"Her name is Mnemosyne."

Pit glanced at the book Nighthawk was leaning over. "Nemo-what?"

"Nem-oh-seen." Nighthawk pronounced the name very slowly. He held up the book, showing the picture he had been observing. The picture was an old sketch of a young girl, probably around fourteen years old, with a long powder blue ponytail and a pleasant face. In her hands was a large book, that seemed to be gilded in gold. "She's the Goddess of Memory, and apparently invented languages and words."

"She looks kind of like Pandora," Pit said a little uncertainly.

"She's nicer than Pandora, and has better morals. Trust me."

Kaitlyn rubbed her chin for a moment. "So, this Eris lady has the Goddess of Memory. Okay…I guess that makes a little sense. Is that why Lady Palutena is having a hard time remembering things?"

"It could be," Nighthawk said, setting the book down and picking up the next one in his stack. Nighthawk, Kaitlyn, Pit, and Cedar were all standing in the Skyworld Archives, which was probably the largest building in Angel Land, even bigger than Palutena's Temple. It was filled to the brim with old scrolls, books, and various other old records. After their encounter with Eris, the other angels had been sent to their homes for the day, and Nighthawk had taken the four of them to the Archives to do a little research.

"As for Eris," he said slowly, showing them a picture of the lady they had seen outside from the book they were looking at, "She's the Goddess of Chaos and Discord, twin sister of Harmonia, Goddess of Harmony and Concord, and one of the most dangerous deities. In fact, over ten thousand years ago, the other gods and goddesses locked her away in Tartarus, so she wouldn't be able to cause any more wars, between gods or humans. It seems she had a nasty habit of causing a ruckus wherever she went."

"But she escaped somehow," Kaitlyn said. "And we have a week to get…what?"

Nighthawk sighed. "I'm still working on that." He closed the book and motioned around him. "I'm sure if I keep on looking, I'll be able to find information on something that will help us."

"So what do we know so far?" Cedar asked from her perch on one of the bookshelves.

Pit held up his fingers and began counting out points on them. "Okay, we know that Eris, Goddess of Chaos, has kidnapped Mnemosyne, the Goddess of Memory, though how and why is still a mystery."

"We also know that we have to find something in order to stop Eris," Kaitlyn said.

Cedar hummed as she thought. "But, what about Mnemosyne? Does the thing we find free her, or just stop Eris? And do we have to find the "thing" in less than a week, or free Mnemosyne?"

Nighthawk shook his head. "As soon as I know what we're looking for, then I'll see. I need to do more research on Mnemosyne, too, and see what happens when she's captured by another deity."

"What should we do?" Pit asked. "All the angels are a little freaked out at this whole event. Should we send them home?"

Kaitlyn nodded. "We can't continue with the festival at this rate, so we might as well."

"No," Nighthawk said. "If the Goddess of Memory has been kidnapped, when who knows how long it will take for the angels to start feeling the effects. We need them to be here, so they don't hurt themselves."

Cedar, Pit, and Kaitlyn nodded slowly. Nighthawk scratched his chin and messed with his hair for a moment. "I'm going to stay here and do a little more research. You all should go and get some sleep. If my hunch is correct, we're going to be busy tomorrow."

"No way! We'll stay with you and help you with your research," Pit said.

Nighthawk's look was a mix of ridicule and boredom. "Pit, all you're going to do is fall asleep and bother me with your snoring."

"I do not—!"

"Regardless," Nighthawk said, holding a hand up, "I think I'll be faster without you helping. But thanks for the offer. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have some books to find."

The others nodded and slowly left the archive building, leaving Nighthawk to his musing and mumbling. Cedar was the first to break the silence as they exited to the bright outdoors. "Do you think he'll be alright?"

Pit nodded. "Oh, he'll be fine. One thing you have to know about Nighthawk is that he can live off of a steady diet of determination and note-taking."

"Or he thinks he does," Kaitlyn said, rolling her eyes. "After about three days, we usually force him to eat something."

"True."

Cedar still looked a bit worried, but nodded anyway. "If you say so…"

She said goodbye to the two of them and flew off towards her house, leaving Pit and Kaitlyn behind. At this point, they were standing on the edge of the main island, staring out into the nothingness of the sky. The sky above them seemed to go on forever, but the Cloud Barrier hid any view of the Earth below them.

Pit shot a quick glance at Kaitlyn, wondering what she was thinking. Did she miss Earth? Her life hadn't been the best while she was there, but were there things she missed about Earth that she couldn't find in Angel Land? Maybe clothing, other than togas. Or forests. Or skyscrapers. Or even school. The Skyworld didn't have those things.

Pit held back a sigh as he let the wind blow through his hair. He shivered, re-reminding himself to start pulling out thicker clothing. He wondered if they'd need to go around the Skyworld to find, well, whatever they were looking for. If so, he'd really need to start looking for new clothes.

"You know what?" Kaitlyn asked, breaking the silence. She was still looking out, not facing Pit. "I honestly thought this thing was going to go down without a hitch. Like, we'd actually not have to worry about anything." She sounded disappointed, and the way her eyes were set and lips her pinched together displayed her frustration.

Pit wasn't sure what to say. Sure, most of their activities together usually ended in some sort of turmoil, whether it be buildings burning down (the Colchian Dragon Battle) or flooding (the Naiad Rebellion). But he got the feeling Kaitlyn was taking about something more than just the crazy things that happened in the Skyworld.

Kaitlyn shook her head, her ponytail tossing slightly behind her from the wind. She sighed. "Okay, well, I'm going to bed. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be hectic."

"Yeah, me too," Pit said. Kaitlyn smiled and gave him a quick kiss to the cheek before taking off and flying back towards where her house was. Pit watched her go, her blue feathers glinting brightly off the light of the setting sun.

Pit sat down on the edge of the island, letting his feet dangle over the edge. He tucked a stray piece of hair away from his face and sighed deeply. He needed to sleep, but at the moment, all he wanted was to be alone in the breeze and let it calm him down. He was worried, very worried. At least with Medusa, he had known what his enemy had been capable of. With this Chaos Goddess, Eris, he was completely unprepared. He didn't have any experience with Eris, no history to work off of. He only hoped that maybe Nighthawk would be able to find him something to work with.

And then there was Palutena. Angel Land was fairly self-sufficient. They would be able to survive without Palutena to guide them, at least for a while. And with Nighthawk here, they would be in good hands. Nighthawk was a smart, capable angel and had been training under Lady Palutena ever since Medusa had been banished. He was becoming quite adept at summoning and banishing charms, and was the main organizer of basically everything in Angel Land. He would keep everything under control.

Finally Pit stood up, running a hand through his hair and unfurling his wings. His white feathers flared out in the breeze. After a few moments, he flapped hard and took off, eager to get to sleep.


"Alright, Nighthawk, what have you got for us?" Kaitlyn announced, as she threw the large doors to the archive open with little to no trouble. Even Pit had trouble opening those doors sometimes. He and Cedar followed Kaitlyn into the dark space.

The tables in the room were filled with books. Papers were everywhere, scattered around over the books and on the floor. The angels took extra care not to step on any of them, as most of them were old documents that were absolutely invaluable. Even having them on the floor was a hazard.

The books on one table were pushed away and from the castle-like structure came Nighthawk. He had two books in hand and seemed to be comparing them, but upon seeing his friends, he set them down, a smile breaking over his face. "Good morning!"

Pit raised an eyebrow. "Um…Nighthawk? Did you sleep at all?"

"No. Why?"

"No reason," he sighed.

Nighthawk cleared a space on one of the largest tables and had them sit down. Then on the table, he laid out a series of long papers filled to the brim with notes. Pit had a hard time reading any of them, but he nodded at Nighthawk anyways. "Alright. And what does this all mean?"

"This," Nighthawk said with pride, "is everything we'll need to know!"

There was a long pause as Nighthawk looked at them, clearly pleased with his work. Finally Kaitlyn nodded. "Okay," she said slowly. "Will you explain it to us?"

Nighthawk smiled. "Of course."

He pointed to one of the largest clusters of words. "Okay, we'll start here, with Eris. As we've already established, she's the Goddess of Chaos. According to legend, her source of discord was usually her disruption of pride. She would take people's pride and use it against them. She was the one who started the Trojan War, in fact."

"I thought that was the Goddess of Love," Kaitlyn said. "Aphrodite, wasn't it?"

Nighthawk shook his head. "Humans came up with the name Aphrodite. Her real name is Symphonia, Goddess of Love, Lust, Human Passion, and a lot of other stuff we don't need to get into. Anyways, you're right that Symphonia was the reason for the Trojan War, but she needed incentive. And that incentive was the Apple of Discord."

Cedar narrowed her eyes. "The what?"

"The Apple of Discord. It was the apple thrown to the three goddesses with the words "for the fairest" written on it. It was because of this apple that Paris was chosen to judge the goddess's contest. This apple has been used all over history to start wars. So, after a while, the gods became annoyed at Eris and imprisoned her. They took her apple and chopped it into four pieces. These were given to four protectors to be taken and hidden across Earth."

"Protectors?" Pit asked. "What do you mean?"

Nighthawk smiled widely and tapped the paper. "That's where it gets interesting. The protectors were, in fact, angels. In order to hide the four angels more effectively on Earth, Lady Palutena sent nearly two hundred other angels to Earth to act as decoys, in case anyone tried to steal the apple back. The angels haven't been seen since. Either they've died off, or they've gotten really good at hiding themselves."

"So how are we supposed to find these four specific angels?" Kaitlyn asked.

"That's where we need help. Pit, you don't have the best skills when it comes to sensing magic or divine powers. Kuro would be my next choice, but he's been missing for years. So, we'll need some divine help, and fast."

"But aren't the gods all suffering from Mnemosyne being captured?"

Nighthawk nodded. "That's a very good point, and I have an answer for that. But first, a little on Mnemosyne. She's the Goddess of Memory and Languages. It's said that she invented speech, writing, and words. She was one of the first goddesses, being the daughter of Gaia and Uranus. She's also the mother of the nine muses, through Zeus, which we will really not get into, but long story short, she's very important. Her most important relic is her Codex. This massive book holds all of the words ever written down, spoken, or thought up in the entire universe. Basically, it's the dictionary of all dictionaries. It's incredibly powerful."

"Does that have anything to do with memory, though?" Cedar asked.

"No, but the goddess herself is said to have been able to memorize more than anyone, indefinitely. Don't forget, before books or script was invented, everyone had to remember every story or important feature. Mnemosyne is said to remember everything from everyone all across the world and beyond. She memorized the cycle of life, the very rules of physics and the cosmos. She's practically a relic herself. So those who control her, can eventually control the rules of the universe."

There was another long pause, which Kaitlyn again broke. "Well, that's not good," she said bluntly.

"It's basically the worst thing that can ever happen to all creation," Nighthawk said with a nod. "But, due to Mnemosyne's age and power, she takes a while to get through. That's why Eris said we have a week. In that time, Mnemosyne will be weak enough to lose control completely and Eris will be able to control her abilities. We have until then to find the Apple of Discord and defeat Eris."

"I don't get it, though," Pit said slowly. "How is getting Eris' source of power back going to help us defeat her?"

"Good question," Nighthawk said. "The answer is in her sister."

"Wait…you mean Harmonia?"

"Exactly. Harmonia is Eris' twin sister, and her complete opposite. Harmonia is the Goddess of Harmony, Peace, and Concord. She's the mother of Symphonia, who as we said before is the Goddess of Love. This is because she was married to a mortal named Cadmus, who was a prince, but before they were married, they gave into their desires and Symphonia was born. Their stories are a little convoluted, because some books say that Harmonia was actually the daughter of Zeus and Electra, and others say she's a Titan, but we can look over that. Her symbol of power is her Harmony Coin. It's said to bring luck and peace to all who receive it. Basically, though, what you'll need is to bring the Apple of Discord to her. She, being Eris's opposite, can reverse the spell on the apple, and change it into the Apple of Concord. If Eris eats the apple, her powers will completely wane and should set Mnemosyne free. If we can do that, we're basically good to go. The gods will take care of the rest."

The three angels nodded at Nighthawk's explanation. Cedar shook her head for a moment. "You still didn't explain how we're going to find the angels with all the gods being completely useless."

Nighthawk nodded once again. "Well, from what I've read, I learned that Mnemosyne's memory disorders start with the most powerful gods, and go down from there. So Kaitlyn, you'll be able to remember things the longest, because you're a pure mortal. Palutena is a powerful goddess, so she was hit pretty quickly. In order to find the angels, you're going to need to see Viridi."

"Viridi?" Pit raised an eyebrow. "As in, Goddess of Nature, Viridi?"

"Yep, that Viridi. With her nature powers, she can sense living things easily. Angels give off stronger auras than mortals do, and the Apple of Discord's pieces will give off an even stronger one. She'll be able to help you find the apple and the angels."

Kaitlyn's face scrunched up in thought. "And she's not powerful enough to be feeling the full effects of the memory loss yet?"

"I hope," Nighthawk said grimly. "If she's not able to, you'll need to make her. She's the only one who can find the apple pieces."

"Then we'd better leave as soon as possible."

"Agreed." Nighthawk began to collect the books and maps again. "Pit and Kaitlyn, you'll leave at noon, so I'd suggest you start packing as soon as we're done. Cedar, I'll need you here to help me keep everything under control and to make deliveries if needed."

Pit nodded. "Will you be able to communicate with us at all?"

The dark-skinned angel gave a small smile. "I've been working on my telepathic communicating, but it drains my energy pretty quickly. I might have to find a way to get a phone so I can call you. Besides that, I'm also getting pretty good at summoning and banishing charms, and some small potions, along with hiding charms. But besides that, you guys are going to be mainly on your own."

"How are we going to know what people are people and what people are angels?" Kaitlyn asked. "I mean, besides the wings, humans and angels are a little difficult to tell apart."

"Well, Palutena put hiding charms on the angel's wings when they first went down to the surface of the Overworld. So you won't see any wings. The easiest way to tell is by their names."

Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow. "Their names?"

"All angels have very particular names, most after Overworld birds. So, you might be able to tell that way. The other way is by aura, but neither of you can sense auras. I'll see what I can do about that, but for now, just go with the names. Hopefully, Viridi will help you pinpoint the exact person, and not leave you completely abandon of locating devices. But knowing Viridi, it could be interesting."

"And we have six days left," Pit said slowly, "if Eris isn't totally messing with us."

"Ever more of a reason to leave as soon as possible," Nighthawk said, closing the last book with a slam. His gold eyes were narrowed and serious. "Pit, Kaitlyn, start packing. Cedar, I'll need you here for a moment."

Pit and Kaitlyn gave brief nods and ran from the room to the Residential District. There they separated and rushed to their own separate homes to begin preparing for their long journey.


The angels had gathered at the edge of Angel Land to wish Pit and Kaitlyn good luck. Pit was uncharacteristically serious; no hint of laughter was in his eyes or frown. The weight of the situation was starting to feel real, and his stomach turned and twisted anxiously as they waited.

Finally, the crowd parted and Nighthawk strode through. Tall and imposing, with his black-feathered wings half out, he cut an impressive figure. Without Lady Palutena able to attend due to her condition, Nighthawk was now in charge of Angel Land. He certainly looked the part. In his hands was a long staff. It stood taller than him, made of gold strands that twisted together like tree branches. At the top, the gold strands connected to hold a fire-red gem in place. Pit wondered if this was the staff he used to do magic. After all, even Lady Palutena used a staff to conduct her own powers.

Nighthawk stopped in front of them, dipping his head briefly. "We pray to the gods that your return be swift and your journey be successful." He held his staff and laid it on Pit's head for a moment, then on Kaitlyn's. "The Goddess of Light would traditionally give you her blessing at this moment. But I have no power over blessings nor probability or luck. I only let you know that we up on Angel Land, and the whole Skyworld, is here supporting you on your journey."

Pit nodded and dipped his head, Kaitlyn doing the same next to him. "We thank you for your concern and your good wishes," he said formally. "We will do all that is in our power to complete our mission and return the world to balance."

"That is all we can ask," Nighthawk said slowly. "I have a gift for you, before you go. You will spend most of your time around humans, and therefore you'll need to be hidden. Pit, your wings are not as small as they once were, and Kaitlyn, you've never had wings to cover before. That's why I made these for you." He held out his hand and dropped a single golden band into their hands. "Hiding charms have been infused into these rings. They will keep your wings hidden from mortal eyes when you wear them. They will give mortals the illusion that you are just them same as them."

The two angels took the rings and slipped them on their right ring fingers. The rings gleamed for a moment, then settled on their hands as though they had been worn for months.

"Be safe."

Pit and Kaitlyn nodded once again, and as one, unfurled their wings and took off.


This chapter's a little more dialogue heavy than I would have liked, but I needed some serious explaining to get done. Anyhow, hopefully it cleared up a few things and maybe gave you an idea of what's to come. People will be happy to hear that Viridi is coming in, though probably for only one chapter. I need other things to happen, and other gods and goddesses to come in. But still, even while I was writing Grounded, I was getting requests for Viridi to come into the story. So, she'll be here soon.

Also, if you get the chance, please go to my profile and check out my poll :) I've been trying to figure out how people found out about Grounded in the first place, and got to following me. If you'd do that, it'd be extremely helpful.

As usual, I'm always happy to see reviews :) Let me know what you're thinking, and what you're excited for, and which character you're hoping most to meet! I love feedback :)

Also, big shoutout to my friend W0lfWarrior, who volunteered to Beta this story for me. :) He's been a HUGE help! Go and give him some love for me!

One last thing...I'm currently cleaning my room, buying books, and getting ready to go on vacation before I leave for college. So I'm a little busy. Expect my updates to be around 2 weeks apart, and if I get one done sooner, you're in luck :) Thanks for understanding!

~Pixie