLD COLD COLD!" Chihiro exclaimed as she squirmed out of their grasp and shook her head, "Anyways, yeah…"—Chihiro jolted up again thanks to a mechanical scream from below and dashed down the stairs—"Better get going!"

So, all three of them raced back down to the beach, which radiated with an ominous aura completely unlike the calm, laid-back atmosphere it usually donned! Thin purple mist streaked across the surface, and faintly across the way… Someone was screaming? Now that Chihiro thought about it, wasn't that Clam-Tron's voice? Chihiro jumped off the steps and rushed through the mist, a magic sphere in hand just in case.

"Clam-Tron!" Chihiro shouted as she skidded to a stop and kicked sand everywhere, "What's wrong?"

"It's a, it's a…" Clam-Tron sputtered as he pointed down to the beach, then shuddered as he jabbed his finger down below again, "SKELETON!"

Sure enough, there on the beach was none other than a skeleton! Well, a skeleton head that contently sat on the sands, at least. How did that get here?

Chihiro frowned, then released her sphere and walked up to the skeleton head.

"Don't you know its rude to point?" The skeleton head scoffed as it looked up at Clam-Tron.

The skeleton head turned to Chihiro, then cackled and hopped right into her arms! Chihiro yelped as the skeleton head leaped straight towards her, but thankfully she managed to catch it right before it could conk her in the head!

"Boo!" The skeleton head shouted as it raised its eyebrows at Chihiro, "In case you aren't hip to it, that's how we skeletons say hello!"

But, Chihiro wasn't quite as quick to return the friendliness as she lowered her arms to eye-level. Weird strangers arriving on your island out of nowhere were never a good thing, especially when they brought churning clouds of death. For all she knew, this guy was here to take the island over!

"How'd you get here, anyways?" Chihiro asked as she raised an eyebrow at the skeleton, "And more importantly, just who are you?"

"Name's T-Bone!" T-Bone hopped out of Chihiro's arms and across the beach, "I came over from that big door over there!"

T-Bone came to a halt and beamed as he hopped in front of a large, metal gate of some kind engraved with intricate carved images of ghosts, zombies, and all other sorts of undead creatures on its black and magenta metal surface! It was left open just a crack, and from that open crack seeped that thin, purple mist and ominous aura, along with maybe a cackle or a scream of terror or two. Yeah, that was probably a gate to the underworld if Chihiro had ever seen one.

Chihiro frowned and placed her hands in her pockets. "Huh, never knew we had a gate to the Underworld here."

"Neither did I," Hex remarked as she and Chop Chop ran up to Chihiro's side. Hex sighed, then turned her attention to T-Bone.

"So… T-Bone, is it?" Hex raised an eyebrow while her frown sunk further, "Why are you here? And for that matter, where's the rest of your body?"

T-Bone hissed, then chuckled and looked aside.

"Well, you see, I came here to ask the Skylanders for some help with something…" T-Bone explained between a forced laugh or two, "But then some spiders stole my bones! Nasty little things, those spiders! They creep out from their dingy little webs and set their beady little eyes on you, then the next thing you know your entire foot's gone…"

T-Bone hopped all across the beach in some sort of elaborate explanation of his story that probably would've been more impressed if he actually had a body to gesture with. But, it wasn't particularly impressive and honestly kind of long-winded, so Chihiro just tuned it out and frowned.

"So I chased them up the crypt's stairs and followed them all the way here! But, they were all gone by the time I arrived!" T-Bone nodded, then hopped up to Chihiro again, "Still, I know that my body's scattered around here… Somewhere."

T-Bone leaped into Chihiro's arms out of nowhere once again, and in return she screamed and stumbled back! As she regained her balance, Chihiro bounced his head back and forth before she finally caught him with her shaky, shaky hands.

"So, what do you say? Wanna help me find the rest of me?" T-Bone grinned and hopped away right as Chihiro opened her mouth, "Great!"

Chihiro huffed, then turned her gaze around the beach and crossed her arms.

"Hold on, dude," Chihiro replied as she paced back and forth, "I don't see bones or spid—"

Chihiro stopped short as her foot hit something hard and cold! She looked down, then nudged the offending object out of the sands with her foot, to find that it was none other than a sleek white bone with a spider asleep on its surface!

"See, you found one already! You're good at this thing!" T-Bone remarked as he hopped over then glared at the spider, "Hey, shoo, shoo you little pest!"

The spider twitched and stirred, then the moment it awoke to T-Bone and Chihiro glaring it down, it squealed and ran for the hills!

"Welp, guess I stand corrected." Chihiro blinked as she watched the spider run into the distance, then smiled and rubbed her hands together, "Looks like I know what to do!"

Chihiro's hands glowed with a bright cyan magic, then with a snap of her fingers that magic leaped from her hands and wove itself into a gigantic net. That same gigantic net quickly swooped down and tunneled through the beach at such an intense speed that sand and clouds of dirt flew everywhere, then it tunneled back and flew in front of Chihiro. As the sand trickled down from its open holes, its haul was revealed—an innumerable amount of spiders and a bunch of bones that poked out like diamonds in the rough!

"That's the ticket!" Chihiro shouted as she clapped, "Now, gimme the gold!"—Chihiro's eyes widened as the net shook and sent spiders crashing everywhere—"WAIT NO, NOT LIKE THA—"

Before she could even finish, a cascade of spiders poured onto Chihiro and masked her from view! While she screamed and shook the spiders off, however, T-Bone just casually hopped away and beamed as he examined the pile of his bones. He blinked a few times, and in response the bones all jumped from the sands and stood stiff and tall like soldiers addressing their general!

"Now, this goes here and that goes there," T-Bone remarked as his bones all jumped up and started assembling themselves one-by-one until they formed a proper body, "Hop on this…"

T-Bone hopped onto his now fully assembled body and spun around.

"And VOILA! Good as dead!"

Chihiro grunted as she shook the last of the spiders off her person, then turned over to T-Bone and beamed!

After all, he was finally back to his full-bodied skeleton self, and all was right again! The mist had cleared from the beach, the skies were sunny and bright once more, and that eerie feeling that sent chills down everyone's spines had lifted as well! Even the screams from the open door had been muffled just a little.

"The sky's back to normal!" Hugo exclaimed as he dashed down the stairs and across the beach with a smile on his face, "Did you find out what the problem—"

The moment he caught sight of T-Bone, though, Hugo shrieked and completely froze! He could only watch T-Bone in utter terror as sweat dripped down his brow. It was a good thing T-Bone hadn't seen him yet—

"Uh, something wrong here, Mr Molebutt?" T-Bone asked as he looked back at Hugo.

Spoke too soon. Hugo screamed and jumped back, then coughed into his hand and looked back at T-Bone… Only for his fear to fade into curiosity as he hummed and narrowed his eyes.

"Please don't steal my soul or anything for asking this, but by any chance, do you have another head like that?" Hugo asked as he toyed with his jacket, all while buckets of sweat poured down his face, "I saw it, and I can't help but notice that it would make the perfect vessel for the Eternal Undead Source!"

"Let's see." T-Bone tapped his bony finger against his chin, "Another head, another head… Oh, wait!"—T-Bone's eyes burned with bright, lively fires—"'COURSE I DON'T HAVE ANOTHER HEAD! WHAT KINDA QUESTION IS THAT?"

"I UNDERSTAND, I UNDERSTAND!" Hugo wailed as he crumpled to the floor, "PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!"

"Hugo, please…" Hex sighed as she shook Hugo's shoulder, "You're making a fool of yourself."

Just then, T-Bone froze as the fires in his eyes turned to lights instead!

"I do know, however, where you can find one!" T-Bone said as he turned to Hugo, though his eyes were fixed on Hex and Chop Chop instead, "And as it just happens, I needed the Skylanders' help with something at that place!"

"You do?" Chop Chop intervened as he thrust his sword into the sand. "What exactly are we talking about here?"

T-Bone chuckled as he rolled his head around and cracked his shoulders.

"See, my old boss sent me a skelegram out of nowhere, telling me he wants to meet up at his place about something!" T-Bone slunk his shoulder and sighed, "Thing is, nobody's been there in ages, and I'm pretty sure the whole place is probably crawling with nasties like grave robbers and goons and…"—T-Bone shuddered while his teeth chattered in accordance—"Ugh, spiders..."

T-Bone shook away his anxiety, then popped off his arm and handed it to Hugo. "So whaddya say? One good arm for another?"

"That… That would be great!" Hugo hissed through clenched teeth as he warily pushed away T-Bone's arm and nudged Hex and Chop Chop towards T-Bone, "Now, could you lead our Skylanders here to it?"

"Well, sure, but that depends on you." T-Bone reattached his arm and turned towards Hex and Chop Chop, "Think you can handle going down to the underworld?"—T-Bone froze and laughed—"Oh, wait, you're both undead! Nevermind, you should be fine!"

And with that, T-Bone pushed past them and walked up to the gate, then pushed that gate open and unveiled a deep, dark staircase into the unknown. Chop Chop and Hex dutifully followed T-Bone down the stairs, and Chihiro had tried to as well… But before she could, Hugo pulled her back by the collar of her shirt!

"Not today, Chihiro! You still have a test to do!" Hugo reminded as he let go of Chihiro's shirt.

"Oh, right!" Chihiro giggled as she turned to Hugo, "So, when we're leaving, anyways?"

"Right now, actually! The ship should be here any moment…" Hugo looked to the sky and smiled as a large shadow crept across the beach, "And there it is!"

Hugo and Chihiro ran as fast as they could in some quiet race to beat the ship, but in the end the ship had already docked by the time the two of them dashed across the beach and raced up the stairs. In fact, when they hit the final step the first thing they saw was Master Eon conversing with the ship's fairy pilot!

"There you are, young Chihiro!" Master Eon remarked as he turned around and floated towards Chihiro and Hugo, "Are you ready to pay the Fairy Kingdom another visit?"

"You bet I am!" Chihiro exclaimed as she bounced up and down.

Master Eon chuckled, then nudged her towards the docked boat and watched as she skipped up its plank. "Best wishes, then! And don't forget what we talked about!"

Chihiro jumped on the boat's deck, then as the boat started up she turned around and waved back at Master Eon and Hugo.

"I won't! See you tonight!" Chihiro shouted as the ship flew off into the stratosphere…

§

"So, where is this Skull Mask anyways?" Hex asked and she and Chop Chop prodded down the cobweb-covered stairs.

"Well…" T-Bone replied as he tapped a finger against his skeletal head, "If I recall correctly, it should be near the back of this very crypt! This skull mask, it used to belong to some ghoul I worked for named Mortulannis…"

"MORTULANNIS?" Hex and Chop Chop exclaimed in unison as they completely froze.

"Uhhh…" T-Bone rotated his head and frowned, "Is that a bad thing?"

"Far from it!" Hex shook her head in tandem with her words, "Mortulannis was one of the greatest philosopher kings of his time!"

"Wait, he was?" T-Bone turned his head back to face them and shrugged, "I never noticed. He always seemed so busy locking himself up in his throne room and reading while I reorganized his scrolls for the fiftieth time."

"He was the one who revitalized the Underworld, renewed the undead arts and ended the war between the living and dead, and yet, and yet, in spite of all his achievements, he always stayed humble," Chop Chop explained as he gestured with his sword.

"He never even had his appearance recorded in history tomes because he didn't want his image to become his obsession! He was one of the best philosopher kings that Underworld ever knew…" Hex said as blinked just a bit and levitated around T-Bone, "And you worked with him?"

"Well, yeah? Didn't I tell you that?" T-Bone shook his head. "But whatever. Back to looking for that mask!"

So, T-Bone lead them around the corner and looked at his palm. "Now, if I recall correctly, we need to take a left, then a right… Oh wait, maybe it was actually a down instead of a right…"

Hex obediently followed T-Bone nonetheless, but the way she and Chop Chop looked at each other showed that they both held doubts about their guide's actual guiding abilities. T-Bone lead them down rank corridors and spiderweb-coated strips, but none lead them any closer then before. In fact, Hex was at least half-certain she had passed that particular spiderweb formation at least twice now!

"Are you sure you actually know the way?" Hex asked as she floated up to T-Bone's side.

"Oh, I'm sure it was right down this way…" T-Bone said as he stroked his bony chin, then popped off his head and flipped it above them before it landed perfectly back onto his body. "But then again, what do I know? I'm just a skeleton!"

T-Bone made a few chuckles that slowly died as it became quite apparent that neither Chop Chop or Hex found it quite humorous and hung his head… Right as a spider crawled over his foot and caused him to scream!

"SPIDER! GET AWAY FROM ME!" T-Bone yelled as he ran in the other direction, far, far away from Chop Chop and Hex, "MY BONES AREN'T FOR YOU!"

As T-Bone's screams faded in the distance, Chop Chop and Hex both sighed. So much for their guide…

"It looks as if we'll have to find this mask by our own power," Hex remarked as she crossed her arms.

"Indeed," Chop Chop sighed as he tapped his sword against the stone floors, though he seemed hardly disheartened as he pointed that sword down the halls, "Let us make haste, my lady!"

Hex nodded as she clasped Chop Chop's hand, smooth and metallic thanks to his armor yet comforting from the similar chill it held to her own, then nodded as they both made headway down the halls. Something like this was nothing new to Hex. Her days as a Skylander had taken her down many abandoned crypts, some less pleasant than others. Hopefully, this would be one of the more pleasant ones.

Hex floated a bit further as faint candlelight poured down from the candleholders stationed on the walls… Then everything went completely dark! A sudden wind had blew the candles clean out, yet how? They were in a crypt, and those these walls were old they seemed sturdy enough to not let in any drafts! Unless… Hex summoned a glowing skull for a lantern, then warily held it close as she eyed a teal wisp that had manifested down the hall. Its flame was small and faint, but as it floated closer it grew larger, and larger until finally, it erupted into a massive wildfire!

"WHO DARES TO TRESPASS ON MY FINAL RESTING PLACE?" Demanded a large, skinny ghost as it crawled out of the fire and manifested before Hex!

Final resting place? Oh dear, this must be Mortulannis, it seemed T-Bone had forgotten to tell him that extra company was coming. Looks like Hex would have to do the damage control.

"My apologies for trespassing, your highness," Hex said as she made a curt bow, "I came here at the bequest of your servant, looking to ask for use of your skull mask…"

As Hex spoke, Mortulannis's eyes sparkled despite the lack of light within the crypt. He seemed… Strangely eager as he made a series of nods and a wide grin.

"Is that so?" Mortulannis raised an eyebrow and cleared his throat, "Well, if that's the case I'd be more than willing to lend it to you…"—Mortulannis raised a hand—"If, and ONLY if, you can pass my secret tests. You know, to prove you're worthy of it and all."

"Very well then." Hex released her bow and looked up at Mortulannis, "That sounds like a fair enough exchange."

"Just one question…" Chop Chop asked as he stepped up to Hex from the shadows and gripped his sword tight, "What exactly are these tests?"

"Just follow me," Mortulannis replied as he floated off into the dark, dark hallways before them, "I shall explain as we pass on."

Chop Chop and Hex both looked at each other as Hex raised an eyebrow, and though Chop Chop's face was masked, the way he gripped his sword tight showed that he was a bit wary.

"You see, I am an old and weary ghost, and all those who lived in this crypt with me have since passed on to the afterlife which awaits us all…" Mortulannis lowered his head as his lip started to quiver, "And I believe it is time for me to do the same. But, I cannot rest until I clean this place up and donate the treasures it holds to the unliving populace."

"A noble cause indeed, your majesty," Chop Chop said as he bowed his head.

"But, as I am old and decrepit, I cannot clean this place entirely by my own power. Thus, if you can do the jobs and tasks I assign you, I suppose you'd be worthy of my mask."

"And what would this job entail, exactly?" Hex floated up to Mortulannis and clasped her hands.

"I'll tell you when we get there!" Mortulannis growled as he shook his head at Hex, "They wouldn't be secret tests if I told you, what kind of logic is that?"

As Mortulannis scoffed and flew back down the halls, Hex made a wary wince towards Chop Chop. Something about this felt fishy, and they both seemed to know it.

But, nonetheless, the two of them followed the ghostly, faint light Mortulannis gave off around the corner and towards an open crypt that was littered and blocked off with large, cinder blocks covered in cobwebs.

The whole place was covered in a fine layer of dust that gently scattered about as Hex floated above, and the occasional spider skittered to and fro the crack within the broken cobblestone walls. It all had some sort of somber atmosphere, something so cold and quiet and only lit by dying candlelight… And Mortulannis, who peered through several vases as he mumbled to himself.

"Your highness?" Hex called as she turned her head towards Mortulannis, though he seemed perfectly oblivious to her, "Your highness?"—Hex floated over to Mortulannis and brushed a hand against his ghostly form—"Your highness, what exactly are you doing?"

"OH, YOU'RE HERE!" Mortulannis exclaimed as he yanked a face covered in cobwebs out of a vase, "I was just, er, I just wanted to admire the craftsmanship of these vases!"—Mortulannis looked aside and lowered his voice—"Not the most expensive things, but I guess they'll make some decent money…"

"Expensive?" Chop Chop repeated as he joined Hex and Mortulannis, "Why should it matter if they're expensive or not? You said you were donating all their contents, correct?"

Mortulannis hastily shook the cobwebs from his head and maintained a stern face as he imposed himself over Chop Chop.

"You heard nothing, that was just the breeze!" Mortulannis cleared his throat, then turned back to the blocks that blocked off the upper half of the room, "This room will be the site of your first trial!"

Hex and Chop Chop readied their arms as they glazed over the room, fully prepared to attack, then lowered their weapons as Mortulannis began to laugh.

"No, no, it's not that kind of trial!" Mortulannis corrected as he floated over to the blocks, "All you have to do is push these blocks out of the way!"

"Push these blocks away?" Hex mused as she floated over to one block and ran her hand down its cold surface.

It seemed solid, but not solid enough to resist a levitation spell or a good push. However, you could never know with these kinds of trials, for there was always some kind of hidden trick up the sleeve. Hex carefully levitated out of any exploding range, then with a flick of her wrist she levitated the blocks out of the entrance's way… But oddly enough, nothing happened! No sudden explosions or unleashing of monsters, not even a plastic spider from the ceiling!

No, she had just opened the way to a nearby hallway. Something about this felt wrong. Shouldn't a trial have more to it than just pushing some blocks? Shouldn't a crypt with this level of importance have some kind of safety procedures installed? Hex peered down the halls just to be safe, but she saw no obstructions other than more cinder blocks.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Mortulannis asked as he appeared behind Hex, "Get pushing!"

With their safety guaranteed, Chop Chop appeared from behind Mortulannis and proceeded down the halls with only slight moments of pause taken to crash into blocks with his shield and push them out of the way.

"You know," Hex said as she floated up and lifted another block out of their path with magic, "It's much easier to do this with magic. You should just leave this to me."

"That may be true," Chop Chop remarked just moments before he crashed into another block and sent it sliding, "But it would be dishonorable of me to not pull my own weight during missions. I shan't force you to do all the work."

That was just like Chop Chop, always so caught up in his knightly honor. Not that Hex minded, for it was not in a bad way. He acted just as a knight, as a Skylander should, all noble and gentlemanly and valiant. It was… Charming, in an odd sort of way.

Hex nodded, but nonetheless pushed the last few blocks out of the way and trailed into the next room. The moment her feet hit the ground, she was greeted by a thin, almost eerie-looking mist and the distinct reek of stale chemicals, almost like… A laboratory? With a snap of her fingers, the mist cleared and unveiled that she had indeed found herself in a laboratory, and a very unkempt one at that, one that brought to mind Pop Fizz's old lab on the rare occasion she had stumbled in.

Tables were cobweb-coated and overturned while broken glass and half-full beakers pooled out stale, probably toxic liquids in all sorts of colors over the stone floors. Over on the walls hung rotted papers with faded ink that just barely displayed all sorts of potion recipes and theorem alongside even more cobwebs, while beside them tired, old bookshelves held ancient chemistry books that were practically calcified and certainly at least a century behind the times. Well, this did seem like the kind of place a philosopher king would have in his tomb…

"And here is your second trial!" Mortulannis exclaimed as he looked down at Chop Chop and Hex, "Clean out this laboratory, and bring anything of value to me!"—Mortulannis flew behind Chop Chop and pushed him forward—"Now get working!"

Chop Chop sighed, but nonetheless joined Hex while she brushed her hand against a nearby table and flipped it upright. He himself had gone to work quickly, with his sword and shield used as a makeshift broom and dustpan to sweep the broken glass and stray papers off the ground… Neverminding that it didn't have half the efficiency of the actual tool.

But, at least that was one thing off of Hex's mind, so with a clasp and release of her hand, she summoned a magical, cyan towel and sent it away to scrub the pooling liquids of something or other off the floor. While the towel did its work, Hex flipped the few other tables upright and claimed a couple scrolls off of its surface, a few stray jewels off the next. By the time the floors were sparkling clean, Hex had amassed anything visible on the tables she had flipped and gathered it on one particular table, while Chop Chop brushed dust off of his shield as he joined her.

"Very impressive," Mortulannis remarked as he flew towards Hex and Chop Chop, though his eyes were fixed on the table as he sifted through the treasure pile. He frowned as he levitated a couple scrolls, then tossed them away one by one. "Nope. No. Nada. Zilt. Wrong."

Hex raised an eyebrow as she watched the scrolls fall to the floor. Mortulannis was famed for his value of knowledge and written works, and yet, he tossed those scrolls aside like candy wrappers! What was going on here?

"Ooh, I could make a pretty gold coin or two off of these~" Mortulannis crooned as he lifted up the jewels, then hid then behind his back and snarled the moment he realized Hex was watching him. "Now, don't just meander around! You still have many more trials ahead of you!"

But, as Mortulannis made his way out of the laboratory, Hex and Chop Chop lingered within instead. Once he was safely out of range, the two of them turned to each other and nodded as if they wanted to say something...

"You two!" Shouted Mortulannis from what seemed like much further down the hallway, "Hurry up, I don't have all the time in the world to guide you around!"

Then that nod turned into tired sighs and wary grimaces as they went back to tailing Mortulannis.

"Say, speaking of guides," Hex remarked as she floated towards the source of Mortulannis's voice, "What do you believe happened to him?"

"Probably got lost trying to find his way through the catacombs," Chop Chop replied with a shake of his head, "He didn't seem like the most reliable sort."

Hex nodded, but as Chop Chop went ahead, she manifested a small, glowing cyan skull and gently patted its head. As her skull looked back up at her, Hex leaned down and whispered close to its earhole, then with a nod it zoomed off into the crypt's dark corridors.

"Hopefully that should work," Hex whispered as she turned around and floated after Chop Chop.

§Speaking of T-Bone…§

"There, finally shook that thing!" T-Bone exclaimed as he fell to his knees and panted, "Geez, who knew running could take so much out of ya? Especially when you've got no organs!"

T-Bone cackled at his own joke, then shook his head and looked around. "Anyways, you Skylanders have any idea…"

T-Bone blinked and froze. He looked all around, but everywhere he went he found nothing but dust and darkness and cobwebs… No Skylanders in sight! How did he end up all alone here?

"Skylanders? Hello?" T-Bone scratched his skull and turned his gaze back down the halls, "I could've sworn they were with me just a second ago!"

And so, T-Bone sighed and journeyed back down the halls.

"Guess I'd better find them before they get themselves lost…" T-Bone said as he hung his head and walked back down the path in the dusty floors his footsteps had created. He heaved another sigh as he ducked under a batch of cobwebs, then froze as a soft, aqua light filtered through the halls.

"Huh?" T-Bone uttered as the light grew brighter and closer, "What's that?"

§

With a hop and a stretch, Chihiro left the ship and took her first step back into the new, completely liberated Fairy Kingdom… Then completely froze as she took in its beauty!

It was a far cry from the hollow shell of a land she had first seen when she came to liberate the kingdom some time ago. No, now it absolutely bustled with life! The trees were strong and dotted with leaves painted in a rainbow of colors, all of which brilliantly glowed against the sunlight. The grass stood tall and proud as it caressed her boots, the earth below it a home not just for itself but for beautiful flowers tinged with magic and ripe berry-filled bushes. And the buildings, once torn and disarrayed, now stood tall and proud with their sturdy, bright bricks and stained glass windows. Fairies in all appearances bustled around the once barren streets, their chatter a lively soundtrack to the already energetic scenarios. It felt like something straight out of a fairy tale, and Chihiro adored it so!

She could just stand there and watch it forever, but the gentle twinkling of magic behind her noted that somebody had arrived!

"Young honorable Chihiro!" Called a voice that Chihiro hadn't heard in quite a while, "It's good to see you in such happy spirits~"

"Persephone?" Chihiro whispered as she turned around to find the voice's source and broke into a smile, "Persephone, it really is you!"

Sure enough, right at Chihiro's side was none other than Persephone, who looked just as radiant as the world around her!

Persephone's old clothes had been changed out for an elegant gown dyed a royal shape of purple with striking crimson accents on the collar and skirt's rims, all held together with a mulberry-colored sash for a belt. The red jewel she wore on her forehead was now the centerpiece for a shiny circlet composed of translucent lilac crystals, while purple silk armbands with red fringes were wrapped around her wrists and her shiny blue hair looked much softer and lighter. Even her wings sparkled with a light Chihiro had never seen in them before!

"You look great, Persephone!" Chihiro hugged Persephone tight, then jumped back and frowned, "What'cha doing here, anyways?"

"Honorable Master Eon asked me to guide you to our happy recovery centers for your exam!" Persephone took Chihiro's hand in her own, "And, I believed it would be a splendid way to catch up on our latest dances!"

Chihiro couldn't help but giggle at Persephone's strange syntax, which she had come to miss since they last parted ways. She was starting to understand what people meant when they said that you never really miss things until they're gone, she supposed.

"Okay then!" Chihiro chirped as she pointed a finger down the roads, now paved with sleek white stone that sparkled in a pastel rainbow array of colors, "Lead the way, your queenliness!"

"Gladly, happy Chihiro!"

The two of them broke out in laughter as they raced down the streets, then slowly their run drew to a simple walk. As they passed down cobblestone sidewalks, Chihiro took little notice to the fairies that bowed and sputtered in Persephone's presence. She was more concerned about getting caught up than anything!

"As you can see," Persephone explained while she gestured towards the town before them, "Our home has made a splendid recovery since it was freed from that awful Kaos's grasp!"

Persephone's smile drooped as she looked down towards the sidewalks. "In most areas, anyways. Though my sisters and I have done our best, there's quite a few towns who still struggle to dance once more…"

"Which is what I'm here for! Gotta help people out for the exam and all!" Chihiro exclaimed as she ran in front of Persephone and nodded, "Just say the word and I'll be off!"

Persephone chuckled and lifted her head. "I'm afraid that isn't my area to dance in, happy Chihiro. The relief center is the one where you'll get your dancing steps from!"

Persephone let go of Chihiro, then flew ahead and turned around a bakery with bricks the color of warm bread.

"And here it is!" Persephone proclaimed as she flew back around the corner, "The relief center is right this merry way!"

Chihiro followed Persephone and sure enough, past the rows and rows of houses, was a gigantic red and white building with hearts and flowers and crosses painted in all sorts of welcoming, pastel colors on its walls that sat on a tall, grassy hill at the end of the town's pathway.

"There you are, Lady Persephone!" Called another familiar voice from behind them, "I've been looking for you all afternoon!"

Chihiro chirped and tilted her head, but Persephone only giggled and flew back around.

"Aura, my dear!" Persephone exclaimed as she flew over, "Forgive my sudden interruption of our prior dance. I was only giving young honorable Chihiro a tour of our home!"

"You mean the portal master?"

Chihiro turned her attention around the corner, and sure enough, there behind them was Aura!

Though she had the same appearance that she donned when she and Chihiro first crossed paths, Aura looked much, much more enchanting than back then! Maybe it was because in that time, her clothes had been cleaned and mended to the point where they looked brand-new, her hair was soft and her eyes shone with a bright, magical sort of light. The wide smile on her face and the warm blush that dusted her cheeks only added to this radiance, too…

"It is you!" Aura exclaimed as she flitted away from Persephone and towards Chihiro, "Thank you so much again for everything you and the Skylanders did for our home!"

"It's no biggie, it's what we do!" Chihiro replied as she flashed Aura a peace sign then turned back to the corner, "Speaking of which, I actually came here to help out for the day, so I'd better get going!"

"I understand, Lady Persephone and I have quite a few engagements ourselves~" Aura's voice turned a bit teasing, almost coy even, as she flew over to Persephone, "Isn't that right?"

"Oh, Aura, there's no need to be so shy with your dances! We were only making arrangements for our engagement!"

"ENGAGEMENT?" Chihiro whipped her head back around while her eyes grew as wide as her face, "You two are getting married?!"

"Not that kind of engagement!" Aura corrected, her blush now spread so far it covered her face, "We were only checking the restoration processes for several towns! Lady Persephone's dialect just refers to it as such…"—Aura smiled and gently planted a kiss on Persephone's cheek—"Besides, we're not that far in our relationship yet~"

"Now, now, dearest Aura, if you wish for us to dance as a pair I'm sure I could arrange the steps~"

"Lady Persephone!"

Chihiro made a small chuckle as she watched Persephone and Aura haplessly flirt with each other like couples should while they flew on their way, then turned her attention back to the relief building around the way. Outside the building's limits, one could just barely see a couple of fairies loading boxes into a sparkling carriage that vaguely resembled an ambulance.

Though as Chihiro drew closer, she swore she could've recognized those fairies! Wait a second! That one, who was getting ready to lift those boxes to the side, that had to be…

"CALLIOPE!" Chihiro called as she bound forward and tackled the fairy in a hug, "It's been so long!"

"Whoa!" Calliope exclaimed as she was trapped in Chihiro's hug and spun around, then shook her head and looked back, "Wait a second, Chihiro?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out!" Chihiro giggled as she winked and stuck out her tongue, then dusted herself off and let go, "How're you and your moms doing?"

"Great!" Calliope turned around and began levitating nearby crates into the carriage, "We've been super busy helping out around the kingdom, but seeing everyone so happy again is worth it!"

Truth is, Chihiro didn't necessarily need to ask Calliope. Just seeing the way she looked was enough! Her skin and eyes both shone with a new kind of light, and she now donned a mulberry hooded capelet paired with a purple-pink dress, both of which were in much better condition than the ragged cloaks she had donned the last time they met. Her hair was a much brighter red and burned bright against the sunlight, while her wings sparkled with a new kind of light!

But still, Chihiro wanted to at least hear it, just to be sure.

Both of them had gotten ready to speak again, but before they could say another word, the soft ring of a doorbell drew their attention. Just across from them, a muscular fairy woman pushed open the door as she hauled an impressively large stack of crates out of the relief center.

The fairy had short, curly reddish-brown hair and lightly-tanned skin with sparkling deep brown eyes the color of brown jewels, all paired with red wings and a red mist trail for feet. She wore a white and brown-striped tunic and a brown leather belt, and one could just barely catch the gleam of a golden ring on her finger…

"Alright, these should be the last ones we need to deliver!" The fairy proclaimed as she placed the stack of crates down on the ground, then wiped her hands clean and turned to Calliope, "Callie, can you—"

The fairy woman widened her eyes, then her gaze turned gentle as she locked eyes with Chihiro and grinned. "Well, if it isn't the portal master who helped saved our home!"

Chihiro made a kind of forced grin as the fairy woman flew up and shook her hand—crap, just who was this person? Chihiro was pretty bad with faces, and not seeing people for a few months only adds to the trouble… What if this was someone she was supposed to know? So, Chihiro made a robotic nod and turned to Calliope with a pleading, "Who's this person please help me out here" kind of look.

"Oh, right!" The fairy woman's eyes widened, "I don't think we were introduced last time we saw each other!"

Phew, so this wasn't someone Chihiro knew yet! She hadn't committed a social faux-pas after all!

"I'm Dione, Calliope's mother." Dione gestured towards another fairy who flew out the door with eyes fixed on a checklist, "And this is my wife, Mnemosyne."

Mnemosyne was much skinnier and paler in complexion compared to Dione, but there was no doubting she was Calliope's mother as well! After all, she had the same fiery red hair that Calliope did, though hers was a bit longer and kept in a bob cut. Black goggles with thin frames sat on her face and reflected the light against her bright green eyes, and she was dressed in a white lab coat that had colorful flowers stitched onto its end and was buttoned up high enough that it only barely showed the purple blouse she wore underneath it. However, it had large enough spaces cut into it to show off her mist trail and wings, which were both blue, and on her one hand was a ring that matched Dione's ring in appearance.

Mnemosyne only waved to Chihiro and Calliope as she mumbled something to herself, then she flitted up to Dione and held her checklist up for Dione to see.

"I've done the calculations, and for today we…" Mnemosyne explained as her eyes turned to Chihiro, "Excuse me, who are you?"

Chihiro pointed to herself, just to be safe, then when Mnemosyne nodded Chihiro knelt down and bowed her head.

"My name is Chihiro Hatsuki! I'm one of, I mean, I'm the apprentice of Master Eon!" Chihiro explained, her head still hung low.

"She was one of the people who helped liberate the kingdom, remember?" Dione whispered as she looked over to Mnemosyne.

Mnemosyne just smiled as she made a soft chuckle.

"Really, huh?" Mnemosyne remarked as she nodded towards Chihiro, "Sorry about that, I'm bad with faces. Anyways, what brings you back here?"

Well, at least Chihiro wasn't alone in that regard! Chihiro nodded, then stood back up and tugged on her vest.

"Well, for my exam, I have to help a village's residents the entire day, so I figured I'd do sort of a follow-up here!" Chihiro beamed, "I'm sure there's some places that could still use a little help!"

Mnemosyne nodded, then turned her attention back to her list and ran a finger down its pages.

"Let's see, the fairies of Vitrolly need some help touching up a few establishments, Pulimar's tracking down some livestock that recently went missing while repairing farmhouses, Valenyonne has an old silo or two that needs patched…"

Mnemosyne reluctantly flipped to the next page of her list, and in turn, the extensively long paper that cascaded down her board and onto the grass. "And then there's Stillhaven."

Chihiro leaned forward and whistled as she glazed over the list.

"Man, that's a lot!" Chihiro remarked as she looked up at Mnemosyne, "Why don't I help you there?"

However, instead of seeming relieved, Dione and Mnemosyne just grimaced and looked at each other with that kind of very worried look that people get when they have to deliver really bad news to people! Oh boy…

"What? What's wrong?"

"Don't get me wrong, we really appreciate the help, but Stillhaven's in lot of disrepair," Dione explained as she clasped her hands with a bit of a reluctant smile on her face, "It's taken the longest time for us to restore!"

"And the fairies there are…" Mnemosyne started, only to trail off as she glances back to Chihiro.

"That's no biggie! I wanna go somewhere where I can be the most help!" Chihiro replied as she jumped up and pumped a fist, "Bring it on! I'm sure it isn't really that bad!"

So, Dione and Mnemosyne looked at each other and shrugged. "Alright, if you say so."

"We did have business there, after all," Mnemosyne added as she flew over to a few stray crates.

Dione then turned her attention to the carriage as she went to lift the crates up… But before she could, Chihiro snapped her fingers and sent each of the crates flying onto the carriage's back!

"So, so, are we going yet?" Chihiro asked as she hopped over to the carriage's door and flung it open.

"Indeed we are!" Dione chuckled as she, Mnemosyne and Calliope all flew inside the carriage!

Chihiro made a sharp gasp of glee, then leaped inside the carriage and slammed the door shut. As she took her seat next to Calliope, the carriage rattled similar to how a car rattled when it started up, then drove down the way to Stillhaven…

§

With another firm push on their end, Hex and Chop Chop stumbled out of what they hoped was the last block maze. Three block mazes in a row, who would have guessed?

"A riveting success!" Mortulannis proclaimed as he flew out of the block maze's newly-formed exit and grinned, "But don't get too cocky now! Those were only among your first trials, there's still many more to go!"

And so, Mortulannis hummed to himself as he floated past Hex and Chop Chop with the most content smile on his face and no sort of attention paid to the halls below them, which were covered in a suspiciously large number of cobwebs. And yet, he just strode right in and disappeared into the depths… Then came out screaming seconds later as he flew behind Chop Chop and Hex!

"Here's your next trial!" Mortulannis squealed as he just barely poked his head over Chop Chop and Hex's shoulders, "Get rid of this awful spider infestation!"

The sound of angry chatter burst down the halls as red eyes lit up like jewels in the night, then out from the halls came floods of spiders! Judging by the way they prattled and gnashed, they weren't exactly in a good mood, and if that wasn't enough of a clue then perhaps the way they pounced on Hex and Chop Chop was good enough!

Chop Chop readied his sword and jumped in for the kill as he slashed through the waves of spiders like they were nothing but a minor pest, then jumped back and flung his shield high as a much larger one tried to leap on him from the ceiling! He grunted as the spider slammed into his shield, then tossed it aside and went back to slashing away.

Hex levitated forward as her hands glowed bright, then sent down a rain of skull orbs that splattered more of the spiders before they could even get a chance to attack! The spiders that escaped her wrath then, however, weren't much better off, for they were chased back down the hall by skull orbs! Hex made an approving nod as a faint, splattering sound echoed down the halls, then swept herself away as Chop Chop sent waves of bony brambles ripping through the stone floor!

However, the spiders weren't quite as lucky as she was and were completely washed away in the flood! Now, the floor was completely clean of spiders. All that remained was blood splatters, torn spider legs and the faint, but distinct stench of war.

And yet, Hex didn't feel quite at ease yet. Something tugged at her heart as a signal of warning, a reminder that the battle wasn't over until the final bells had sung. In fact, she could have sworn she heard something echo down from the halls…

"Stand back," Hex warned as she flung an arm in front of Chop Chop and Mortulannis before they could proceed, "They're coming!"

A soft hiss echoed throughout the halls as small chatter grew louder and louder, and the hissing grew more and more venomous. Unfortunately, Hex's premonition was right! More spiders had crept down from the halls, and like their predecessors they were prepared to fight!

Chop Chop rushed forward as his shield flared with eldritch purple light that solidified into a skewer at the center of his shield, then charged through the swarms of spiders with gusto! His charge formed a path through the ongoing swarm of spiders, though while he drew to a stop he refused to relent. Instead, he withdrew another sword from within the confines of his shield and slashed through the spider waves, two sword slashes at a time!

But while he was on the offense, Hex stood firmly on defense as she summoned a round to skulls to act as a makeshift shield. She chanted under her breath as the skulls knocked away any potential attackers… Save for one. The faint sound of hissing propped open Hex's eyes and showed her one particularly stubborn spider who kept leaping from skull to skull! The skulls bashed into and ground against each other in a desperate attempt to get this one sole spider, but ultimately, their head-bashing was pointless. While the skulls fought among each other, the spider leaped away and shot itself towards Hex!

Hex just sighed, then flung a hand in front of herself and shot a gigantic orb that shot the spider away. Hex scowled and turned around and continued to shoot off orbs as more spiders got their predecessors' idea and began leaping towards her with her skulls as launchpads. As she turned around and blasted away a few spiders to her right, Hex's eyes fixed on the halls below, where larger and more numerous spiders poured in! How many of these awful things were there?

"Just where are all this spiders coming from?" Chop Chop asked as he slashed away some particularly nasty-looking ones before they could chomp down on him.

"I don't know," Mortulannis exclaimed as he swayed left and right in some desperate attempt to avoid them, "But—"—Mortulannis screamed and swept upwards as several spiders jumped towards him—"GET THEM AWAY FROM ME!"

Splat! Splat! Splat!

Hex's scowl turned to a frown as splattering sounds echoed down the halls, then summoned a gigantic skull and sent it towards the remaining spiders on her tail! While the skull chased the spiders down the beginning of the hallway, Hex teleported out of the spider swarm and floated down further. As the splattering sounds grew louder and louder, Hex crafted a glowing skull and gently urged it down the hall to find…

"Spider spitters," Hex scowled as the skull drew to a stop, "I should have guessed."

Sure enough, a row of milky white sacs laid alongside the hall and spat out spiders with concerning speed! Well, not for long.

"I've never been particularly fond of spiders," Hex remarked as she floated down the way and shot orbs towards each and every spitter, "They always seem to find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Hex drifted away as the spitters exploded into a rain of soupy green goo and silk, then paused and turned around as the spitters' remains seeped down the wall like blood. Yes, it looked like they wouldn't be making any more spiders from here on out.

"Bow to my sword, you cretins!" Chop Chop cried from back down the hall.

Oh dear, seemed as though Chop had gotten himself into a bind. Hex swept her way down the halls, only to bounce off of something rubbery and slick. She shook her head to clear her vision, then teleported away to Chop Chop's side.

Not that he had particularly noticed, as he was more focused on the thick of battle! Before them all was a gigantic spider with an abdomen full of suspiciously bright green goop and a large, gnashing maw. Its bright red eyes fixed on Chop Chop as he bore his sword, though Chop Chop wasn't intimidated at all as he blocked the spider's blows.

If anything, Mortulannis was far more terrified as he cowered behind a particularly large vase!

"Get rid of that thing, quickly!" Mortulannis wailed as he poked his eye over the vase, then screamed and cowered further behind as the spider hissed at him.

"I'm trying, your majesty!" Chop Chop shouted as he skidded back from the spider's blow, "This spider is quite resilient!"

Chop Chop tossed up his shield as the spider slashed at him with surprisingly sharp legs, then let it down for a moment as Hex manifested beside him.

"Hex!" Chop Chop proclaimed as he nodded towards Hex, "You couldn't have arrived at a better moment!"

As the spider roared, Chop Chop threw up his shield and surely scowled beneath the confines of his helmet. "I'll hold this spider down. See if you can find a way to stop it!"

And with that, Chop Chop roared as he tossed himself at the spider and slashed its legs! The spider groaned as chartreuse blood oozed down its front, then it lunged down and snapped at Chop Chop, but not quickly enough, as Chop Chop dodged each blow!

With the spider firmly distracted, Hex teleported away and hovered above the spider's abdomen. Her eyes fixed on that giant sac of strange, bubbling liquid, then down to where Chop Chop was brawling against the spider, all while the green, glowing blood from its injuries dripped down and sizzled onto the floor. Wait, sizzled? That gave Hex an idea!

Hex whispered out a spell as she held out her hands, then watched as a gigantic skull formed at her palms! Hex clasped the skull's back as her hands flared with magic, then as it rattled and shuddered like it was just itching to escape, she released it! The skull cackled as it dashed straight for the spider's abdomen, slammed into the abdomen and popped a hole right in it!

The spider made the loudest wail of pain Hex had ever heard, but she didn't stop to watch. Instead, she teleported over to Chop Chop's side and pulled him back from the spider.

"Brace yourself!" Hex exclaimed as she cast up a shield.

Chop Chop heeded Hex's warning and held his shield close to Hex's, which in response caused it to grow three sizes. And just in time, too!

The hole in the spider's abdomen completely collapsed the abdomen itself and sent that glowing, green liquid splattering everywhere, including on the spider itself! The spider cried in agony as the acid burned into its body, then finally it dissolved into a puddle of glowing, bubbling green goop that soaked into the stone floors.

Chop Chop and Hex released their shields as the acid finally settled, then looked towards each other and gave relieved nods. Yes, this awful spider storm was finally over.

"And that was your next trial cleared!" Mortulannis exclaimed as he flew over the acid and on his merry way, "Now follow me!"

Hex and Chop Chop shot a glance at each other, then Chop Chop jumped to a small, dry spot across from the pool of acid and lead Hex to solid ground. As they sidestepped the last remains of the acid, the two of them drifted down the now spider-free halls.

Soon enough, the cobwebs and dust had faded behind in favor of old paintings and worn doors, a clear sign that this was likely some kind of living quarters. But even that soon drew away in favor of a large, open room spotted with dusty pottery and a hallway blocked off by a large gate with a trio of rusty, dusty locks.

Mortulannis had eyed the pottery's insides for a few moments, but the moment he caught sight of Hex he gasped and steeled his gaze.

"You wouldn't possibly have the keys, would you?" Hex inquired as she floated up to the gate and turned to Mortulannis.

"Of course not!" Mortulannis exclaimed as he shook his head, "This is the next trial, after all!"—Mortulannis gestured towards the door—"Find the keys to this door!"

"And you wouldn't happen to know where those keys are, would you?" Chop Chop asked as he looked around the wide, open room.

"Why would I?" Mortulannis scoffed, "This isn't my place!"

Mortulannis looked back at Hex and Chop Chop, then gasped and bat his eyes around the room. "I-I mean, this place is so big, it's quite hard to keep track!"

Hex shot Mortulannis a stern glare, but nonetheless she urged Chop Chop to follow her. The two of them crept deeper into the halls, just far enough that they could see Mortulannis but he couldn't see them, then finally they drew to a stop.

"My lady, if I might be so bold as to suggest this…" Chop Chop whispered as he held up his shield not to guard from enemies, but from any potential eavesdroppers, "Something feels a bit strange about all this."

Hex only nodded in silent agreement. This Mortulannis seemed a bit… Off. His hasty and cowardly nature seemed hardly befitting of the brave and wise philosopher king Hex had long heard of, and not to mention his odd fixation with the decorations! And his offhanded comments about money hadn't left her brain, either...

"So you've noticed as well." Chop Chop nestled them both closed underneath his shield, "I don't know what kind of intentions his highness may hold, but I have a hunch they may not be entirely benevolent—"—Chop Chop paused for a moment to slay a few spiders—"Or legitimate."

"Indeed, but…" Hex frowned and turned back to Chop Chop, but only for a moment.

Hex shortly after looked back to where Mortulannis sat in the halls, though he had taken no notice of her. Rather, his eyes were fixed on a painting that he scoffed at before he hung it back on its place.

"Whoever this ghost is, he does seem to know his way around this crypt, and we are short of a guide. And, if he is up to no good, we'd need to make sure he doesn't succeed."

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

Hex floated out from under Chop Chop's shield and clasped her hand. "We monitor him for now and let him lead us to the Skull Mask."

Chop Chop, however, seemed a bit more hesitant than Hex did as he turned his attention down to the side of the halls, where an old bomb resided among a pile of dust and cobwebs just a ways off from a strong cobblestone wall. He stayed still for a moment, then finally he trailed over to the bomb and lifted it off the floor.

"Is that truly a wise decision, my lady?"

Chop Chop hummed for a moment as if he was contemplating something, then then took the worn bomb from the floor and brought it to Hex's side. "This ghost, whoever he may be, could have some kind of trick up his sleeve if we let him play around."

"Fear not, I have considered that as well," Hex replied as she pinched the bomb's fuse with her fingers and lit it with eldritch, magical cyan fire, "Should he try to do anything underhanded…"

Chop Chop tossed the bomb towards the stone wall that laid before them, then as the bomb exploded he walked up to the rubble that remained of the wall itself. As he collected a shiny, golden key from the wreckage, Chop Chop turned back to Hex, and even though his face was masked by the helmet he wore, Hex could tell from the way he held his sword tight that he was in the midst of contemplation.

"Very well then, my lady." Chop Chop said at last as he sharpened his sword against the stone floors, "I'll trust your judgment for the time being,"—Chop Chop looked aside and sighed—"Even if being ordered around like a petty cleaner is getting quite tedious."

Chop Chop withdrew his shield and brandished his sword, which shone a little brighter thanks to the faint candlelight above them.

Hex made a silent nod of agreement, then the two of them passed through the hallway that Chop Chop had opened up.

The cobblestone halls that surrounded them were surprisingly pristine and free of contamination unlike the rest of the crypt, though oddly enough one wall beside them was incredibly pale in color compared to the rest.

Hex drifted towards the wall and gently pushed against it, but in response to the force it completely crumbled to bits! Hex drifted back as the rubble settled, then floated forward as she caught sight of a golden glimmer within the wreckage—a key! Hex gripped the key tight as she rejoined Chop Chop and floated down the halls with him. There were two keys in their possession already—hopefully the third wouldn't be very far behind. The two of them rounded a corner into a room with a stretching pathway, only for Chop Chop to draw to a stop.

"There it is!" Chop Chop proclaimed as he pointed ahead.

Surely enough, the third key laid in plain sight, right in front of them! Chop Chop stormed ahead and went to grab the key off the ground, but before he could, some bright yellow thing dashed ahead and pushed him back!

"Nyeh heh heh!" Cackled a short, yellow imp as it turned around and pulled its eyelid down at Chop Chop, all while it held the key in its grasp!

Hex scowled as she drifted back and got ready to charge. She knew these halls were a little too suspiciously clean!

But, before she could race off, Chop Chop made a low groan and chased after the imp himself! The imp dashed down the right path of the hallway with Chop Chop in hot pursuit, then reappeared around the left with no sign of slowing down! They lapped around the halls twice… Three times… Five… But while the imp still kept its speed, Chop Chop had lost his steam and forced himself to stop and lurch over.

As he panted, Hex floated close and gently propped him up.

"My apologies," Chop Chop panted as he strained his back, "But it seems I'm not nearly as fast as I used to be."

"Allow me to intervene, then," Hex replied as she floated off and teleported away!

When Hex reappeared, she found herself in front of the imp, right as it was getting ready to round a corner! The imp squealed and stumbled back, but before it could recover from the shock, Hex shot an orb right at it! As the orb tossed the imp aside, Hex collected the key from the ground and teleported back to Chop Chop. The two of them pulled out the twin keys they had retrieved earlier, glazed over them and stashed them back away with a sense of relief.

"Splendid work, my lady," Chop Chop praised as he held his hand out to her.

Hex took hold of Chop Chop's hand, and in a flash of magic the two of them returned back to the broken entrance of that maze.

As they trailed back down the halls and into Mortulannis's view, Mortulannis turned around and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Well, did you get the keys?" Mortulannis asked.

"See for yourself," Hex replied as she slid the first key out of Chop Chop's hand, then withdrew the remaining two.

Mortulannis leaned in close and glazed over the keys, then made a wide grin.

"It took you long enough!" Mortulannis turned his attention towards the gate in an almost prodding manner, "Now go unlock this gate!"

Hex scoffed, then floated up to the gate and inserted the keys. With a snap of her fingers, they all turned simultaneously before the gate creaked open.

"And there you have it! You've passed your next trial!" Mortulannis tsked and floated away, "Now come along, there's still more than awaits you!"

As Mortulannis floated out of view, Chop Chop and Hex shot each other very tired looks, but nonetheless followed him down the dusty, cobweb-coated halls…

§

"… And it really is that bad," Chihiro remarked as she looked over the dirty town laid before her person.

The town's colors were washed-out, dull shades of green and browns and blues, completely opposite to the colorful rainbow of joy and life Chihiro had seen not moments earlier. Stray papers, wrappers, broken barrels and all other sorts of trash littered the streets, while the houses that flanked it had holes in their roofs, windows either shattered completely or covered in dust and cobweb layers so thick one couldn't see past, peeling paint jobs and so many other signs of wear that it was a miracle they hadn't fallen apart! Even what little flora the town had was just as withered and despondent as the sights it grew in… But that was hardly the creepiest sight to behold.

Rather, that most terrifying thing was that the place was a complete ghost town, it seemed! No fairies flew among the streets or chatted by the houses, and even the animals had completely abandoned the place! The only sound was that of wind carrying trash across its breezes. For a moment, Chihiro had wondered if maybe they had stopped by the wrong town, but the serious look on Dione's face confirmed that this was the place.

"Well, not quite what I expected," Chihiro admitted as she dusted off her hands, "But, it's nothing I can't handle!"—Chihiro hummed a tune as she turned back to Dione—"Where do we start?"

"Supply deliveries, mainly," Dione replied as she turned her attention to some of the other fairies on their team, who had already started unloading supply crates, "Food, water, toiletries… Those kind of things. Can't live without the basic living things, you know!"

"Right!" Chihiro bounced up and down, held out her hands, then shouted out and stumbled back as Dione loaded a kinda hefty crate into them.

"Just drop these off at the local's front doors, they'll know what to do," Dione explained, "Now if you'll excuse me, we've got a lot more unloading to do!"

As Dione flew off, Chihiro nodded and stumbled off with crate in hand, only to groan as its weight started to weigh her down! She could barely walk, only able to totter about as the crate's weight numbed her arms, then finally as it got ready to slip she squeaked and teleported off to a nearby front door.

"Finally!" Chihiro exclaimed as she dropped the crate onto a tattered welcome mat and caught her breath, "Sweet relief!"

Chihiro beamed as she run what seemed like a doorbell, at least judging by the dull, eerie chime it made once pressed, but oddly enough, nobody came. Maybe they were in the shower or something? Either way, Chihiro rang it twice, thrice, a fourth time to be safe…

"Quit ringing that thing!" Shouted a faint voice from inside, "I'm trying to sleep here!"

Huh? Chihiro placed a hand on the doorknob, but the door itself hadn't been locked, so instead, she accidentally pushed against the door and flung it open! The first thing that hit her nose was the feeling of dust so thick and itchy it made her break into a sneezing fit, then when the sneezes cleared she opened her eyes and… Geez, this place was a wreck!

Dust covered every angle, from the ceiling to the floor to the furniture, complete with very visible dust bunnies that inhabited the halls like weeds. The wallpaper was torn and peeling, the blankets and couches had visible stains on them that sorely needed to be washed out, and… Hey, was that the house's owner sleeping on the couch there? Chihiro could just faintly catch sight of a head of ratty, tangled hair that was practically buried within the confines of one of those old, old blankets.

"Hello?" Chihiro said as she skipped over and gently shook whoever was buried in the blankets underneath, "We delivered your supplies! They're waiting on your front door!"

"Whatever," the fairy groaned as they turned away and shooed off Chihiro without a second thought, "Just let me sleep."

Chihiro frowned as she placed her hands on her hips. "So do you want me to bring them in for you?"

"I said leave it. It's all gonna rot anyways."

"Now that's no attitude to have! The sun's kind of shining if you squint a little, the birds are probably flying and singing where we can't see it, the grass is… Well, somewhere, I'm sure. You've got a whole day ahead of you!" Chihiro rolled her eyes, then smiled as she grabbed hold of the fairy's ratty old blanket. "Come on now, up and at 'em!"

Chihiro beamed as she yanked the blanket off the fairy, then winced as she just barely held back a scream. That fairy before her looked almost skeletal, their worryingly thin frame only barely masked by the stained, dull-looking nightgown they wore! Their eyes were dull and practically sunk into the bags on their face, and their mouth was twisted into a scowl. It was like she had looked a zombie right in the eye!

"I TOLD YOU TO LET ME SLEEP! What point is there in going out when everything a mess, anyways?!" The fairy exclaimed as they pulled back their blanket and bundled themself up once more, "NOW GET OUT!"

Chihiro just winced and quietly crept away from the fairy under the blankets, whose head promptly disappeared from over their couch arm. What was their problem? Their whole place was a mess, they practically looked like a ghost and their attitude was just as bad as that mess! But hey, maybe they were just one grumpy fairy? Surely the others were a bit better off?

So, as she closed the door behind her, Chihiro hopped over to where the supply boxes were, grabbed a few more and dropped them off at the doorstops! A new optimism shone in her eyes as she lifted up the crates and teleported away—yeah, that was only one crabby apple, the rest of the basket would be fine, right?

"Delivery!" Chihiro shouted as she rang the doorbell, "It's your—"—Chihiro jumped back as the door was answer by a fairy who looked like they hadn't slept in weeks—"ACK!"

"Just who are you?" Shouted the homeowner, who looked at Chihiro like a deer looked at headlights as Chihiro tried to drop off their supply crate, "Are you…"

Chihiro went to open her mouth, but before she could something glass crashed behind them! The fairy screamed and slammed the door just as quickly, and judging by the series of slamming and thunking noises that echoed from inside the home, did a little more than that too!

Chihiro winced, grabbed the rest of her supply crates and teleported over to the next house. But when she arrived, the doorway had been completely blocked off by empty, opened crates stacked together over unopened ones with a fortress's structure. And the one on top had some kind of note on it… But the ink was so faded that it could barely be read. Well, whatever it once said, something about it told Chihiro that whoever was in here wasn't going to answer her anytime soon.

Chihiro frowned, gently laid a crate over a patch of wilted flowers that looked as dead as the rest of the world around them, then finally she grabbed her last crate and teleported to the neighboring house. As she reappeared on the doorstep, Chihiro laid down the crate and warily rang the doorbell.

"Hello? Hello, your supply delivery's here!" Chihiro shouted as she went to knock on the door, then froze in place as the door slowly crept open.

The whole place was so dark inside that Chihiro could only barely make out the face of the one who answered the door beyond glaring, piercing eyes, but she didn't get much time anyways as they sighed and slammed the door back shut with such force that it cast dust everywhere.

Chihiro just bit her lip, then turned and teleported away. Had everybody here caught a case of the blues? She couldn't help but wonder that as she teleported back to the storage crate pile and leaned against the few crates that remained. Now that she got a good look around, most of the relief team's fairies didn't pay the residents much mind either. They just hastily dropped things off and left, as if they didn't want to be here!

"What's got everyone so worked up?" Chihiro wondered out loud as she started at the murky skies, "I mean, yeah it's kinda dull and gloomy around here and there's trash everywhere and the fairies have kind of a bad attitude, but I'm sure a little cleaning up would solve that, right?"

"We tried that before, when the relief efforts began," Mnemosyne explained as she flew up to Chihiro with another checklist in hand, "And it didn't exactly work."

"What do you mean?" Chihiro turned to Mnemosyne and tilted her head, then her frown deepened as Mnemosyne only sighed.

"Well, you see, you have to realize that for a village with its area's largest farms and orchards, it had an incredibly small population maintaining it. Only about a hundred or so fairies lived here." Mnemosyne bit her lip as she drew her hand across her the crates, "And Kaos's takeover took quite a hit on the village itself. They lost about half their population and their village was left in ruins from his soldiers' ambush."

Chihiro bit her lip and made a wary breath of her own. Something in her gut told her that she know where this conversation was starting to lead…

"The relief efforts started out well enough at first. We gave them the supplies they'd need to get back on their feet, metaphorically speaking, told them we'd be back to check up on things." Mnemosyne sighed again and shook her head.

"But when we came back, it was in an even worse shape than before, and the locals themselves looked like they given up on life itself! No matter what we said or did, we could barely get them out of their houses… I guess in the end, things were too overwhelming for them when they had already gone through so much."

Mnemosyne lifted herself up and looked down at her list.

"I… We wanted to help them further, we really did, but in the end we just couldn't afford it. They had no interest in helping things along, and our team was taking care of relief efforts for all corners of the kingdom. In the end, we were spread for too thin and we just had to give up."

Give up. Those words were a knife that pierced through Chihiro's heart. How could they just give up when they're doing so poorly and are in such a great need for help? That's what she wanted to say, but she knew that Mnemosyne had a point, too. If they were spread that thin, then surely they had to pick and choose. But still, it wasn't fair! These fairies couldn't just sit around and wait for when others were ready to help them—who knows what would happened if they didn't get help soon?

Wait a second! Chihiro shook her head and smiled—after all, helping out was exactly what she came here to do! So, she just smiled and twirled around.

"Well, don't worry!" Chihiro proclaimed as she strutted off, "I came here to help, and with my fancy powers this'll be a piece of cake! Everybody will be back on their feet in no time!"

Chihiro dashed down the streets, then frowned and paced in a circle as she examined the houses before her. All those fairies, they were so tired and so hopeless, but why? After all, there was a ton of reasons for people to become that way, magical and otherwise! And worse yet, the locals didn't seem particularly interested in talking to her, which would make it harder to figure this out. So how was she supposed to figure this out in time to finish her exam?

Chihiro groaned a little bit more, then her eyes cast their way down to a couple small blue and purple flowers that sprouted from the cracks beside a couple houses despite the wreckage around. They were awfully pretty, yet even their sight wasn't enough to lift their spirits.

"If only these flowers could cure everybody's sadness." Chihiro picked the flower and sniffed it, "After all, they're practically everywhere in this place! There'd be more than enough to cure the entire village."

With another sniff, Chihiro sighed and dropped the flower. Her heart sank to its pits while her eyelids sank over her eyes, and all she wanted to do was sulk. After all, this was already so hard to figure out, and if she didn't get it done soon, she'd never pass this exam! And she couldn't afford to retake it, not when she had so much she needed to catch up so she could get stronger and make up for lost time… And the gloomy scenery wasn't exactly helping her mood, either.

"Chihiro!"

Chihiro gasped and jumped back to her feet as Calliope flew straight towards her!

"There you are!" Calliope said as she flitted to Chihiro's side, "We're trying to sort through supplies and need a couple extra hands on deck…"—Calliope's face fell just slightly—"What's got you so upset?"

"Wait, upset?" Chihiro frowned, then looked under her boot and saw the flower she once held, its petals crushed under her foot, "Wait a second…"

Chihiro plucked a few more of the flowers from beside the cracks then shoved them straight into Calliope's face.

"Wait, Calliope! I think I might know what's wrong with everyone!"

"You do?" Calliope tilted her head and frowned as if she didn't entirely believe what Chihiro was saying.

"See these flowers?" Chihiro shook the flowers a few more times for emphasis.

"Well, yeah, they've sprouted all over the village—"

"I think they're what's making everyone so mopey! They're probably like…" Chihiro made a few frantic swirls of her hands and looked down, "Some super cursed flower that feeds off people's life energy or something!"

"Uh, it just looks like an ordinary flower…"

"We've gotta tell the others before it's too late!"

With no time to hesitate, Chihiro dashed away from Calliope and back into the heart of the village! She had no time to lose, she had to warn everyone!

"Everyone, everyone!"

"Chihiro, wait up!" Calliope exclaimed as she flitted after Chihiro.

However, Calliope was only an afterthought in Chihiro's mind as she raced up to where Mnemosyne was checking off another checklist while a few other fairies were stacking wooden crates. Chihiro grunted and skidded to a stop just before she crashed into everyone, then held her flowers up for all to see.

"I've found it!" Chihiro shouted at such a volume it caused all the fairies to look at her.

"Found what? Life blossoms?" Mnemosyne said as she leaned over and examined the flowers.

"Yeah! These things, they're sucking up all the energy from everyone and making them all—" Chihiro stopped short as Mnemosyne started to chuckle, "Wait, what's so funny?"

"Sapping energy, that's a new one," Mnemosyne chuckled, "Life blossoms are just ordinary flowers. They don't do anything other than sit around and look pretty."

"Dangit…" Chihiro frowned as the flowers slid out of her hand, then shook her head and made fists with her hands, "Still, I can't give up! Something's making all these fairies so sad and hopeless, I've gotta find it and save them!"

As Chihiro turned around and saw Calliope, she grabbed Calliope's hand and dashed back down the way. "Come on, Calliope! We've got a village to save!"

"Chihiro, wait!" Calliope shouted as Chihiro dragged her down the dusty, trash-filled streets.

"No time for questions, Calliope!" Chihiro let go of Calliope's hand and rifled through the rows of abandoned buildings and dead trees, "Maybe there's some kind of curse on this land that's made everyone tired and sad… I mean, look at those fields and trees!"

Chihiro gestured to rows of fields with wilted corn stalks and sad, thin trees that looked like they'd snap at any given moment.

"Why else would those be so weak and wilted?"

"Er, because when Kaos's forces captured everyone nobody could actually tend to them?" Calliope suggested as she raised a hand.

Chihiro frowned, then magicked up a simple flower seed and dropped it onto the ground.

"This seed is weak to cursed magic," Chihiro explained as she covered it with dirt, "If this land really is cursed, it shouldn't be able to sprout!"

Chihiro tapped her foot as she watched the tiny plot she created for a few moments, then frowned as her magic seed sprouted into a magic flower!

"Oh."

While a withered tree keeled over and split in half behind her, Chihiro shook her head and dashed to the door of a house with dust-covered windows that seemed like it hadn't been touched in months, if not years.

"Hmm, maybe there's like, some cursed artifact or something here! That's gotta be it, right?" Chihiro nodded to herself as the door creaked open and sent dust clouds flying everywhere, "Yeah, I mean, I've had my fair share of experience with cursed artifaaaCCCHOOOOO!"

Chihiro sniffled and wiped her nose, then frowned as the dust subsided. This place really was in bad condition! A firm layer of dust coated the floors and cobwebs made covered nearly everywhere around, and she was sure she saw a spider or two skitter across the floor…

"Whatever, now's as good a place to start as any!"

Chihiro tapped a floorboard just to be safe, then when it didn't cave under her weight she crept forward and examined the house's belongings. It was all ordinary still under the cocktail of spiderwebs and dust bunnies, like furniture, vases with dead flowers, pictures of fairies having fun…

"Doesn't seem like anything weird's here." Chihiro peered around the corner and stopped, "Huh?"

The stretch of room across this corner seemed… Oddly clean and new compared to the rest of this dusty, run-down house. At the very least, the dust that covered it wasn't nearly as prominent as it was in the rest of the house. A new addition, maybe?

Chihiro crept over the halls, so dark and dusty. She was sure she heard a board creak just a few seconds ago, or maybe it was all this tension causing her to hear things. This whole place felt so creepy and ominous that surely there was like, a creepy cursed artifact or a bloodsucking monster down the halls waiting for her…Huh? Something bright and soft and warm flickered across Chihiro's face for a few moments, and like a moth to flame Chihiro walked just a little fast to the light's source.

There, at the dead end these halls lead to, Chihiro found not a monster or artifact or cure, but some kind of monument seated on an old wooden dresser. It was a picture of a young fairy with a wide smile on their face, kept in an intricate frame that had stars and lilies carved into its purple wood. The picture was surrounded by barely-lit tea candles and fresh white flowers, almost like a… Oh.

Chihiro just barely drew her fingers across the dust that had set across the monument, then rubbed it off her fingers and hung her head. With a sigh, she crafted a flower out of magic and pressed it beside the flowers that had already been laid on the dresser.

"Chihiro, where'd you go, what are you doing?" Shouted Calliope's voice from back down the halls, "You can't just go barging…"

"There's nothing here, Calliope," Chihiro informed as she trailed up to Calliope and back to the house's open door, "Let's move on."

"Chihiro, this is getting a little ridiculous!" Calliope exclaimed, but Chihiro didn't have time to listen!

Chihiro dashed from that house to another, dustier house and peered inside, but it didn't seem to have anything odd outside of its overwhelming dustiness, so thick it made Chihiro break into a sneezing fit! As she slammed the door shut and collected herself, Chihiro bounced from house to house, but still, nothing odd popped up!

Guess the houses were out of the question… Chihiro frowned as she closed another door shut, then turned her attention to a large farm building that loomed over them and slammed the doors open! Surely there was something in here, right?

Nope, nothing but rotted food. Chihiro groaned as she slammed the doors shut, then dashed off to an odd-looking marble building with cracks all along its surface and peered into its deep, dark chambers. It vaguely reminded her of a museum, and museums keep a lot of weird cursed stuff in them, right? That's gotta be the place!

"Any cursed artifacts here?" Chihiro shouted as she leaned in front of the open door and waved her hand.

As the building's ceiling started to crumble, Chihiro winced and skipped back down the stairs. It did seem pretty run-down, better not risk anything. So, instead, she sighed and trailed along the beaten path.

She had dashed from building to building, house to house, farm storage room to… Whatever that dusty old museum-looking place was, but she couldn't find a thing still! Nothing more than dust bunnies and old walls and dust-covered furniture! And unfortunately, it wasn't exactly lifting her spirits. It was like no matter where she turned, the answer just kept growing further and further away! What would it take to finally figure out what was wrong here? She couldn't spend the whole day figuring this out, you know!

Chihiro slowed her run to a walk and hung her head low as she crept into a suspicious and kind of creepy-looking abandoned farmhouse, then poked her head around the gigantic doors.

"Hello? Any cursed artifacts here?" Chihiro asked as she looked around… But still, she found nothing there other than massive, empty space and stages and long-unused equipment!

At that point, Chihiro had grown so tired, all she could do was trudge inside, then sit down against the very dusty walls and sulk. After all, what else was there to do? She was supposed to help these fairies, but she couldn't do a thing to lift their spirits, or figure out what was causing them to be so mopey and sulky and not wanna leave their houses and fix up their village!

"Chihiro, for the last time, there's no secret artifacts or hidden curses!" Calliope exclaimed as she flew in with a very tired look on her face, one that immediately softened as she caught sight of Chihiro.

"Then what's gotten into everyone?!" Chihiro shouted back as she looked towards Calliope with tense, clenched features, "Why are they so bummed out?"

Calliope, however, just sighed and sat down next to Chihiro.

"Well, put yourself in their shoes for a minute." Calliope laid a hand on Chihiro's own as she looked Chihiro in the eye.

"Being captured and forcibly drained of your magic, losing people you love, and coming back to find your home's a mess that's way too big to clean up…" Calliope sighed and looked aside, "After everything that happened here, I'd feel pretty hopeless and wouldn't wanna do anything, too!"

Chihiro frowned and curled up further as she contemplated Calliope's words. For a moment, she envisioned herself in those fairies' position—her home conquered, her and everyone she knew ripped from their homes and drained of their magic until they died, coming back to her town in ruins… Well, Calliope did have a point. If something like that happened to her, she supposed she'd feel so sad and hopeless that she wouldn't wanna get out of bed, either! Much less do any sort of work.

Wait a second, maybe that was it! Maybe, just perhaps, instead of making them lift themselves up on their power, she should've been giving them the hand they needed to pull themselves up! Yeah, Chihiro was sure of that now!

"That's it! I was going about this the wrong way!" Chihiro exclaimed as she sprung to her feet, "Maybe they just need a little push to get themselves out the door! I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier!"

As she said these words aloud, Chihiro felt a new sort of energy rise into her heart. Now, she was raring to go! She finally knew what to do!

"Thanks, Calliope!"

But, oddly enough, Calliope just gave Chihiro a kind of hesitant and confused look with the scrunched eyebrows and tiny frown. It was almost like she wasn't nearly as confident about this as Chihiro herself was!

"Er, you're welcome?…" Calliope replied as she sighed and held her arm.

Chihiro giggled, then dashed out the door without a second thought! But as she left that old building, she could've sworn she heard Calliope say something odd.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…"

Why would Calliope have a bad feeling about this? This is perfect! Chihiro thought as she teleported ahead and watched the town come back into view, I'll get these fairies back to their old selves in no time!

§

With a glowing skull for a lantern, Hex, Chop Chop and Mortulannis all passed through the endless dusty halls. Though it had only been a few minutes since they passed through that gate… Maybe, it felt like it had been an eternity since they had all seen anything other than cobwebs and dust and infinite stretches of stone. Mortulannis yawned and clicked his tongue as his eyelids began to droop over his blank, ghastly eyes, and Hex herself couldn't help but repress a yawn as well. This was certainly a lull in the action—perhaps this was the perfect time to put the so-called philosopher king to the test.

"Say, your majesty," Hex said as she stroked her skull lantern, "You believed that war between the undead and the living was quite pointless, correct?"

"Er…" Mortulannis frowned as he looked towards Hex, then cast his eyes aside, "Well, yes."

"That's something I've always wanted to ask you about." Hex stroked her skull a bit more then released it into the open.

"I find it quite admirable that you managed to reconcile the undead's disdain towards the living by looking towards how we ultimate all end up in the same state of living. Ultimately all those around die eventually, and after that even our undead bodies will wither away and enter the afterlife…"

Mortulannis, however, clenched his jaw as ectoplasmic sweat dripped down his face. His eyebrows twisted together, and though his eyes were blank, the worry in them shone quite clearly.

"Tell me, what brought you to that conclusion?"

"Er, uh, I…" Mortulannis mumbled as his eyebrows scrunched up further while sweat dripped onto the floor, "I, um, well… I don't know!"

"You…" Hex made a twisted frown, "Don't?"

"You know, old man brains and all! My memory's so foggy I can hardly remember—"

Before he could finish, Mortulannis shrieked and leaped behind Hex as an entire army of spiders came skittering their way!

"Actually, no more debating! Time for the next trial!" Mortulannis exclaimed as he shuddered, "Get rid of these darn spiders!"

"Gladly!" Chop Chop exclaimed as he readied his sword and rushed into the fray!

With no hesitation he hacked and hacked away at the spiders, until entire waves had been cut between their ranks… But it seemed as though no matter how many he slashed through, more and more kept coming his way! Every one spider was replaced with at least five more, each one larger than the last. And despite his aptitude for intense fights such as these, he seemed to get a bit worn as he drew back and panted between slashes.

Odd, even a crypt as old as this couldn't have an infinite amount of spiders! As her encounter with the spider spitters flashed back into her mind, Hex waved her hands around her glowing skull lantern and watched as its light grow large enough to encompass the entire hall… And reveal an entire collection of spider spitters that dutifully released even more spiders, all suspended in place by thick silk!

Hex flicked her wrist and tossed some orbs at the spider silk strings that held the spitters up, but each one leaped out of the wall! The spitters fell into place as the orbs crashed and exploded against the walls, while Hex drew back and sent a round of skulls instead. The skulls grinned and cackled as they rushed in for the kill… But crashed into each other instead as the spitters were yanked up!

Hex snarled a bit as she sent even more orbs and skulls towards the spitters, but every time she did the spitters would conveniently pull themselves up and out of the attacks' range! But why, and how? Spiders spitters could hardly be called sentient… The sound of snickering pricked Hex's ears, so she looked up and got her answer! There, at the very top of the ceiling were a group of moon widows who held the spider spitters' thick strings of silk up! She should have guessed.

"I assume you find that funny?" Hex asked as she readied an orb.

The moon widows blinked as they looked down at Hex, then screeched as Hex's orb sniped one of their ranks and tossed it across the room! As that one moon widow's spitter splattered against the floor, the other moon widows shrieked and scattered off, no mind taken to the fact that they had dropped the rest of the spitters as well! The spitters had all fallen and splattered, and with then came any sort of spider they could have created!

Chop Chop drew back as the spitters burst into puddles of goo and silk, then rushed towards the spider army and drove his sword into the ground. As he yanked his sword out, the whole earth trembled fast enough to make everyone scurry back including the spiders… But that was the spiders' fatal mistake, as out from the ground came a wave of bone brambles that completely ripped and tore through them! As the brambles tossed green spider blood against the halls and shattered as they slammed into the wall at the hallway's end, Chop Chop paused for a moment to wipe the sweat from his, well, lack of brows.

"Are the spiders gone now?" Mortulannis whimpered as he poked his shuddering head out from behind the halls.

"Indeed, your highness," Chop Chop replied as he looked back towards Mortulannis.

Mortulannis breathed a sigh of relief, then floated out from the tiny and particularly dusty corner of the room he had cowered behind as they went back down the halls… But while he passed them by, Hex and Chop Chop stopped as they promptly smacked into a block!

"Ack!" Chop Chop exclaimed as he pulled himself away from the block's stone surface, "Who put this block here?"

As Chop Chop looked around, Hex lifted her lantern and frowned. There around them, the hallways had morphed into a large, open room boarded off with blocks that had been carefully placed to form paths between them.

"It seems as though we've found ourselves in a block maze," Hex said as her skull lantern drifted down into her palms.

"Indeed you have!" Mortulannis exclaimed. Mortulannis grinned as he phased through the stone blocks walls, then popped out in front of Chop Chop and Hex. "And this is where your next trial will take place!"

Mortulannis turned back to the block maze and frowned. "You see, there's a teleporter at one of this maze's exits. But in my current form, I cannot activate it, so that's where you come in!"

Mortulannis grinned back at Chop Chop and Hex.

"Get through this maze and find out what's at the end of that teleporter! I'll be waiting!"

True to his word, Mortulannis flew over to a corner of the maze, then sat and watched Hex and Chop Chop with fixed eyes and an expecting grin.

The two of them looked to each other and sighed, then trailed down the path and turned their attention towards a hollow, dark path in the middle! They took a stroll down, a turn left… And before they even knew it, they had already escaped the maze and found themselves in front of a teleporter.

"After you, my lady," Chop Chop said as he skirted aside.

Hex hopped onto the teleporter with Chop Chop close behind, then in a flash they were enveloped in sparkling light.

As the light faded, they found themselves in a blank, dusty room free of any sort of decoration, well, save for a golden spider with shiny emeralds for eyes. Hex picked the spider up, then frowned as she and Chop Chop headed back to the teleporter. While the two of them trailed down the maze, that feeling of something being amiss grew larger and more nagging at Hex's heart… Mortulannis seemed far too eager to thrust them into such petty trials, shouldn't a proper task from someone like him be more challenging than this? Even for a circumstance such as cleaning a crypt?

"Well, did you find anything?"

Hex frowned and looked up as she found herself back at the corner they had received their task at, then reluctantly handed the spider over to Mortulannis.

"This was the only thing we found there, your highness," Hex explained.

Mortulannis hummed as he examined the spider with stern, critical eyes, then shrugged and stashed it away.

"It's not the most impressive thing," Mortulannis remarked, "But it should sell for a few hundred coins, at least."

"And why are you so concerned with that?" Hex asked as she looked Mortulannis in the eye, "You never cared much for money. In fact, you said that money was the root of all evils! Surely, that's why you decided to clean out your crypt and give away its contents…"—Hex crossed her arms—"Or have you forgotten?"

Mortulannis flinched and made a shark, hisslike gasp, then he turned Chop Chop and Hex around before he pushed them down the halls!

"Actually, you know what?" Mortulannis exclaimed as he pressed down another corner of the maze at incredible speed, "We should get going now!"

And there he was, dancing around questions again! Now there definitely was something suspicious here, Hex was certain. She pursed her lips as Mortulannis stopped them at an open hall at the end of the path, then turned back and gave him a glare.

"This should be the spot of your next trial!" Mortulannis looked aside and pulled out some kind of paper with no regard taken to Hex or Chop Chop, "If I recall correctly…"

Hex pursed her lips as she floated up to Mortulannis. "And just what are you looking at?"

Mortulannis shrieked as he stashed away the paper and shook his head. "Nothing! Anyways, there should be a treasure chest at the end of this hall… But, there's a problem."

"And that would be?…"

"I'll show you." Mortulannis frowned as he nudged his head towards a rusty lever on the side of the wall, "First, turn on that switch!"

Chop Chop took one glance at the lever, then pulled it down and looked ahead as the walls behind them completely dropped and revealed a plain hallway! He went to take a step forward… Then immediately reeled back as sharp spikes shot up from the floor!

"And there's your answer!" Mortulannis proclaimed, "These spikes are so sharp, they can even impale a ghost!"—Mortulannis croaked as his lips quivered and frowned—"And I'm far too old and frail to risk dabbling with them myself…"

Mortulannis's sorrow, however, was oddly quick to fade as he looked towards Hex and Chop Chop.

"But I'm sure you two will manage just fine!" Mortulannis chuckled and dashed down the halls, "Now have fun!"

Hex scoffed the moment Mortulannis was out of range, then she made a sigh as she watched the spikes ascend and descend once more. Seems as though they'd have to make this quick. Hex clasped her hands and watched as they flared with cyan light, then grasped Chop Chop's own and watched as the light enveloped them both!

As the glow faded, Hex felt a burst of speed and energy rush into her, the kind she had hardly felt since the day she became undead. Well, she supposed that a speed enhancement spell would do that to anyone, regardless of their state of living.

Nevertheless, she and Chop Chop dashed down the endless stretch of hallways, their footsteps lighter than normal thanks to the spell. And better yet, it made the journey less tedious as well, for right ahead of Hex was a small wooden chest covered in cobwebs!

"There's the chest!" Hex proclaimed. She leaned back and got ready to leap forward, but before she could…

"Look out!" Chop Chop exclaimed!

Hex gasped as a sudden force pushed her across the way, followed by a shing and the sound of clattering bones! She winced as she turned around and looked back down the halls, but Chop Chop was no longer behind her!

Well, not in one piece, that is. His bones had been scattered apart across the floor as the spikes receded, but being a skeleton that was thankfully the worst that had happened. Hex shuddered to imagine what would have happened to him were he anything else.

Hex made a small gasp as she watched his body parts crawl and lurk about as they tried to locate each other, then frowned and looked down as she heard a moan from Chop Chop's severed head.

"Erm, it seems I've gotten myself into quite the situation…" Chop Chop remarked as he looked back at his split-up body, "I suppose I got a bit ahead of myself, you could say."

Chop Chop made a faint chuckle at his own awful pun, and Hex herself couldn't help but make a soft laugh of her own as she lifted Chop Chop's severed head into her arms.

"Indeed you did, Chop," Hex replied as she waved her free hand.

With a lick of magic on her end, Chop Chop's separated body parts flew towards Hex and pieced themselves together one-by-one, until they slowly formed back into a proper skeleton! Then, Hex took Chop Chop's head and popped it back on top of his chest, right where it belonged.

"Ah, good as new!" Chop Chop stretched his arms to the ceiling.

And while he did that, Hex floated over and levitated that dusty, wooden chest off the ground.

"And I suppose this is the treasure chest His Highness was looking for," Hex remarked as she showed it off to Chop Chop.

Their objective in hand, the two of them teleported back to the beginning of the halls and looked over to Mortulannis, who was still absorbed in that paper… That is, until he saw them and quickly stashed it behind his back.

"There you two are!" Mortulannis shouted as he floated over, "Did you find the chest?"

"See for yourself," Hex replied as she dusted off the chest and levitated it to Mortulannis.

Hex handed off the chest to Mortulannis, who opened it and grinned as a bright, golden glow fell over his face. With a giggle, he closed the lid tight and stashed it away to who-knows-where.

"Good, good! Now, follow me!" Mortulannis's voice became the giddiest Hex had heard as he flew off, "Your trials shouldn't be much longer!"

So, Hex and Chop Chop slowly, almost reluctantly followed Mortulannis down the halls, all while he sung some jaunty tune about being rich. But while he was perfectly oblivious, Hex and Chop Chop just looked towards each other and shared an understanding nod.

"At last, the end is nigh!" Mortulannis proclaimed, an unkempt level of ecstasy in his voice as he floated around Hex and Chop Chop, "The treasure room shouldn't be far!"—Mortulannis paused in front of Chop Chop and Hex—"You know, I'm so excited to finish this up so I can get the mask and all this treasure…"

"Wait a second," Chop Chop pried in as he took a step forward, "Don't you mean WE can get the mask, while you gave away the treasure? Wasn't that part of our deal?"

Mortulannis clenched his teeth and jumped back.

"Why, yes, of course, that's definitely what I meant!" Mortulannis made a strained laugh and turned around, "Now, no time to waste, let's get—"

"Hold on a second," Hex replied as she teleported in front of Mortulannis, "If that's truly what you meant, then why do you seem so nervous?"

"Well, um…" Mortulannis pursed his lips and looked away from Hex, "I—"

"And for that matter, this entire journey, your attitude been quite off!" Hex crossed her arms and frowned, "For a so-called wise and benevolent philosopher king who believed money was the root of all evil and wished to give away his fortune, you've been suspiciously obsessed with treasure…"

"Well, er, all that stuff about me thinking money was bad was a lie!" Mortulannis grinned as the sweat started pouring, "Never meet your heroes, kids!"

"And short-tempered…" Hex shot a look back to Mortulannis as he pouted.

"Well, you'd be frustrated too if you were me!"

"And suspiciously ignorant of most of your own teaching!"

Mortulannis didn't even bother to reply to that one, for he just froze and clenched his teeth.

"So, riddle me this, your highness…" Hex said as she folded her fingers together and gave Mortulannis a glare akin to piercing ice that stabbed through his heart.

"You aren't the real philosopher king Mortulannis, are you?"

§

Chihiro grinned as she skidded to a stop beside a row of houses, then crackled her knuckles as her grin spread wider. She wasn't sure what time it was, but either way she didn't have all the time in the world! She'd have to get cracking as soon as possible if she wanted to get this exam finished! Chihiro strutted across the broken streets, then her bright and energetic strut turned to a full on run as she bolted up to a worn-down cottage on the rightmost side and knocked on the door.

"'Scuse me, I'm coming in!" Chihiro exclaimed as she gently creaked the door open. Even if she was staging an intervention, it would still be rude to not announce that she was coming, after all!

Like the majority of the houses and cottages around, the place was barren and full of dust and disarray, all faded, grimy windows hidden by hole-filled curtains, stains on the floor and furniture, that kind of nasty stuff. But oddly enough, it seemed like nobody was here?… Maybe they were in bed?

Chihiro took a step forward—

"OWCH!"

—And would you look at that, she found the home's owner! Chihiro jolted up as she looked down and saw a fairy with stringy brown hair and deathly pale skin who wore a bathrobe that looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks, then winced and stepped away.

"Sorry about that!" Chihiro exclaimed as she bowed down to the fairy, "But you know, I don't think the floor's a really comfy place to sleep…"

"Who, who are you?" The fairy groaned as they lifted a head with sullen, lifeless eyes, "Are you one of them?"

"I don't know what them you're referring to?" Chihiro scratched the back of her head as she stood to full height and beamed, "But I'm with the relief team, and I'm here to get you back on your…"—Chihiro's eyes trailed to the faint, silvery mist trail under the fairy's bathrobe—"Well, lack of feet."

Chihiro grabbed the fairy by their bony hands and tried to pull them up, but for such a frail-looking fairy they were awfully heavy! Or maybe they were resisting her?

"Come on now! Let's get up and get at'em! We've got a lot of work to do to get this village sparkling!"

But, they fairy just slipped out of her grasp and drifted back down to the floor.

"What good is all that anyways? There's no way we can take care of all that ourselves," The fairy mumbled as they turned around, "Just let me sleep, will ya?"

Chihiro huffed as she placed her hands on her hips. "Well, that's no way to act! There's plenty of time to get cleaning, we've just gotta get going!"

However, the fairy just closed their eyes and snored. Chihiro would say it was rude to fall asleep when people were talking, but she couldn't really complain when she did the same to her math teacher once.

So, Chihiro sighed and turned her attention to the windows. Perhaps she needed to shed a little light on things! So, she hopped over to the windows and flung the curtains open! Yes, sunlight… Or rather not, because the windows were so murky that barely any light came through! So, Chihiro summoned a magical rag and wiped the windows off, but even then the light from the cloudy skies was barely enough to get things going.

Guess if she wanted something done right, she'd have to do it herself! As her hands glowed with magic, Chihiro pressed them against the window glass and watched as the window glowed in tandem with her magic! Chihiro giggled, then stepped back and watched as bright, unrelenting blue beams of light shined through the whole house! It was so bright and warm, surely that would give anyone the energy they needed!

"Ah, that feels so good~" Chihiro exclaimed as she bathed in the light, then skipped up to the fairy, "So, now do you feel like getting up?"

Well, the fairy had certainly gotten up, but they didn't seem any better! They just froze as they basked in the white light, then screeched and shielded their eyes.

"Too bright, it's too bright!" They screamed as they pushed Chihiro aside and receded into the darker parts of their cottage, "Get away!"

Chihiro grunted as she fell face-first on the floor, then sat up and winced. Looks like she didn't do that fairy any good at all! If anything, she probably made them feel way worse than they did before!

"I probably shouldn't stay here," Chihiro whimpered as she walked out of the cottage and closed the door behind her.

Seems as though she'd have to try another place if she wanted to get things taken care of. Chihiro bit her lip as she looked back at the cottage, then turned her attention back to the cottage across from her. Perhaps she'd have better luck there? Well, it was worth a shot.

So, Chihiro ran up to the next house and went to open the door… But instead, she leaned forward and fell face-first on a hard, dusty floor! Seemed as though the door was already open.

"I'm coming in!" Chihiro shouted as she popped up and shook the dust out of her hair.

Though no voice replied to her, Chihiro crept through the worn, almost-rotted halls to spy what she had to guess was a living room, maybe? The furniture had been split and upturned, large holes had been punched in the walls, pictures were crooked, and for a moment she was pretty sure she saw a mouse run past, too… Chihiro shuddered, then turned her attention towards the splat half of a couch and grinned! Seated on that broken couch was a tired, wrinkled fairy dressed in an off-white robe, who only sighed as they fixed their eyes on the tea they robotically stirred.

"What do you want?" The fairy sighed without a moment of pause taken to look away from their tea.

"To help you, of course!" Chihiro skipped into the broken living room, then twirled around and beamed, "I'm with the relief team, and we're here to get this place all nice-looking again!"

"Good luck with that." The words left the fairy's mouth with a sort of bitter tone as they sighed. "This place was completely trashed when I was captured, and I could barely manage it before that. Cleaning it's as impossible as getting the sun to shine here again!"

Chihiro frowned as she examined the house, with its thick layers of dust and broken, toppled furniture.

"True, this place is kind of a mess…" Chihiro bounced over to the fairy and eagerly pulled them off their broken couch, "But that just means there's no time to waste! Come on, let's get this place sparkling!"

However, Chihiro pulled them maybe a little too eagerly, because they lost grip of their teacup and splattered tea all over their robe! The fairy groaned as they shook their spilled tea off, but before they could complain Chihiro shoved a broom and dustpan into their hands.

"Wait, what are you doing?" The fairy sputtered as Chihiro dragged them away.

"Now, before we do anything, we've gotta clean this dust and dirt off!" Chihiro chirped as she let go and walked behind their back, "Come on, I'll show you!"

So, Chihiro grabbed on to the fairy's arms and guided them into a sweeping position… Or at least, she tried.

"First off all." Chihiro moved her head this way and that as the fairy tried to squirm out of her grip, "You've gotta—"—Chihiro winced as the broom's handle bonked her in the forehead—"Hey, what're you doing?"

"I don't need you to show me how to clean!" The fairy hissed as they whipped out of Chihiro's grasp.

"Oh, so you know how? Great!" Chihiro beamed as she crafted up her own broom and waved it around like a baton, "Now, I'll take this half while you take—"

Chihiro stopped as she heard a sound akin to something hitting glass, then whipped around and watched as a vase soared down from the dusty shelves above them! Thankfully, she sprung forward and caught it just before it could hit the ground… But as she sprung up and placed it back, the fairy didn't seem relieved. In fact, they bore a nasty scowl as their pale face turned noticeably red!

"Actually, I'll take care of the dusting!" Chihiro giggled and shrunk back as she summoned a dust mop and pan from magic, "Don't worry a thing about it!"

And so, Chihiro dusted up a storm! She took only a moment of pause to place her pan on the floor, then grabbed the handle of her mop and got sweeping! She dashed down the halls with a racecar's speed as she gathered dust, dumped it in the pan that soon became eclipsed by a dust mountain, and for a moment the place started to look clean! If she took care of everything here like she did these halls, she'd be done in no time!

Chihiro grinned as she spun around and admired the sparkling floors, then paused as she saw her next target out the corner of her eye! There, just across from here was a teeny, tiny dust bunny she somehow missed! Chihiro leaned in like a tiger ready for the kill and stormed off, but right as she ran ahead her foot hit the pan's handle! Chihiro winced as she looked up, but before she could see anything the dust mountain she had amassed flew everywhere!

Chihiro coughs and fanned away the dust clouds, then as the clouds cleared she could only wince. Not only had dust coated the halls once again and made things twice as nasty as they were before, but the fairy was now completely covered in dust and grime! And if they weren't happy before, well, they were surely furious now!

"Er, sorry?" Chihiro whimpered as she took a few steps back.

However, the fairy didn't seem too happy with Chihiro's apology! Rather, their frown deepened and widened as they clenched their teeth so hard they might've shattered completely if it was any harder!

"Sorry doesn't cut it here!" The fairy yelled as they shoved their face in Chihiro's, "You barged into my house out of nowhere, nearly broke my precious vase, and you made a mess of the whole place!"—The fairy pulled dust bunnies out of their hair—"And me!"

Chihiro's face turned tense and pained, and with a whimper she looked aside. "But, I was only trying to help…"

The fairy growled, then turned Chihiro around and shoved her out the door!

"Take your so-called help elsewhere!" The fairy exclaimed as they pushed Chihiro into the outside world, "Just leave me alone!"

Chihiro turned around and went to retort, but before she could reply the fairy slammed the door in her face! She went to open it again, but a few slight twists of the knob showed that it was locked shut! Normally, at a time like this Chihiro might've been mad, heck, she was still a little miffed, but… Instead, she just shook her head and forced a smile.

"Well, those were just a few fairies, right? I'm sure I could do something elsewhere!"

Chihiro hopped over to the neighboring house, and once again the door was open! Hadn't anyone here heard of basic home security? Well, unlike that last fairy this one wasn't super wide open, it was only out by a crack. So, Chihiro gently pushed the door open and crept in.

"Relief team trainee here," Chihiro said as she entered the barely-lit home before her, "Ready to—"

Chihiro froze as a creaking sound loomed down from above, then looked above and screamed as a gigantic statue fell down from the heavens! Thankfully she jumped out the way just in time, though she wasn't fast enough to prevent the statue from slamming against the floor… And yet, it was still perfectly intact! It must have been made of some tough stuff!

Chihiro levitated the statue back to its full height, then once it was standing tall and not in any eminent chance of falling on her again she took a moment to survey this new house… Well, she would if she could get past all this trash! All around her was a barricade of prickly, felted hodgepodges, spiky metal statues with no sort of coherent shape, gigantic wads of yarn with googly eyes taped to them and much more. It was such a haphazard mess, the other houses were sparkling clean by comparison!

"Guess I know what I'm doing!" Chihiro exclaimed.

Chihiro summoned a magical garbage bag and gloves with a snap of her fingers, then bounced around and swept up all the garbage she could!

"Goodbye yarn wads!" Chihiro proclaimed as she stuffed several wads of yarn with eyes in the bag and reached for more, "Goodbye felt something or others, goodbye weird statues, goodbye—Owch!"

Chihiro winced as she pulled a prickly metal star-statue-thingie from the pile, then shrugged and tossed it into the now bulging garbage bag! Well, guess that one was good as done! So, Chihiro tied it up tight, then tossed it outside and watched as it landed on the ground with a crash!

"What's with all the racket?…"

Huh? Chihiro turned around to where her cleaning had carved a path in the house and frowned.

There, a fairy coated in colorful rags and stained smocks that reminded Chihiro a bit of a painter's getup lifted themself off of their couch and rubbed their head. That must have been the homeowner! Seems that they were taking a little nap for a moment… Hopefully Chihiro hadn't intruded too much.

"Oh, that's probably me! Didn't know you were asleep, sorry!" Chihiro shouted as she waved towards the fairy, then shook her head and stood tall, "Anyways, I'm with the relief team, I've been—"

However, the fairy didn't seem very concerned by Chihiro's intrusion at all! They just frowned as they flew off their couch and examine the noticeable lack of trash.

"Wait, where did my sculptures go?" The fairy asked as they looked left and right.

Wait, sculptures? What sculptures? Chihiro frowned as she examined the pile of junk with the fairy, then grinned as the realization hit her!

"You mean all that weird junk?" Chihiro beamed up at the fairy, "I've been cleaning it up and tossing it out for you! Sure makes this place a lot—"

"Wait." The fairy looked at Chihiro with wide eyes, "Did you say toss out?"

Chihiro nodded firmly. "Well yeah, I tossed it all outside—OOF!"

Chihiro winced as the fairy pushed her into a pile of googly-eyed yarn as they scrambled out of the house!

"That's not trash, that's my life's work!" They cried as they dashed out the door.

Oh no. What did she do? Chihiro winced and bit her nails as she followed the fairy outside, but they paid no sort of notice to Chihiro. Rather, they tore open the garbage bag Chihiro had tossed out earlier and winced as they pulled out the sculptures, which were… Oh geez, they were all in pieces! She really screwed up this time!

"I'm so sorry, I, I can try and fix it!" Chihiro winced and clasped her hands as she crept outside, then knelt beside the garbage bag and pulled pieces out. "Here, let me try—"

Chihiro stopped short of her attempt to jam the pieces back into a functional statue as she watched the fairy shudder beside her.

"This, this is okay!" The fairy sputtered, though they was they shuddered and sweat said otherwise, "I, I'm sure I can salvage this, I mean, it only took me five hours to put this together!"

As the fairy continued to bargain with themself as they smashed things together, Chihiro just winced and stepped away. Something told her she had helped enough here…

With a bit more reluctance in her heart than before, Chihiro strolled back down the paths and looked around the houses. Maybe, just maybe, she could help out some here! Chihiro smiled and held her head high, then rushed into the houses and tried to help! And she tried, she really did, but, well… Things didn't go as planned.

She went into a house plagued by mice and tried to trap them, but the gigantic cheese wheel she had summoned attracted them in more droves than she accounted for! Before she knew it, they had overtaken the house and pushed her into the mouse traps she had set!

"Get out!" Cried a fairy as they watched their house get flooded by mice that stuffed themselves to their heart's content, all while Chihiro tried to yank her fingers out of magical mouse traps.

Then, she tried to lure out some flies than had infested another home, but in her haste to lay the trap she ended up dunking the homeowner in honey instead!

"Leave right now!" Shouted the fairy dunked in honey as they were chased by a swarm of flies.

Chihiro winced as the door slammed shut behind her, then looked all around in a frantic haze. Time was ticking, and she needed to find something good to do so she could pass this exam, fast! But what could she do that she couldn't possibly screw up? As her head started to pound, Chihiro's eyes fell on a cottage that had a crack in its window! Yes, replacing that would be easy enough!

So, she rushed over and summoned a couple magical tools, then lifted her hands up and got ready to levitate the window out… Only to lose her balance and toss her hammer right through the window! As it shattered completely, Chihiro looked up and winced as the fairy that presumably owned the home flew up and looked through the shattered window with wide, bloodshot eyes.

"GET AWAY FROM MY HOUSE!" Cried the fairy as they dashed away in a panic.

Chihiro sighed as she dropped the magical tools she had summoned and watched them vanish before they hit the ground, then scuffed her feet across the hard ground below her. Was that the tenth time now she had gotten kicked out? She had lost count. But, either way it wasn't exactly lifting her spirits. So, she just sighed and sat down next to an old, cracked rock.

"Well, that was a bust," Chihiro remarked as she stood up and stretched, "If I keep worrying about these fairies, I'll never pass and finish up the rest of my work!"—Chihiro shuddered for a moment at the prospect of eternally repeating her exam and staying as weak as she was, then forced a shaky smile—"Guess I'll just back to the team central. Maybe I can help out some over there!"

So Chihiro forced herself to walk, then finally raced down the paths back. But, as she grew closer, she could've sworn she heard something like anger? What's going on here? Chihiro's run slowed back to a walk, then a slow creepy as she grew closer to the source of the anger… Then she froze entirely.

There, crowded around where the relief team had set up base were all the fairies Chihiro had tried to help earlier, and they were furious! They were shouting at the top of their lungs and shaking their fists at Dione, Mnemosyne and Calliope, who just tried their best to calm the storm.

"You need to do something about your new recruit! She turned my house into a wreck!"

"She destroyed my life's work!"

"She barged into my house and got me attacked by bugs!"

"She broke my window!"

"Oh no…" Chihiro whimpered as she stepped back.

"Alright everyone, please calm down, we'll address your concerns in an orderly fashion…" Dione said in her best fake-happy voice before she turned over and looked at Chihiro, "Hey, Chihiro!"

Chihiro gasped and froze on the spot.

"Do you have any idea what these fairies are talking about? They say you've been causing them a lot of grief…"

Chihiro flinched, then looked aside as she broke into a giggling, smiling fit of panic without even realizing. Sweat dripped down her forehead as all eyes fixed on her, and for a moment it felt like her entire body was going to combust—but, that didn't happen as she stifled her anxious laughter.

"Well, I may have kinda-sorta barged into a few houses, broke a few things, accidentally angered some wild animals…" Chihiro sputtered before she looked up at Dione with pleading eyes, "But, it was an accident, I swear! I was only trying to help, I didn't mean to cause so much trouble…"

Dione and Mnemosyne both gasped as they looked at Chihiro with wide eyes, but Calliope seemed far more furious as she flew up and dashed over the fairy crowds.

"Chihiro, what were you thinking?" Calliope asked as she darted over to Chihiro's side, "Do you have any idea how much touble you've caused?!"

"I don't know," Chihiro admitted as she sniffled and buried her head in her hands, "I just wanna know why I can't do anything right!"

Chihiro stood up and shuddered a bit, then wiped her face as she sniffled again. Her head started to numb as she looked Calliope directly in the face, which only added to the anxiety and dread she felt.

"It seems like whatever I do, I can't fix a thing!" Chihiro lowered her head and hiccuped out a sob, "Why can't I help anyone?"

Chihiro let out a strained gasp, then choked out another sob as she darted outside the crowds with her head fixed on her feet. At that point, the crowds' screams had only become second in her mind to the blood that rushed through her ears and the dizzying, numbing feeling in her head that made her want to pass out.

"WHY DO I KEEP SCREWING UP AND MAKING EVERYTHING WORSE FOR EVERYONE?"

Chihiro's breath grew heavier as she raced over to a nearby fountain, then groaned as she plopped back down on its rim. She had tried everything she could think of, from doing chores to looking for curses to… Well, her brain was too hazy to think of anything else, but she was doing everything possible and still couldn't lift these fairies' spirits! She had to promised to help them, and in the end she couldn't even do it! That's it, she was totally going to fail this exam!

Oh, forget about the exam. At this rate, she'd never be able to make up for all the time she lost! She'd never be able to grow stronger and protect everyone like she had to as a portal master, not like this! How could she get stronger and protect everyone from Kaos if she couldn't even fix a few villagers' ordinary problems?

"Just what am I doing wrong?" Chihiro lamented as she choked back tears, "Why can't I fix all this?"

Chihiro sniffled and curled up as she got ready to cry, but then...

"Well, these kinds of thing aren't something that can be fixed in a snap, you know?" Remarked a voice close by.

Chihiro lifted her head and looked around, then gasped as the voice's owner flew in front of her!

"Dione!" Chihiro exclaimed before she cleared her throat and wiped off her face, "What, what you do mean?

Dione plucked a life blossom from the ground and twirled it around.

"When you work with those who have been through things like this, one of the most important things to remember is that their pain can run very deep. The hurt they've gone through's not something that can be fixed in a day."

Dione smiled as she let go of the life blossom and watched it fall down to her misty feet.

"You can't rush them into feeling better immediately. Instead, you have to be patient with them, and try to understand what they're going through so you can help them better!"

"…Huh." Chihiro pursed her lips and looked down at her feet.

She never really thought of it that way, but now that had started to calm her racing head, because it actually did start to explain why she kept messing up! In fact, something about those words felt familiar, ever.

"I think Master Eon said something kinda like that too…"

And so, Chihiro bit her lip as her eyes glazed over the cold earth, though her mind was caught up in an entirely different world—her memories.

"Before we left, he told me that a good leader doesn't just know when to lead, when to follow as well." Chihiro scuffed her boots against the dirt, "I didn't really get it at first…"—Chihiro looked up at Dione with a slightly pensive frown—"But I think I understand now."

Chihiro frowned and stood up as she toyed with her vest's zipper.

"I just wanted to pass my exams so I could move on and get stronger so I could protect everyone better, especially since I was all holed up sick and couldn't do anything, but I didn't stop to listen to them and understand what they were going through."

Chihiro whimpered and looked aside, "I got so caught up in passing my exam that I just did what I wanted and didn't stop to think about what would actually help them…"

Chihiro sighed as she hung ahead, not quite ready to face whatever look Dione or anybody else would have given her.

"And I made a huge mess of things, too! I wouldn't blame them for being mad at me."

Chihiro shuddered and shook for a few moments more, but then her shaking came to a halt as she felt something warm and soft lift her chin until her face faced Dione's.

"If you don't want to try anymore, I'm sure we could handle things from here," Dione said with a gentle, warm tone.

However, Chihiro just shook her head.

"No way!" Chihiro shouted before she scooted back and cleared her throat, "I mean, I promised I would help these fairies, and after all those things I did…"—Chihiro looked at Dione with all the conviction she could muster—"I want to make it up to them."

Dione chuckled, her smile warm and radiant like the sun.

"Realizing when you're in the wrong is the first step to making amends." A twinkle formed in Dione's eyes as she looked towards Chihiro, "You know, we've had an idea for how to clean this place up for a little while, but we still need a lot of help."

"You do?" Chihiro's eyes sparkled as well while she watched Dione nod.

Dione whispered something into Chihiro's ear, and all at once, a burst of energy flooded into Chihiro at such an intense rate that it caused her to jump up from the fountain and spin around with glee!

"That's perfect! What can I do to help?"

So, Dione chuckled and flew off the fountain. "We've already started to set up at the base, just follow me and I'll show you what to do!"

§

"M-me, not the real Mortulannis?" Mortulannis sputtered as he tried to put on a brave face, though the intense level of sweat that dripped down his face clearly suggested otherwise, "Why, that's absolute nonsense! Of course I'm the real Mortulannis! What in Skylands would make you think otherwise?"

"Well…" Hex's brows tightened as she hovered in a circle around Mortulannis, "The great philosopher king Mortulannis was known for his incredibly patience and value of knowledge over greed…"—Hex narrowed her eyes as she scowled towards Mortulannis—"But, in all the time we've spent together, you've been nothing short of greedy and temperamental!"

"Really?" Mortulannis snarled as he shoved his face in Hex's while his entire body flared up with anger, literally, as his head had been captured in flames, "Prove it to me, you witch!"

Mortulannis then gasped as he saw him fiery state and swiftly drew back as the flames extinguished themselves. "I-I mean, how would you possibly know anything about me? We've never interacted before in our lives!"

"True, I wouldn't." Hex flitted aside as the sound of footsteps echoed down the halls, "But I have a feeling he would!"

"This way, mister skeleton!" Chirped a shrill voice as a skull trapped in an orb lead T-Bone through the halls… And straight towards Hex, Chop Chop, and the so-called Mortulannis!

Everybody stood silent as T-Bone lurched over and caught a breather, then he stood up and smiled.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" T-Bone proclaimed as he patted the skull orb, "Sorry I ran off on ya, by the way, but there's a really funny story here about spiders and bones…"—T-Bone stopped and frowned as his gaze turned to Mortulannis—"Say, who's this dude?"

"And who exactly are you, for that matter?" Mortulannis demanded as he glared down T-Bone.

"Why, you don't recognize him?" Hex asked as she floated in-between T-Bone and Mortulannis, then took the skull orb from T-Bone's grasp, "He's none other than T-Bone, your most loyal servant! Surely you'd remember?"—Hex turned back to Mortulannis and raised an eyebrow at him—"After all, you remembered the names and faces of all your servants, correct?"

Mortulannis's sweat grew heavier as he began panting, all while his brows clenched tight with panic—panic that only grew more intense as Hex drew closer to T-Bone!

"I'm warning you, don't you dare speak to that skeleton!" Mortulannis ordered as his face formed into a snarl, "If you do, I'll, I'll—"

"T-Bone, this ghost claims to be the great philosopher king Mortulannis himself," Hex replied as she drifted to T-Bone's side and presented Mortulannis to him, "Now, as his most loyal servant, surely you recognize him?"

T-Bone hummed as he stroked his bony chin, his eyes fixed tight on Mortulannis… Then finally he frowned and shook his head!

"Can't say I do!" T-Bone chirped, "That guy looks nothing like good ol' Morty!"—T-Bone chuckled to himself as he further examined the now very uncomfortable Mortulannis—"Well, unless he got a face lift, and a haircut, and got his brows plucked and waxed and completely shaved off his jawbones—"

"That's what we thought," Hex said as she glared down the ghost who claimed to be Mortulannis, who in turn looked as if he really wanted to be somewhere else right now.

"Mortulannis" shuddered and tried to float away, but before he could Chop Chop dashed in front of him and shoved a sword right in his face.

"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere…" Chop Chop snarled as he pushed the sword just inches away from the so-called Mortulannis's face, "'Your highness.'"

"Tell us, now…" Hex replied as she teleported behind "Mortulannis" and summoned a ring of skull orbs around him, "You aren't the real Mortulannis, are you?"

"Mortulannis" shuddered and made shallow gasps as his eyes bounced between Hex and Chop Chop, who were both primed and ready to attack should he make even the slightest wrong move. Tears of fear seemed to form in the corners of his eyes as he bit his lip, then finally…

"Fine, fine, it's true!" "Mortulannis" wailed at last as he held his head, "I'm not actually Mortulannis!"

"Then what exactly are you doing here?" Hex demanded as she readied an orb and grasped it tight, "Why have you been desecrating these tombs?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The ghost snarled as he whipped his head around, "That dusty old king wasn't the only one who lived in these tombs!"—The ghost looked up at the ceiling with an elated look on his face, tongue lolled and all—"This whole place is teeming with treasure!"

"So you're a grave robber!" Hex exclaimed as her snarl grew deep and angered.

The ghost just made what vaguely seemed like a shrug.

"I like to think of myself as an opportunist." The ghost smiled as he withdrew all the treasures Hex and Chop Chop had collected for him, "Everybody here's passed on to the afterlife long ago. It's not like they'd mind if I took all this old treasure and made myself a few millions…"—The ghost's smile turned to a scowl as his eyes glazed over Chop Chop and Hex—"But unfortunately, it seems you two are smarter than I thought!"

The ghost's eyes shot wide, then he squeaked as he dodged a swift blow from a gigantic, flaming sword!

"My apologies," Chop Chop hissed as he heaved the sword back up, "But I'm afraid I cannot let your little ploy continue!"

The ghost gasped and bounced away as Chop Chop continued to slash away at him, only to scream as something blasted him forward—an eldritch orb courtesy of Hex!

"What my partner says is correct!" Hex added in a legion's voice as an entire ring of skulls orbited around her, "Your plundering schemes end here!"

The ghost shrieked as he ducked under the skulls Hex tossed towards him, then leaped over another slash of Chop Chop's sword!

"Well, seems it's time for plan B!" The ghost proclaimed as they flew over Chop Chop's head and escaped down the halls, "Run!"

"Get back here, you fiend!" Chop Chop cried as he made chase after the ghost.

Hex levitated further as her hands glowed blue, then with a tap of Chop Chop's hand the two of them dashed off at the speed of light!

T-Bone, meanwhile, just blinked for a few moments… Then gasped and ran off in hot pursuit!

"Hey, wait up!" T-Bone shouted as he rounded the corner, "That place over there's got a ton of traps!"

The ghost gasped, then grinned as it rammed into a wall and caused the whole halls to shake! It paused for a moment to watch Chop Chop and Hex stop short from all the rumbling, then cackled as it escaped down the hallways!

"Just try and catch me now, suckers!" The ghost cried as it made haste!

Chop Chop grunted as he tried to run after the ghost, but before he could the ground underneath him completely slid out! He cried out as he hovered in midair, but before he could drop down below Hex teleported next to him, grabbed his arm and teleported him back on to solid ground.

"Hey, hey, wait up!" T-Bone panted as he finally ran forward, only to look down and stop short as he saw the gigantic gap in the floor, "Well, seems like you found out about the trick hall!"

"There's no time for banter!" Hex shouted as she cast a couple of skulls towards T-Bone, "What's after this?"

T-Bone shouted out in surprise as the skulls dug under his feet and flew him over the gap, then as he dropped down next to Hex and Chop Chop he sighed.

"Well, if I recall correctly…" T-Bone's eyes widened as he looked ahead, then he took cover with no hesitation, "Duck!"

Hex and Chop Chop immediately ducked as well while a swarm of arrows flew over their heads, then both of them glared at T-Bone.

"Yeah, I had a feeling it was the arrows!"

While the arrows cleared out, the three of them jumped off the floor and dashed down the hallways! Though the traps tried to impede them, it was no use—they were far too focused on stopping that ghost to let anything stop them!

Hex elegantly weaved through another swarm of arrows, then as a cannon popped out from the walls and opened fire Chop Chop jumped in front of her and flung his shield out!

The cannonball that rocketed towards them only thunked off the shield like a toy ball and rolled away as the cannon receded!

With the cannon no longer an issue, Hex and Chop Chop joined hands and hopped onto a part of the floor that had started to rise while T-Bone himself jogged up and scrambled on just before it lifted into the next level of the tomb!

"Ooh, what a fine piece of jewelry you are!" The ghost cooed ever-so-faintly from around the hallway, "You'll make me some fine gold."

Hex clenched her teeth as she grabbed Chop Chop and T-Bone's hands and got ready to teleport again…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Hex, Chop Chop and T-Bone all froze as an ear-shattering scream shook the halls, then bolted ahead as the sound of gnashing and frantic tapping against stone took the scream's place! With no hesitation they all raced around the corner…

Then gasped and froze as they found themselves face-to-face with a gigantic gargantula! The gargantula smacked its lips as it leaned forward and sniffed Chop Chop and Hex, then it screamed as it stomped its feet and sent spiders raining down from all corners of the area!

"Not again!" T-Bone exclaimed as he cowered behind Hex, who threw up a shield in retaliation!

As the spider rain relented, Hex dropped the shield and frowned, then summoned a large skull orb as Chop Chop withdrew his sword and shield…. Only to drop their attacks as a large, wavelike shadow crept over them!

§

Just outside the village mouth, teams of fairies huddled together in small groups with all sorts of random objects around. Wagons full of seedlings and gardening tools, excessive amounts of trash bags, stacks of bricks, wood and other home materials, buckets of paints positioned into pyramids… Chihiro was pretty sure she even spied a kitchen sink in there! But, those weren't even the most eye-catching sights that surrounded the village! Rather, what grabbed Chihiro's attention by far was a series of short, round and bulky robots that were huddled together like penguins.

They stood still and cold for moments, but soon enough several fairies had claimed them and wheeled them back to the fairies' respective groups as they gathered their supplies together.

"Alright everyone!" Dione shouted as she clapped her hands, then watched as everyone turned away from their respective groups to face her, "Let's go over your assignments one last time!"

Dione pointed her finger towards the first group, who were fairies all dressed in the kind of clothes you'd expect gardeners or farmers to wear.

"Team one, you're on gardening duty. Clean out all these weeds and dead plants, plant some new ones and restore those old farm fields and orchards!"

"Understood!" Replied the head of the team, a slightly tanned fairy who wore a sunhat and overalls, as they wheeled off some seedling-filled wheelbarrows and a few of those robots.

"Team two, you've been assigned to trash collection. Gather up the trash around here and haul it off!"

"Right!" Cried several fairies in green work clothes and rubber gloves as they flew off with trash bag rolls in hand, save for a few who carted off robots identical to the first team's.

"And finally, team three…" Dione made a gentle smile, "You're on construction. Clean up these old houses and make them good as new!"

The fairies on this team said no words, but immediately jumped into pulling out their tools and robots and flying off.

"And Chihiro…" Dione looked down at Chihiro and chuckled as Chihiro eagerly nodded, her eyes sparkling as she waited for her assignment, "You've got a special assignment. Use your magic to help speed things along!"

Chihiro smiled as her eyes glazed over the lonesome, trashed village scenery before her, though it didn't seem nearly as overwhelming as before.

"Got it!"

And so, the operation had begun! While the gardening team disappeared into the forested depths, the collection and construction teams had immediately gone to work!

The fairies on the trash collection team carefully propped a robot up high, then frowned as they popped open its back panel and looked inside, while a few chattered among each other with eyes fixed on the robot. Seemed like they could use a boost!

So, Chihiro skipped over to where the robot sat and leaned her head in front of the open panel.

"Need a little kickstart there?" Chihiro asked. As the fairies nodded in response, Chihiro spun around and looked over the panel.

For a robot, it insides didn't exactly look like one. Rather than the circuits and wires and inner machinery of a robot, all it held inside was a purple conductor stuck in place with several tubes. Other than that, its insides were completely hollow!

Chihiro rubbed her hands, then as they glowed bright she held them out and zapped the conductor with a blast of magic! The conductor glowed a bright blue from this newfound burst of energy, but it could only be seen for a moment as Chihiro closed the panel.

"You might wanna step back!" Chihiro warned as the robot began to rumble.

Despite the intense rumbling noise from the robot, the fairies must have heeded her warning as they immediately backed away from their amalgamation… Then watched with glee as the robot's eyes flickered to a bright blue while the robot itself spun around!

"Hello, hello!" The robot chirped in a mechanical voice as it held up its mechanical hands, "What do you require of me?"

"Robot," Replied the head of the trash-collection team as they floated next to Chihiro, "Collect all this trash around here and bring it to us!"

"Understood!" The robot saluted the fairy, then with a whir of its wheels it dashed off!

The fairies and Chihiro watched with bated breath as the robot whirled and drove up and down the pathways, dust kicked up at every given opportune! They all coughed and fanned away these newfound dust clouds, only to pause as something dropped by their feet! Chihiro frowned, then looked down and grinned as she examined what the robot laid down—stray wrappers, broken pieces of glass and cardboard, empty, soaked boxes and shattered plates…

"Yep, that's trash alright!" Chihiro chirped as she clapped her hands.

While the trash pile lit up with a blue glow, Chihiro unfurled the trash bags and propped them open, then beamed as all the collected trash poured right into the bags! Chihiro tied up one with a grin as she looked back up just in time for the robot returned.

"More trash incoming," The robot beeped as it rolled up with its arms full of knickknacks. But, wait a second…

The robot beeped and spun its head around, then dumped a bunch of framed photographs at Chihiro's feet! Chihiro frowned, then lifted up the photographs and raised her eyebrows—for despite all the dust, these were perfectly kept!

"Hey, this isn't trash!" Chihiro shouted as she watched the robot zoomed off, "Get back here and take these things back to where they belong!"

But, the robot had zoomed away before it could hear Chihiro!

"Must collect trash!" The robot squealed as it tried to pull a box from a fairies' hands, "Must collect trash!"

"This isn't trash, you bucket of bolts!" The fairy retorted as it pulled back on the box, "Stop it!"

Chihiro gasped as she watched the robot and fairy fight, then dashed towards the robot and tried to pull the box away—but man, was it stubborn! No matter how hard she tugged, it just pulled back harder!

"Knock it off, that's not trash!" Chihiro scolded as she finally yanked the box away and snarled at the robot, "That's—"—Chihiro looked at the box and frowned—"Just what is it, anyways?"

"Trash!"

Chihiro squeaked and pulled the robot back as it began wailing and trying to reach for the box once more, much to the amusement of the fairies around. While they all burst into laughter, a couple of the fairies who were collecting trash flew up and pulled the robot aside.

"That's the problem with these robots, I suppose. You don't give them enough instructions, and all heck break loose!" One fairy said before they turned back to the rest of their team, "We should be done here now! Let's check out the town square!"

"Right!" Cried the other fairies as they put aside their trash bags and gathered their supplies.

But while they tied up the bags and smiled, Chihiro had already left!

This time, she had directed her attention to the team who had been weeding the ground below, then jumped away as a robot zoomed right past her and into the weed patches! As the dust cleared, the robot zoomed over with weed-filled arms and dumped the weeds into the pile already-plucked weeds they had collected!

Everything felt so lively despite the dead atmosphere surrounding as fairies and robots alike levitated stray trash into trash bags, plucked weeds and other invasive plants, or used their magic to mend broken windows and holes in the roof of worn houses. A few fairies who had strayed behind, meanwhile, had whipped out pots and boxes of food, from soups and sandwiches to bright, fresh fruit!

Chihiro had wanted to stop and pig out as the aroma fluttered towards her nose… Then shook her head. No, she could eat later, for now she had work to do! So, Chihiro followed the wheelbarrow tracks that marked the ground below over to the abandoned, dried-up orchards she had found earlier…

Though now, they looked a bit more lively. After all, the first team's fairies had already begun setting up their robots and unpacking their wheelbarrows!

The fairies examined the robots with confusion, but Chihiro just strode in and popped their panels open.

"Seems like that's my cue!" Chihiro proclaimed as she rubbed her hands and thrust them forward.

Bolts of magic leaped from her fingertips then in a snap, they flooded right into the robots' conductors! The robots shuddered for a few moments as their back panels slammed shut, then with a couple of friendly beeps they all turned to face Chihiro.

"Hello, hello!" The robots greeted in a chorus of friendly beeps, "What do you require of us?"

"You guys are just in time! We're already revitalized the fields for new crops, and now we need some help!" Chirped one fairy as they flew over and pointed towards a stack of seedlings, "We need these seedlings planted in the fields over there"—the fairy moved their finger towards vast plots of empty soil—"In a jiffy!"

"Understood!"

The robots saluted the fairy, then wheeled over and grabbed seedlings by the armful. With their seedlings in hand, they whirred over to the empty fields and planted, planted and planted some more! It was a bit relaxing, just seeing everything get taken care of without even having to lift a finger.

In fact, Chihiro couldn't help but grin as she sat back and watched the robots plant away… Then paused and cracked her knuckles.

"What am I standing around for?" Chihiro asked herself as she hopped towards the seedlings and began levitating them, "Those seedlings aren't gonna plant themselves!"

With the seedlings close behind her, Chihiro dashed over to the fields and snapped her fingers! The moment her snap resounded across the wind, the seedlings shuddered and immediately slammed into their respective holes! Chihiro grinned and wiped her hands as she surveyed the soil fields, which looked a little less sad and lonely with all the seedlings planted. Though they were hardly grown and probably wouldn't be for a while, things were starting to feel bright!

"It's already starting to look better!" Chihiro proclaimed as she knelt down and gently brushed her finger against a seedling's leaf, "I can't believe it!"

"Oh, you haven't seen the real magic yet!" Said another fairy as they knelt down beside Chihiro.

One by one, each fairy knelt down and pressed their hands against the soil, all while their bodies filled with magic so intense it could be felt by everyone around. Even the seedlings shuddered as they glowed a healthy green, then one by one, those tiny little seedlings sprouted into tall, sturdy trees and bore tons of fruit! Apples, peaches, plums, pears, a few oddballs that Chihiro didn't recognize… All of them poked out from the lush leaves of the trees above them and shone with a ripe, juicy glaze!

Chihiro gasped as she watched the fruit sway against a gentle breeze, then leaped under an apple tree and plucked an apple from its branches! This fruit looked delicious, true, but would the taste live up to the test? Chihiro took a bite of the apple she claimed… Then her eyes went wide!

"It's delicious!"

Chihiro scarfed down her apple with not a care in the world, then tossed the core away and licked her fingers clean. She couldn't help herself, it was the ripest, juiciest apple she had ever had! For a moment she had completely forgotten what she was doing… That is, until she looked up and saw the fairies and robots passing by!

"Come on, everyone!" The head of the fairy crowd shouted, "We've still got a lot of planting to do!"

So, Chihiro grinned and rolled up her sleeves. "Guess I'd better get working, too!"

As her eyes trailed over to a nearby wheelbarrow, Chihiro teleported behind it and grabbed onto its handles as everybody dispersed to the other end of the fields, where the life and vigor of before had faded back into the ruin and sorrow that plagued the rest of Stillhaven… But not for long!

"Alright," said one fairy as they gestured towards a pod of robots who held bags of wheat seed in their mechanical arms, "Put that wheat seed here!"

"Understood!" The robots cried in unison as they scattered wheat seed across the fields, no mind paid to the fairies that had flown past them!

Those fairies, meanwhile, had flown over to a newly-planted vineyard and gently pressed their hands against its base. They closed their eyes and concentrated for a few moments… Then beamed as they opened those eyes to fresh grapes and olives!

Chihiro grinned as she looked over the newborn vineyard, only for the wheelbarrow slipped out of her grasp and rolled away! And in that moment, the fairies' moment of pride stuck for only a few moments before before they had to dash out of a runaway wheelbarrow's path!

"Hey, wait for me! I'm the one who's carting you!" Chihiro shouted as she bolted after the wheelbarrow, with only a moment of pause taken to turn around and bow to the fairies, "Sorry!"

Chihiro grunted as she dashed back after the wheelbarrow, then she tapped her boots and watched them glow with a bright blue light! She grinned as she examined her shoes, then leaped ahead and landed right between the wheelbarrow's handles!

"Got'cha!" Chihiro beamed as she grabbed the handles tight, then her eyes widened as the wheelbarrow began to tip over, "Wait, wait, hold on, I—"

Before Chihiro could finish protesting, however, the wheelbarrow fell sideways and tossed her onto the ground! Chihiro grunted, then as she sat up and shook her very sore head, somebody held out a hand to her.

"You alright?" Asked a fairy as they helped Chihiro up, "You took quite a spill there!"

"Yep, a little fall can't stop me!" Chihiro grinned as she stood back up, but her grin faded into something more worried as she examined the seed packets the wheelbarrow had tossed down, "Hopefully it doesn't stop the seeds, either…"

The fairy pressed a hand against their chin as they looked down at the seed pile. "Guess we'll have to see…"

"Don't you mean we'll have to seed?"

Chihiro grinned and shot a pair of finger guns at the fairy, then as they both laughed, Chihiro knelt down to the seed packets and brushed her hand against them.

"Alright seeds, go plant yourselves!"

In accordance with Chihiro's command, the seed packets floated in the air and magically ripped off their tops, then flew over and dumped their seeds into the empty fields the fairies had carved out! Now was the moment of truth… Chihiro gulped as she watched the fairies float over to the fields, all eyes tense as they fixed on the glowing fields. Would it work?

Indeed it did, for moments later vegetable plants leaped from the ground and sprouted fresh, tasty-looking veggies!

Chihiro beamed as she examined the freshly-sprouted food, then turned her attention to the world around her. Fruit trees blossomed and spawned delicious fruit, wheat plants were gently teased by the faint chill of autumn wind, rows of vegetables and fruit stretched as far as the eye could see… Even the stray flowers and trees that didn't bear fruit shone with a new kind of life! Everything looked so lively and beautiful, just like the rest of the Fairy Kingdom!

"With all this food, this place should be set for a little while!" The fairy said as they looked down at Chihiro and grinned, "Thanks for all your help today. You've really sped things along!"

"Oh, think nothing of it! I came to help you guys, after all!" Chihiro blushed and scratched the back of her head, then popped her eyes open and spun around, "Oh, speaking of which, the other teams prolly need some help too!"

So, Chihiro turned tail and headed back to the village heart… But when she arrived, she almost didn't recognize it!

After all, it was completely different from the way it was when she had arrived, or heck, even when she had left to help with the orchard restoration! The place was sparkling clean, with new trees and flowers planted in place of the ones that had withered and died away, houses repaired given a fresh coat of paint or two, roofs were patched and windows were replaced… But the most beautiful part was how lively everything was!

Not only were the relief team members rushing to and fro as they wrapped up their tasks, but the fairies of Stillhaven had finally started to leave their homes! One by one, doors popped open as fairies crept out of their cottages and houses to examine the world around. With their wide eyes and shaky hands, it was almost as if they didn't even recognize it as their old village!

As the fairies started to pile out of their homes and chatter, Calliope flew up to them with a box full of round, sparkly white badge-looking thingies held tight in her grasp.

"Here, take one!" Calliope said as she pressed the box forward, "If you wanna freshen up a little, these instant cleaners are perfect!"

A few fairies withdrew some instant cleaners out of the box, then pressed the buttons on them out of sheer curiosity… Only to be enveloped in light and come out brand-new! Their clothes were mended and freshened up, their hair was perfectly washed and their skin sparkled like they had just come out of a bath! Even their wings and mist trails sparkled with a new light! In fact, they looked just as clean and brand-new as their surroundings! The other fairies all gasped as they claimed instant cleaners of their own and chatted with their fellow fairies, then all froze as a banging sound echoed from the distance!

"Soup's on!" Dione proclaimed as she banged a ladle against a pot, "Time for lunch!"

Everyone gasped with glee, then dropped what they were doing and rushed back to the village mouth—Chihiro included! Food was one of the quickest ways to get her complete, undivided attention and all…

There at the village mouth, long buffet tables had been sat up with all kinds of food, from simple things like breads, fruits, vegetables and various assortments of drinks to containers filled with hot pots and soups, even high-stacked cakes and baskets full of cookies! Mmm, cookies… Chihiro grinned, then grabbed one of the simple wooden plates provided and piled it up!

And she wasn't the only one either! Everyone around them was either stuffing themselves silly or making small talk with the fairies around, and for a moment it really did feel like a community here!

"Say, this place looks beautiful! How'd you get all this work done so quickly?" Asked one fairy to another fairy.

"Easy! It's all thanks to these little guys!" The second fairy replied as they gently patted the head of a robot beside them, "These robots were prototypes brought in from HQ—with a little boost from the portal master's magic, they can run for eternity!"

"Really?" The first fairy gazed at the robot in awe.

"Yep! And since we know they work, they'll stay with this here village and help you get back on your feet!" The second fairy them flew behind the robot and gently pushed it away, "But for now, we'll just put them on standby. Can't work on your break and all!"

And so, all was peaceful as everyone ate and drank and made merry, while the robots were carefully carted away. It was like something out of a picture, so serene and happy with not a care in the world… That is, until a scream pierced the air!

"Trash detected!" A robot beeped as it zoomed down the lane with a fairy in close pursuit!

"Get back here!" cried the fairy as they grappled for the robot's back panel, but it was no use—the robot was running fast, and it wasn't slowing down anytime soon!

"Must collect trash! Must collect trash!"

The fairy lunged forward and stretched its hand towards the back panel, but before they could grab on the robot zoomed out of reach! They could only fall flat on their face while everyone else watched the robot zoom into the forest…

"Wait, at this rate, it'll find the…" Another fairy clad in cleaned painter's aprons said as they shook their head and turned to two other fairies, one with stringy blonde hair and a wrinkled, elderly one.

The three of them all went wide-eyed and panicked, then dashed off without any sort of hesitation!

"Stop right there!" They all shouted as they disappeared into the depths of Stillhaven.

"Wait, find what?" Chihiro asked as she caught them chase after the robot alongside two other fairies, "What's over there?"

But Chihiro didn't get an answer, for they had flown too far to hear her! Seems like she'd have to figure this out herself! So, Chihiro put her plate aside and tailed them into the forest… But not before she grabbed a cookie and shoved it into her mouth.

§

Skittering and screeching echoed through the crypt as what seemed like hundreds of spiders cascaded on Chop Chop and Hex in one giant wave! The two of them just barely dodged in time, but even that wasn't enough to keep them safe, for immediately after, two particularly large spiders screeched forward and slammed Chop Chop and Hex against the walls! The two of them snarled and squirmed as more spiders joined the two large ones and began spinning something thin and sticky around them—silk! Those spiders were trying to stick them to the wall! And despite their struggling, these spiders were so numerous it was hard to shake them.

"T-Bone!" Chop Chop called as he jerked his head right, "Lend us a hand here!"

But, T-Bone was unfortunately of very little help, for he was more preoccupied with being chased by spiders than actually helping anyone!

"Shoo, shoo!" T-Bone cried as he shook several spiders off of his ankle, "My bones aren't for you! What is it with you creepy crawlies and bones anyways?"

While a moon widow chased T-Bone across the hall, Chop Chop only sighed, shook his head, then yanked it back up as a spider tried to latch onto it! Chop Chop shook his head and flung the spider off, then frowned and turned to his side as a bright blue glow emanated incredibly close by.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Hex proclaimed as her whole body glowed with magic!

With a thrust of her arms, she not only completely split the threads that kept her and Chop Chop stuck, but blew away all the spiders around them! The spiders all toppled over each other as the blast receded, then squeaked and skittered back into the holes from which they came. Now, it was just the two of them (And T-Bone) against the gargantula.

Once again Hex and Chop Chop stood tall and ready to kill as they took their stances and glared down the gargantula, but the gargantula still stood its ground despite being outnumbered. It made a low hiss, then this hiss grew louder and much more threatening as it shout out another blast of silk that splattered all across the walls! Thankfully Chop Chop and Hex ducked and covered just in time, but T-Bone himself hadn't even noticed until it splatted him right into the wall!

"Heh, seems like I got myself in a sticky situation, huh?" T-Bone chuckled as looked down at the spider silk that stuck him to the wall…

But, Hex and Chop Chop hardly noticed his quips as they focused themselves on fighting the gargantula! As a magic spell escaped her lips, Hex sent a barricade of skulls crashing down on the gargantula and watched as it lurched down with a pained groan! She stood firm and with maybe a hint of confidence as she watched it groan, then gasped as it pulled itself up and lunged for her in a flash!

Before it could land, however, Chop Chop flung himself in front of Hex and pressed a gigantic shield between them and the gargantula! Instead of biting into Hex, the gargantula smacked headfirst into the shield and tumbled back!

"Thank you, Chop," Hex said as she watched the shield shrink back down to its normal size.

However, Chop Chop only shook his head as he turned towards the gargantula, which had already flipped itself back to its feet!

"Don't thank me yet!" Chop Chop warned as he brandished his sword, "The battle's far from won!"

Chop Chop heaved his sword high, then slammed it against the ground and awakened a storm of bony brambles that rocketed towards the gargantula right before it could attack back!

The gargantula screamed as the brambles tore through its underside, but instead of blood or anything else, tiny spiders poured out from the cuts the brambles created! The spider hissed as they pooled out from the open wounds, then skittered towards Chop Chop and Hex!

Chop Chop and Hex slashed and splattered the spiders with all their might, but with what those spiders lacked in size, they more than made up for in numbers! They had already completely cornered Chop Chop and Hex…

Splat!

The two of them looked aside and grimaced as gargantula silk completely sealed off the hallway entrance! Now, with spiders at every turn and any possible exit sealed away, there was no way they could escape, or even fight back! And worse yet, the spiders had near-completely closed in on them… And yet, Hex stood her ground as she held out her hands and summoned a thick wall of bones between her, Chop Chop and the spiders! While the spiders hissed and tapped at the bones, Hex just chanted something under her breath with no mind paid to how her hands glowed bright.

But, Chop Chop understood well what she was doing! With a small gasp, he vaulted off of the bones and withdrew his twin swords!

"Seems it's time for me to slice and dice!" Chop Chop proclaimed as he swung forward and slashed through a wave of spiders, "Hyah!"

The spiders squeaked in shocked, then hissed as they skittered towards Chop Chop, but he just kept slashing them away! Even then, his slashes and slices were much slower and more labored compared to before, and yet, these spiders were no less energetic than when the battle started! And worse yet, there were so many of them, and they were so tiny that it was hard to rid them completely… So, Chop Chop withdrew his shield and piledrived forward! The spiders squealed as Chop Chop tossed them away and created a makeshift path to the gargantula, then glared it down and whipped out his sword.

"En guard!"

The gargantula wailed as it stomped down its front legs and got ready to bite, but stopped as it realized Chop Chop had vanished! It chirped and tilted its head as it examined the blank space before it, then wailed and fell on its side!

"Lesson number one of war," Chop Chop remarked from the side of the gargantula as he finished sawing off its back legs, "Never take your eyes off of your opponent."

Chop Chop turned around and went to run, but as he lifted his legs they only pulled him back and tossed him onto the ground! And though the impact was intense enough that it tossed his sword out of his hands, it wasn't harsh by any means. It was soft and sticky, much like…

"Silk?" Chop Chop whispered as he tried and failed to pull his hand out of the pile of silk he had landed in, then sighed and hung his head.

"And lesson number two of war, always be aware of your surroundings."

Chop Chop grunted as he tried to reach for his sword, but it was no use, he was completely stuck! And worse yet, the gargantula had turned around and fixed its eyes on him, its beady, shiny, very hungry-looking eyes! The gargantula made another growl, then yanked the string forward and opened wide… But before the gargantula could get a taste of skeleton, a gigantic skull smacked into its midsection and blew it to bits!

Hex and Chop Chop both shielded themselves as the goo rained down, then as the storm faded Hex floated over to Chop Chop and cut him free of the spider silk!

"Huh, what? This isn't the afterlife, is it?"

Hex and Chop Chop turned their attention back to where the gargantula once stood… And in its place sat that very ghost who had tried to impersonate Mortulannis, who was now covered in goo and very confused! The ghost gasped as he watched Chop Chop and Hex brandish their weapons, but rather than fight them, the ghost just whimpered and shook the goo off his ghastly body!

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS STUPID TREASURE HUNT!" The ghost wailed as he tossed the amassed treasure aside and phased through the walls, all while he sobbed streams of ectoplasmic tears, "I WANT MY MUMMY!"

And just like that, the ghost vanished into the walls, hopefully never to be seen again.

Hex blinked for a few moments, and surely Chop Chop did as well under that mask of his before he turned to Hex.

"Should we pursue him, my lady?" Chop Chop asked as he shot one last glance at the walls.

However, Hex just shook her head.

"Just leave him be," Hex replied, "I do believe he's learned his lesson."

Chop Chop chuckled as he laid down his sword and entwined his fingers, cold and bony but still quite comforting nonetheless, with Hex's. "Very well then, my lady."

Hex made a soft sigh, but nonetheless ran her free hand against the side of Chop Chop's helmet, and for a moment it seemed as though a soft laugh had escaped her cold, stoic lips.

"Oh Chop…"

"Uh… Hate to interrupt whatever you two've got going on, but," T-Bone said as he rattled his head, "But I'm, uh… Still a little stuck here, if you get what I'm saying."

"Oh, right! That reminds me," Hex replied as she drew away from Chop Chop, then floated towards T-Bone and tore him free of the spider silk, "We still need to retrieve that skull mask!"

T-Bone jumped down from the wall, then stretched out his arms and smiled.

"Well thankfully, we shouldn't be that far from it!" T-Bone proclaimed as he marched down the halls, "Follow me!"

§

Her cookie still held firmly in mouth, Chihiro wandered through the more forested parts of the village. By this point, she had completely lost the robot she was chasing about two or three thickets ago… But still, if it was gone then what exactly were those noises? There were no animals to be found, last time Chihiro checked? Chihiro scoffed down the last of her cookie, then dove behind some leafless bushes, bounced to a withered, bent-over tree and hopped over a patch of wilted flowers. The area around her had started to clear out a little and become nothing but dirt paths, but the noises were still prominent—in fact, they had turned to voices.

"Quick, hurry…"

"We…"

"There's no way we can…"

Those voices, they sounded faintly familiar, but why? Chihiro frowned, then crept down the dirt paths as inconspicuously as possible, all while the voices grew more prominent. Soon enough, the path had finally halted at some kind of clearing and—wait a second, she knew those fairies!

Sure enough, those were the fairies she had attempted to help when she first arrived! Normally, she might have been happy to see them getting out of their homes and looking cleaner and better and such, but, this wasn't exactly the best circumstance. They held their hands out towards a faint, magical barrier and strained like they were casting really intensive magic, all while the robot Chihiro tailed charged into a stone statue slanted in front of them and poised to crash!

"Collect the trash! Collect the trash!" The robot droned as it repeatedly slammed into the statue's base and caused it to slant slightly more with each tackle.

"There it is!" Chihiro exclaimed as quietly as she could.

But apparently, she wasn't as quiet as she thought she was, because she immediately attracted the attention of everyone around! The fairies all gasped as they turned back and looked at her, then they scowled as they turned away from whatever it was they were doing.

"You again!" Cursed the fairy with stringy hair.

"Aren't you the one who broke into my house and nearly broke my precious heirloom?" Scowled the artist fairy.

"Don't you think you've done enough around here?" Said the third, wrinkled fairy, who Chihiro pegged as the one she had coated in dust earlier. They rubbed their head and winced, then turned around.

"We can take care of this ourselves." The wrinkled fairy turned around and grunted as they held out their hands, "Take your 'help' elsewhere!"

Chihiro gasped as she felt her heart twist in a knot, but a part of her just couldn't bring herself to move her feet! That robot was still dead-set on knocking over that statue, and the fairies seemed like they were barely keeping up that barrier—Chihiro had to do something! But, just seeing how angry they were at her completely locked her up… What if she only made things worse?

"What, you're still here?" The fairy exclaimed as they winced and screwed their eyes closer to shut, "Get going already! I told you, we don't need—"

"COLLECT THE TRAAAASSHHHH!" The robot shrieked as it slammed into the statue's base with such force that it finally tipped the statue completely over!

The fairies gasped as the statue slowly started to creak down, but in that moment of shock their shield completely relented! Their eyes grew small as they realized just what happened and went back to spellcasting, but it wasn't working at all! They had drained themselves so much that just standing up was too much! All they could do was collapse to the ground and watch with wide eyes as the statue tipped down, fully ready to crush them...

But, Chihiro wasn't going to let that happen! Without even realizing, she dashed forward and flung her arm out just in time to craft a new shield! Chihiro heaved heavy, strained breathes not from pain but from shock, then drew her palms together and transformed that shield into a tarp that wrapped around the monument and slowly put it back in place.

"Phew, close one," Chihiro sighed as she watched the statue stand firm. Her eyes glazed over it for a moment more, then she frowned as they traveled over to the now very confused robot.

"Trash?" The robot beeped as it watched the statue, then whirled its arms and got reach to charge, "Collect the trash!"

"Hold on, buddy!"

Chihiro teleported behind the robot and flipped open its back panel, then with a huff, she yanked the conductor out of the its back and slammed the panel shut. "You've done enough trash collecting for one day!"

"Traaaaaaaaaasssssssssshhhhhhhhhhh…" The robot whined as the lights faded from its eyes, then with a groan and a clunk it slunk over and deactivated at last.

Chihiro smiled, then stowed away the conductor in her pocket and wiped her hands clean.

"Who knew one little robot could cause so much trouble, huh?" Chihiro asked as she strode up to the statue and took it in.

Compared to, well, pretty much everything around this ruined forest, this statue was the epitome of beauty! Its surface was a clean, white stone that shone well in what little sunlight the world around had to offer, and its body was carefully crafted in broad strokes. Despite the more abstract nature of the statue, a figure could kind of be made from it, of a larger, winged person who swept up several smaller figures that reached towards it as best as they could.

"This statue's beautiful…" Chihiro brushed a hand against its base as she took in its beauty, "What is it?"

"A memorial," Said the stringy-haired fairy with a sigh.

Chihiro tilted her head and frowned. "A… Memorial?"

"This was the first thing we put up when we came back to our village and began cleanup," The artist fairy explained as they flitted up to the statue and clasped their hands, "It's one of my finest works, if I say so myself…"

The artist fairy ran a hand across the statue's base and sighed.

"This statue was erected in memory of all those we lost to Kaos's forces. Friends, family, loved ones… Though they didn't live to see the end, as long as we have this, it's kind of like their spirits are still with us!" The sculptor fairy made a few pained laughs as they looked back to Chihiro, "You know?"

Chihiro shrunk into herself a bit as she clasped her hands and looked away. "I, I guess?"

The stringy-haired fairy just sat underneath the monument and heaved a sigh of their own, a sigh full of a heavy heart's pain.

"My best friend was one of the first to go down. We always told each other we'd follow our dreams together, you know. I'd be a baker, and she'd be one of the best spellcasters in all Skylands!" The fairy whimpered as their wings furled in on them, "At least she doesn't have to see how much of a mess this place is… She'd be so upset…"

The fairy stopped as their voice begin to crack, while the wrinkled fairy flew over and gently rubbed the first one's back.

"Yeah, this place used to be a lot more lively before we got conquered…" The second fairy whispered, "Y'know, sometimes I still swear I see my mom running down the street!"—The second fairy shook their head—"But, that's all over now. Everyone we loved's gone now and there's no way things will ever be the same, so what's the point anymore?"

"Well, hey!" The artist fairy said as they flew away from the statue, though their quivering lips made their jolly tone seemed more forced than anything, "At least we still have something to remember them by."

As the fairies sat and stewed in their own apathy, Chihiro's own lips slowly pursed into a frown. Just being around them made her own heart sink, but not in the kind of pitying way. Rather, it was in a more understanding way. Even though she hadn't gone through what they went through, their pain had become her own and it rattled her to her heart and soul.

After all, they were stuck in such an awful situation and lost so many people they cared about, came back to find their beloved home a mess well beyond their power to repair, and then Chihiro herself came along and made a mess of things… Chihiro bit her lip as she recalled her earlier, ultimately useless attempts at helping. Surely, she had only made things worse, forcing herself in and trying to help them without understanding their situations at all!

"Hey, uh?" Chihiro uttered at last, then gulped as all the fairies fixed their eyes on her, "I, I'm…"—Chihiro bowed as formally as she could—"I'm really sorry for everything I put you through, earlier!"

The fairies all paused and took a glance back at Chihiro, who in returned gulped and straightened herself back up.

"I, I didn't think about how you felt at all, and I ended up hurting you all really badly…" Chihiro clasped her hands and sucked on her lip for a moment, "If any of you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, I'll try my best to help you the way you need!"

The fairies only sat silent for a few moments, but finally the stringy-haired fairy chuckled before they flew up to Chihiro and patted their shoulder.

"Well, if you saved our precious monument, then I suppose you can't be all bad," The stringy-haired fairy said as they made a small grin, "Apology accepted! Name's Demeter, by the way."

"Apology accepted!" The other two fairies chimed in as they flew up to Chihiro's side, then the artist fairy grinned as they flew in front of Chihiro.

"I'm Thalia," the artist fairy said as she gestured towards the wrinkled fairy, "And this is Athena!"

Chihiro beamed, then nodded firmly before she skipped her way down the path.

"Follow me, we've already gotten started on a lot of stuff!"

The three of them flew behind Chihiro, though their eyes were hardly focused on the path behind them. Rather, they gazed in awe as they examined the repaired houses and flourishing natural world! It captured them like a beautiful trance, so wonderful that they couldn't bring themselves to turn away and just stood in awe for moments. It was almost like they hadn't seen something like this in a long while…

"Hey, we shouldn't be far now!" Chihiro shouted as she turned around and waved towards the trio of fairies, "Come on!"

Demeter shook her head and grinned. "I'm comin', I'm comin…"

Chihiro, however, became the one to freeze next as her eyes set on the fairy's smile! It was like some kind of magic, but not the kind from a spell, no. Rather, it felt… Comforting, like a rainbow after rain or a cool night after a week of long, burning days.

"Come with me," Thalia said as she grabbed Chihiro's hand and dragged Chihiro back to her front yard, where the trash bags filled with Thalia's creations still sat in a lonely and sad manner.

Chihiro frowned and bit her lip as she examined the trash bags, but Thalia only frowned and went to tug them open. So, Chihiro hopped over, then snapped her fingers and watched as the trash bags all folded open at once and unveiled the statue's broken remains!

"Now…" Thalia yanked some papers out of her pockets and handed them to Chihiro, "These papers were my initial sketches for these sculptures. Can you, er…"

"Restore them? Sure thing!" Chihiro smiled as she magically levitated the papers out, then snapped her fingers as she looked towards a pile of red, clay rubble.

"Statue, go back to normal!"

That red rubble rumbled as its bits flew out into the open, then it slowly stretched itself out and mashed itself into the shape of a vaguely draconic statue, as if it was being shaped by unseen hands! And it wasn't the only one, either! One by one, all the statues lifted themselves up and shaped themselves back to their old forms, and with the way the magic worked, it was like they had never been broken in the first pace!

Thalia clasped her hands in glee as she admired her statues, but Chihiro only nodded as she bounced back to the other homes. This was only the beginning—she had a lot more work to do!

As Demeter flew by her side, Chihiro rushed over and slammed open the door to Demeter's home, then snapped her fingers and summoned an entire army of brooms! With a simple gesture of her hands, the brooms immediately went to work cleaning and dusting away until the halls were sparkling clean once more!

But as Demeter gazed at her newly-cleaned house in awe, Chihiro teleported away to Athena's house, where Athena already stood steadfast at the doorway. Chihiro's eyes trailed over the broken furniture as she hummed, then with a few claps of her hands the broken furniture fused back together!

While Chihiro's broom army marched away from Demeter's house and went to sweep up Athena's, however, Chihiro didn't stop to look! She had way more work to do! So, she yanked a broom from the parade and dashed inside the mouse-infested house, then shooed out the mice and grinned as they fled back into the wilderness.

With a snap of her fingers, the magic from the broom released and swirled all around her before it flew onto her clothes and emitted a bright light as it formed into a magical beekeeper suit. Now properly dressed for the occasion, Chihiro summoned a basket of magical fruit and hovered it outside the door of the fly-infested house, then tossed it aside and slammed the door shut as the flies dashed out after it!

"Now just fix this window…" Chihiro said as she teleported over to the house with the broken window, then summoned a fully-functional replacement window and magically set it into place, "And I'm done!"

Chihiro smiled as she and everyone else took in the fresh air and surroundings.

Though it was far from perfect, so much change had happened that it was hard to believe this was the same Stillhaven from that morning! Bright, strong trees stood from the ground, flowers poked out from the earth, and the houses and cottages, while plain, still stood tall and bright with their fresh coats of paint.

"I can't believe it," sobbed one fairy as they leaned on the shoulder of another, "It's almost as beautiful as it was before!"

"And here I thought everything was hopeless…" Croaked another.

Chihiro grinned as she watched the fairies around cry tears of joy and embrace each other with relieved laughter, then perked up as something gently nudged her shoulder. She turned around, only to find none other than Athena, Demeter and Thalia.

"Hey… Thanks, kid," Demeter said with a gentle smile, "If it wasn't for all the stuff your team did, I'd probably still be sulking in bed right now!"

Demeter looked up to the heavens, where the smoggy clouds had cleared and birds soared among a bright, blue sky.

"But now I think, maybe, I… No, all of us, can finally start moving on and living again."

§

"Now, if we just take this one hall, we should be at Mortulannis's final resting place!" T-Bone proclaimed as he strutted down the halls, then frowned and tapped his bony hands together.

Hex paused as her eyes drifted over the many murals that lined the dusty, long-abandoned halls. They all depicted famous events in Skylandian history, from artistic renditions of Skylands' birth to the Elder Elementals' fight against the Arkeyans, even a rendition of King Nefarion's castle being completely iced over! Goodness, now that was a blast of nostalgia.

"I spy with my little eye…" T-Bone said as he tapped Hex's shoulder, "Somebody admiring the paintings!"

Hex paid no attention to T-Bone, her mind instead focused on the intricate details of each painting.

"Fancy, right? Mortulannis really liked his history…" T-Bone walked ahead and motioned for Hex and Chop Chop to follow, "In fact, guy was all about studying the past to serve the future or something like that. There wasn't a day where he was without all those dusty old tombs!"—T-Bone paused and coughed into his hand—"'Scuse me, tomes!"

"That reminds me," Chop Chop said as he made a steely nod of his head, "Tell me, what became of Mortulannis after he resigned his crown? The news was quite a fright to all of us back then…"

"Your guess is as good as mine, buddy!" T-Bone shrugged his shoulders and whistled, "Even since we parted graves, I've just been kinda doin' my thing! Lemme tell you, getting that message from him was a real bone-rattler!"

T-Bone then paused before he yanked his head off his body and tossed it like a ball.

"Lesse here, just gotta jog the old noggin a bit and…" T-Bone reattached his head and smiled, "AHA! The room we're looking for should be somewhere down this way… I think?"

T-Bone hummed a jaunty tune as he marched on, while Hex and Chop Chop only shrugged and followed along.

Soon enough, T-Bone's little march had lead them straight into a minimalist stone room in oddly pristine condition compared to the rest of the crypt. The floors were neatly kept and free of grime or spiders, and the only decorations seemed to be piles of scrolls that looked like they hadn't been touched in centuries!

"Here it is, Mortulannis's personal study, and where his skull mask now rests in peace!" T-Bone stretched his arms wide, then frowned and stroked his chin, "Y'know, kinda redundant to have a skull mask when we're all skulls…"—As T-bone stroked his chin, his eyes glazed all around the room—"Say… Where is the skull mask? I could've sworn on my grave that it was—"

"Right in front of you?" Hex suggested as she floated next to T-Bone and pointed ahead of him.

Sure enough, seated in front of them was none other than a carved mask that vaguely resembled a face, with dull white pearls for eyes and pointed apparitions on all end. It would seem goofy to most, but for an undead king it seemed fitting enough.

"Oh, there it is!" T-Bone chuckled as he picked up the skull mask, "And it was right in front of my face, too!"

T-Bone chuckled as he turned back to Hex and Chop Chop. "Sure wonder where Mortulannis is, though. He's never late for anything, at least, he wasn't in the time I knew him—"

"LOOK OUT!" Chop Chop exclaimed as he smacked the mask straight out of T-Bone's hands in one swift movement!

"Hey!" T-Bone huffed and jumped back, "What was that for? You could've broken the—"—T-Bone looked down at the mask, then screamed and jumped back—"MASK!?"

Greenish-blue mist leaked from every pore of the skull mask, almost as if it was getting ready to explode, or perhaps release something? The mist grew thicker and thicker, much like a cloud, while T-Bone, Hex and Chop Chop all got ready to run, just in case… But instead of exploding, a ghostly face similar to the mask in appearance formed from the mist instead!

"WHO DARES AWAKEN I, MORTULANNIS?" Mortulannis demanded, his face fixed into a harsh expression as he looked over the trio, then softened as his eyes fell on T-Bone. "T-Bone, my loyal servant! You received my message!"

"Sure did, Morty! And I've got a thing to ask ya," T-Bone chuckled and scratched his head, then gestured back to Hex and Chop Chop, "You see, well… These two here need to borrow your skull mask for a while… And by a while, I mean for the rest of all eternity?"

"Do they?" Mortulannis's eyes went over to Chop Chop and Hex, who both bowed in his presence.

"Indeed, your highness," Hex affirmed, "Are you familiar with the Core of Light?"

Mortulannis nodded. "The device constructed by the heroes of old to protect all of Skylands from the Ultimate Evil?"

"Indeed. You see, a force of great evil has destroyed it and scattered its components to the furthest reaches of Skylands. We've been trying to reconstruct it, but because of the Eternal Undead Source's potent undead energy we need to find a new vessel for it."

"What my lady says is correct," Chop Chop added with a firm nod of his head, "Without a vessel, its energies will harm the living residents of our home, and we will not be able to add it back to the Core."

Mortulannis made a contemplative frown as he looked towards Chop Chop and Hex, who in turn seemed just as tense as he did.

"Thus, I humbly request that you let us use your skull mask as the Eternal Undead Source's new vessel." Hex bowed even further, "If you so desire."

Mortulannis hummed a little more, then made a firm nod.

"For a cause as worthy as that," Mortulannis said at last as he magically lifted the skull mask from the ground and placed it in Hex's hands, "I would be more than happy for you to keep it. And besides, I hold little attachment to my mortal possessions—avarice is the root of all evils…"

"But wisdom is the root of all good," Hex finished as she nodded her head, "Thank you kindly, your highness."

"You are more than welcome." Mortulannis then turned his gaze to T-Bone and smiled, "As for you, T-Bone, I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here…"

"Well, er, yeah!" T-Bone replied, then looked down and counted his fingers, "I mean, we haven't exactly talked in like…"—T-Bone frowned as he looked down at his fingers—"One, two, three, FIVE centuries!"

Mortulannis cast a remorseful, almost despondent look aside and sighed.

"After all the time I've spent here, I believe it is now time for me to pass on into the next world." Mortulannis's sorrowful look grew a bit brighter as he looked down at T-Bone, "And I wanted to see my most faithful servant one last time before I left."

Gasps and jaw drops resounded all around, but Mortulannis hardly paid any mind to them as he matched T-Bone's line of sight.

"T-Bone, thank you kindly for all your years of service." Mortulannis swirled back up and looked around, "As a reward for your loyalty, I am passing this crypt on to you."

"Wait, really?" T-Bone exclaimed as he looked around the room they sat in while his eyes practically bulged out of his skull, "You're not tickling my funny bone, are you?"

"Hah! That's the sense of humor I missed." Mortulannis shook his head and smiled, "No, I do this in earnest. This crypt, and everything within it, now belongs to you. My only request now is that you use the crypt's contents to serve Skylands as eagerly and faithfully as you served me."

The mist that made up Mortulannis slowly grew duller and thinner, but Mortulannis himself didn't seem to be concerned. Rather, he only closed his eyes and made a peaceful smile.

"Farewell, T-Bone."

T-Bone's jaw gaped as he watched Mortulannis, but nonetheless he shook his skeletal head and smiled back—not a jokey, cheesy kind of smile, but a genuine one.

"Thanks a lot, Morty. See you in that great, big crypt in the sky."

All was silent for a few tender moments, then T-Bone made a wide grin and patted Chop Chop on the shoulder.

"Thanks for all this!" T-Bone said a little more earnestly than his usual tone, "Now, you heard the ghoul!"—T-Bone gently nudged the skull mask that was still held tight in Hex's hands—"Let's get this baby in that Core of Light thingie!"

"Indeed," Hex said as she floated out the room, Chop Chop and T-Bone close behind.

"Er…" T-Bone scratched his head as they made their way down the halls, "You wouldn't happen to remember where the entrance is, would you?"

§

Now that the work had been done, the fun was in full swing! Colorful lanterns lit up the village as fairies danced, chatted, ate and drank till their hearts' content! The setting sun painted the area in rich, warm shades of purple, pink, orange, yellow and even more bright, cheerful colors that only served to amplify the merrymaking—and Chihiro loved every bit of it! After all, everybody seemed so joyful and lighthearted, as if they hadn't been this happy in forever... It truly was a sight for sore eyes, seeing those fairies that had been so unhappy before find some peace and happiness.

As she watched a couple fairies play party games with a glass chalice full of pomegranate juice that just burst with flavor in her hand, Chihiro couldn't help but feel her heart turn light. Everyone was so happy, it was hard not to smile!

"Chihiro!" Demeter called as she and a couple other fairies waved her over, "Come join us!"

Chihiro beamed, then ran over and waved as well, no mind taken to the sloshing of her drink. "Coming!"

As she came to a stop, Chihiro paused and took a breath. The smell of cool autumn wind intermingled with cinnamon and warm baked goods and gave the whole area a sense of warmth and safety… And seeing her new friends' smiles only added to it!

"Man, to think it's this dark 'lready!" Athena shouted as she leaned over Demeter and tossed a gold chalice filled with deep red liquid to the sky, a noticeable blush on her face, "So, how long're you and your buddies stayin', kid?"

"Sorry, everyone…" Chihiro chuckled as she scratched the back of her head, "But I've gotta get home now!"

A couple of the fairies made disappointed sighs, but Demeter only smiled and ruffled Chihiro's dark hair.

"That's quite alright, Chihiro," Demeter said as a soft, gentle smile crept along her face, "Thanks for the help today!"

"No, thank you!" Chihiro shook her head and gently lifted off Demeter's hand, "All of you taught me a whole lot today!"

"Glad to hear it, kiddo!" Athena exclaimed as she pushed past Demeter and gently ribbed Chihiro's arm, "Be sure to drop us a letter!"

Chihiro beamed, then made a firm series of nods and ran off.

"Bye everyone! See you later!"

"See you later!"

Chihiro giggled as she stopped and took the last swig out of her pomegranate juice, her eyes now focused on the village's open mouth. Everything after it had been slowly painted into cooler, darker shades of purple and blue to signify the coming night, and it felt quite lonely, A part of her wanted to stay in the village's hustle and bustle forever, but she knew she couldn't do that. No, she had to report back to Master Eon!

So, Chihiro laid her chalice down on a tray for used dishes and ran into the night. The faint light of scattered lanterns and fireflies as her guide, Chihiro dashed down the woods as the cold night wind caressed her hair. For a minute, it seemed like her peaceful little run would last forever…

But soon enough she found herself at the village's mouth which, despite the decorations was still noticeable enough. And more importantly, the relief team's carriage was packing up and getting ready to leave! Crap, she had to get going before she was left behind!

"WAIT, WAIT, I'M COMING!" Chihiro shouted as she raced up to where Dione and a few other fairies were packing their belongings up. Thankfully, it didn't seem like they had gotten ready to leave yet. Wait, had they?

"There you are, Chihiro!" Dione remarked as she watched Chihiro jump on the carriage, "I was wondering where you went!"

Chihiro just giggled and blushed. "I kinda got a bit tied up in partying…"—Chihiro's eyes went wide with fear—"I'm not too late for the ship, am I?"

"Nope, you're right on time."

Dione chuckled and shook her head, then hopped into the carriage itself and slammed the door shut.

With all its passengers boarded, Chihiro paused and peered out the window as the carriage rolled down its merry way. Soon enough, the wispy, almost haunted-looking forests and bright lights of Stillhaven became nothing more than a faint shadow in the distance, only partially brought to light by the light of the shining moon.

Really, all the sights she saw did, from the rolling fields that stretched between Stillhaven, the sights of its neighboring villages in the quiet of night, the massive forests lit with fireflies… It was so tranquil, it almost made her want to fall asleep!

Chihiro's head dozed up and down a couple of times as her vision and mind became fuzzy and blurred. She bonked her head on the window a couple of times in her sleepy haze, but it hardly concerned her. Maybe it was time she got a few winks of rest… But before she could, the carriage jolted to a stop!

"Here's your stop, Chihiro!" Dione remarked as she gently shook Chihiro's shoulders, "The ship should be waiting for us!"

"Wait, you're coming too?" Chihiro mumbled as she shook her sleepy, sleepy head.

Dione only nodded. "Just to report back to your mentor about today! Since I'm sure he'll want to hear the whole story."

And so, Dione and Chihiro left the carriage and waved goodbye, then made their way down the open mouth of the Fairy Kingdom's entrance. Chihiro had to admit, she quite liked Dione. After all, Dione's warmth and wisdom reminded her a lot of her own mother!

That, however, just made Chihiro go solemn with thought. Her own mother, who waited for her to get back home with bated breath, who was probably worried sick as she pondered Chihiro's own whereabouts. Just how was she doing, no, what was she doing right now? Did she think of Chihiro any? And from there, Chihiro couldn't help but wonder, what would she do when the Core of Light was done? After all, she couldn't use portals to return to earth, so there was a good chance she'd be stuck here in Skylands for the rest of her life, maybe.

But would there be a purpose for her anymore?

As her mind flashed back to memories of her past mistakes, Chihiro felt the joy and comfort of earlier dissolve into worry and self-loathing. What would she do if she wasn't strong enough to help the Skylanders once the Core was done, or fulfill the role she held as a portal master and protector of Skylands? Would there come a time where she couldn't protect them when they most needed it, and it would ruin their friendship completely? Or worse yet, would she lose them in more than just that sense, would they get killed while she would be too weak to stop it? Would the entirety of Skylands be plunged into ruin and disrepair, with her completely helpless to stop it?

And that was assuming they'd even be able to reconstruct the Core in the first place! With all her shortcomings, surely one of these days they'd lose a component of the Core, or maybe it would get destroyed and have its pieces scattered again… And somehow, she knew it would be her fault.

Flashes of Kaos's sickening face and vague memories of her near-death encounter with him flashed into her mind again, but Chihiro tried to shake them off. However, they still egged on in the back of her mind… Except in her place, she envisioned the Skylanders, she saw her friends in the way of his killing blow!

For a moment, Chihiro completely froze and dropped her head, her whole body clammy and cold and shaky. No, no, Kaos wasn't here, things were fine, it's just a silly worry. But still, what if it came true? If he ended up killing them, the friends she had come to care for the most, there would be nothing she could do. She was nowhere near strong enough to stop him from even killing her! She just barely saved Spyro during those monster attacks, after all, and he still had to spend a night in the infirmary! And that monster, while strong, was probably nowhere near as strong as Kaos was!

Chihiro looked down and bit her lip, only to lift her head as Dione gently nudged her shoulder.

"We're here!" Dione whispered as she made a gentle, warm smile that whisked away all of Chihiro's worries.

Chihiro just made a weak smile, then looked ahead to find that sure enough, the ship that had taken her to the kingdom had arrived back! Chihiro and Dione both went to step on board, then froze as the sound of another carriage coming to a close sounded behind them!

"Leaving so soon?" Teased a voice behind them—Calliope's! She and Mnemosyne had come to say goodbye!

"Calliope, Mnemosyne!" Chihiro chirped as she smiled and waved, "You came right in time!"

"Well, we have to say goodbye, of course! It's fairy custom, you know. If you don't bid each other farewell, you'll never see them again!" Mnemosyne informed with a stern look that soon turned into a small smile, "Besides, we wanted to thank you for all your help today."

"Yeah!" Calliope chimed in, "Thanks to you, Stillhaven's finally on the road to recovery!"

Chihiro just blushed and looked aside. "Ah, I can't take credit for all that. It was because of everyone that it got fixed up!"

"But you were the one who insisted we help there, even when everyone else had given up on them!" Calliope looked aside and seemingly hung her head in shame, then shook her head and looked up, "Including us. So, thank you!"

Chihiro just giggled, then grabbed Dione's hand and raced up the ship.

"No problem! Now, we need to get going before it's too late!"

And so, Chihiro and Dione boarded the ship and leaned against the railing as the ship took off.

"Goodbye everyone! Thanks for everything!" Chihiro shouted as she waved back to Calliope and Mnemosyne.

"I'll be home in time for dinner, dear!" Dione shouted as she waved to Mnemosyne, "I love you!"

Soon enough, Mnemosyne and Calliope were far from view, and not just then, either. The ship had flown far, far away form the Fairy Kingdom until it was no more than a dot in the distance… All that was left were fuzzy, soft clouds and deep blues skies that made Chihiro yawn just by looking at them!

"Man, I sure worked a lot today," Chihiro mumbled before she yawned again, "Maybe a little sleep wouldn't hurt…"

Chihiro smiled, then curled up and closed her eyes as the ship peacefully drifted into the night, the gentle bobs and waves of the ship and unsung lullaby that allotted her to quietly drift into the black of sleep…

§

"Chihiro, Chihiro, wake up!"

Chihiro groaned as she lifted her tired head. Wait, was that Hugo's voice calling Chihiro right now? What was he doing in here? He was back at Ancient's Peak, not on the ship, so why would he… Chihiro opened her eyes, and before she knew it she found herself staring at Hugo and Master Eon! Just behind the ship was the familiar scenery of Ancient's Peak's heart, with bustled with life and excitement as it usually did. That's right, she had fallen asleep on the ship ride home!

"Huh?" Chihiro exclaimed as she sprung up and whipped her head around, "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing much, young Chihiro," Master Eon chuckled as he gently pushed Chihiro off of the boat, "In fact, you're just in time!"

"Wait, in time for what?" Chihiro looked left and right, but nothing seemed amiss—had something happened when she was gone?

"Adding this mask to the Core of Light, of course!" Hugo exclaimed as he withdrew an odd-looking mask from his jacket.

"Oh, forgot about that!"

Chihiro chuckled, then glazed over the skull mask and hummed. "Kinda weird-looking, isn't it?"

"It may be weird looking, true." Hugo left the ship with Master Eon and Chihiro close behind, "But, it'll get the job done. Now come on!"

As they all hopped off the ship, Hugo pulled Chihiro over to where the Core of Light was before she could even get a word in with Master Eon! However, a quick peek back showed that Dione was already filling him in. Guess that was one less thing for her to worry about!

So, Hugo shoved themask in an unsuspecting Chihiro's grasp while he fished out his book. All around them a knowing crowd had started to form, as if this was routine for them at this point, but Hugo paid no attention to them as he grabbed the book and began chanting from the writing on its pages. As he spoke those magic words, the mask rumbled, then it shuddered as it leaped out of Chihiro's arms and flew into a hole within an elaborate golden frame in the Core! The mask glowed for a moment, then the glow settled as it hovered in place.

While everyone else cheered at the mask's inclusion, Chihiro just looked back on Dione and Master Eon's conversation. She couldn't really make out what they were saying, so all she had to go on were the gestures and motions they made. Hopefully it was a good one…

"Come forward, young Chihiro," Master Eon said as he turned to Chihiro and bobbed his ghostly form, "After all, we need to discuss the results of your latest exam."

Chihiro just bit her lip as hesitation gripped her heart. What if she failed and had to take it over again? After all, she did screw up a lot! But, she might as well face the music, so she reluctantly drew closer to Master Eon and looked down at her feet.

"Now." Master Eon's glow turned a bit duller and more serious, "It was incredibly irresponsible and thoughtless of you to prioritize finishing the exam over the well-being of those you were supposed to help…"

Chihiro winced and stepped back as she braced herself for the prospect of yet another failure… But then Master Eon's glow became bright enough to make her lift her head out of curiosity.

"But, the fact that you were not only able to recognize your mistakes, but properly apologize and make amends for them is commendable. With your help, Stillhaven has been set on the proper path to recovery, so… You pass!"

Chihiro beamed as Master Eon gently patted her head, then breathed a sigh of relief. So she had passed, after all! What a relief!

"Well, as fun as this is, I can't stay here for long," Dione said, "Still got a lot of work to do back home and all!"

Chihiro nodded, then grabbed Dione's hand and shook it nice and firm.

"Thanks for letting me work with you, Miss Dione!" Chihiro beamed.

"It was my pleasure." Dione returned Chihiro's shake, then flitted off and waved, "Goodbye, portal masters!"

"Farewell! Safe travels!" Chihiro and Master Eon shouted back.

Dione flew back to the ship and disappeared into the night's dark depths, and soon enough everybody else dispersed back into the safety of the buildings they were assigned as well… All but Master Eon and Chihiro.

Instead, the two of them just stood and took in the cool and calm of the autumn night, with its soft breeze and twinkling stars that seemed a little more magical than usual.

"You know, Master Eon, you were right! Being a leader is a lot different than I expected…" Chihiro said as she looked up at the sky, "But, I don't mind!"—Chihiro thrust her fist to the skies—"I'm gonna work harder and be an even better leader for everyone!"

"Well, if that's what you truly believe…" Master Eon chuckled, followed by a gentle, affirming bob, "Then I'd say you have the start of a great leader already!"

Chihiro grinned as she watched Master Eon flit away—surely it was probably time for him to sleep and all—but she couldn't bring herself to go to bed yet. So instead, she just watched the Core of Light as it spun and worked in its unfinished glory. Normally she'd be so happy to see it so far, but now something about it made her feel a pit form in her heart…

Though maybe that was just her dread over how she'd easily lose her friends to forces of evil in the blink of an eye speaking.

But no, that wasn't entirely true. After all, as long as she did perfectly on everything and was the strongest and best at every mission and exam and test she took, she'd still be able to protect them from whatever could take them away from her, right? Yeah, that's right! As long as she was the top of the pack, nothing could stand in her way! Not Kaos, not any villain in Skylands, not even her own struggles!

That's right! I'll be the strongest, smartest portal master they've ever seen! After all, if I'm gonna stop Kaos and protect everyone, I'll need to be the best I can be! Chihiro clenched her fist and held it against her chest, and as the moonlight danced over the grass, she made a vow to nobody but herself with only whatever divine being resided over Skylands as her witness.

I'll be the one who defeats Kaos and keep my friends safe from him, no matter what! As long as the Skylanders have me, they'll never have to worry about him ever again!