THE AWAKENING

Nami studied the area around her. It was dark – black, to be accurate, but still Nami could see in this darkness. Clearly. She had, for some reason, ended up here after all that happened back at the apartment.

She looked around. Strangely enough, she saw two other people beside her. She did not know who they were and why they were here too, but something told her they were here for the same reason as her.

The other two were looking around as well. They looked as if they were unfamiliar of this place they were in. In fact, nobody would find the place familiar, if at all. This place they were in looked like a place of complete solitude, a realm that existed in itself, and complete devoid of anything at all. The blackness they were in seemed to stretch on forever.

Soro had the same thoughts as well as he studied his surroundings and saw the other two, and so had Ruriko. How did they end up here? Was this a dream? Why were they brought here? And more importantly, how were they going to get out?

Just then, something seemed to glow from a distance. A signal. As if by instinct, they started to walk towards it. The glow became brighter as they came closer to it. At last, when they came to the source of the light, they found that the light actually shone from someone oddly familiar to them.

It was a figure of a young woman, donned in somewhat a Greek goddess clothing. Her hair was unbelievably long – it seemed longer than her height. She was floating in mid-air, holding a huge hourglass in her hand, eyes closed, a serene look on her face. The three of them recognised her. It was Rhinne.

"I have been expecting you three," she started to speak when they approached her, who slowly opened her eyes.

"H-hi, you are... Rhinne, are you not?" Soro spoke up.

"The one and only," the woman replied.

"Rhinne... Goddess, where are we now?" Soro spoke up.

"Do not worry, for you will be back at your own world soon enough. It's a good thing that the three of you arrived just in time,"said Rhinne.

The three of them looked at one another, bewildered. Their curiosity grew as they turned back towards Rhinne.

"By now I am sure you have a lot of questions regarding what happened to you these two days. Go on, if you want to clarify with me," Rhinne assured.

"Wait, Rhinne...I mean Goddess, aren't you supposed to be at the Time Temple now?" asked Ruriko.

"Sadly, no. If you have known what happened to me, I was too weak to fend off the Black Mage's commanders and hence was sealed away by their curse. You may be thinking that while Commander Will worked with Arkarium to seal me in the Dream World, this is actually the place where I am now, where I ended up in, and I can't escape from here because the curse is still in place. My status and powers, however, allow me to still have some influence in the Maple World in some way or another. I have created a successor for myself should I no longer be the transcendent of time of the Maple World."

The three of them listened as she spoke, contemplating whether to tell her about what actually happened to her so-called 'successor'. Nevertheless, they abstained.

"There have been five heroes from the Maple World who crashed near my place. How did they get to our world?" asked Ruriko. Nami and Soro nodded in agreement, awaiting answers from Rhinne.

"The answer lies in the relationship between the Maple World and your world - the world of which we call 'the reality'. Your world is created long before the Overseers of our realm created the Maple World and Grandis. Back then, the Overseers were marveled by the creations of the Gods of reality, and so with their help, the Overseers managed to create portals that allowed access from the Maple World to the reality and back, in order to reference from your world. Now, to prevent misuse, the portal required an immense power beyond imagination in order to open, and in the Maple World, only the transcendents could have enough power to do so.

"The day before the heroes were banished to your world, Empress Cygnus rallied the Maple Forces for an assault towards the Time Temple, specifically wanting to end the Black Mage once and for all. However, they have yet again underestimated him, and he created a portal - that portal - to banish them into your world. Fortunately, during the period when the portal was created, I channeled my powers from here so that they can be directed to the three of you. However, there are some who are not with either of you."

"Why have you summoned us here? And why would you send them to us?" asked Nami, "I mean, why us? There are so many people in our world, why not the others?"

"The answer" Rhinne answered without hesitation, "lies with the true identities of the three of you. And I was not the one who summoned you here. It was your powers that did, the powers that were summoned out of desperation."

"Powers?" Soro, Nami and Ruriko stared at each other, bewildered by Rhinne's reply.

"Yes, powers. You are the ones who have been chosen, and hence the powers are bestowed upon you. This place you're in now is the void of limbo. During the time when the Overseers created the Maple World and Grandis, they have had differences with the Gods of reality on what should exist in a world. As such, if something considered illogical would attempt to cross over to the reality from the Maple World, this is where they would end up instead. If you have noticed that the heroes seemed to have lost their powers after coming to your world, this is also the reason. The three of you had awoken your powers, causing you to be warped into this realm as well since they violate the laws of reality. As for me, I will be here too until the curse is lifted, as I've mentioned."

As Rhinne spoke, something seemed to emerge behind her. In fact, it seemed more of several things than something. Shortly after, they revealed themselves behind Rhinne, standing in a line. The three of them recognised them to be associated with the ones hosting them, except that they were the mythical creatures which wouldn't have existed in the reality. Aran's companion spirit Maha, Xenon's companion android Roo-D, the spirit of the Angelic Buster Eskalade, the spirit of the former Kaiser, and Mercedes's guardian spirit Ishtar. Even the elder dragon Afrien was there too.

"Due to the restraint of powers, the companions of the heroes ended up here instead of being with their masters. Perhaps now you would like to introduce yourselves to them, as well as to each other, you would need to work with one another from here on."

They heeded Rhinne's words and introduced themselves to one another, and to the others in the void as well.

Rhinne continued after the introduction, with a serious tone this time, "I believe you've guessed what to do now. The three of you will have significant role in assisting them in returning to where they belong. For one, the three of you know more about your world than them for sure, and as such you would be more familiar as to how to get together. The three of you are far apart from one another, and so are the heroes that have come to you, so the first thing to do would be to converge. Meet up with one another. And once you have, make haste and find those who were not sent to either of you.

"However, this task will not be easy. You are definitely not alone. You may have already noticed that some of the Black Mage's commanders have already set foot in your world as well. I am not quite sure of their motives, but I am sure that the Black Mage has ordered them to slay the heroes. If they do attempt to do that, you will be the ones responsible for protecting them. As such, please work together to overcome all odds. We can't afford to fail this mission."

The enormous dragon stepped forward from behind Rhinne, "I, along with the others here, are all indebted to you. All of us, and the Maple World, are counting on your success."

As Afrien spoke, the creatures behind her started to kneel, bowing to the three of them as if to pay their respects. Soro, Nami and Ruriko were left speechless as they saw these respected and powerful creatures bowing to them, respecting them instead. It was not until Rhinne's call that they arose.

"As for your powers, as the three of you had just unleashed them for the first time, it will be weak on you at first. As such, do try to use your powers more often. They only grow stronger the more you use them. You will be needing them very often from now on.

"Alright, I believe what I've said is more than enough for you. Anything more to ask?" Rhinne asked a final question.

"Yes. Who are the ones that are not with us?" asked Nami.

"Strange. Have you not figured that out yourself?" Rhinne turned the question back to Nami.

"I..." Nami was about to deny before remembering the list she made of missing characters from MapleStory. "I... have?"

"There you go, so you have figured it out. That is good, you have actually made things easier," Rhinne chuckled, "Alright now, are you three ready to go back?"

"YES!" Soro, Nami and Ruriko unanimously answered.

"Very good. I will make the necessary preparations then." As she said, Rhinne spread her arms and the hourglass levitated above her, spinning along its axis.

"I can feel that my powers are draining away from me, but I have used some of my remaining powers to make a pact with the Gods of reality. Sadly, that would be insufficient to allow the heroes to regain their powers in your world, but it would allow your own powers to work. That alone should suffice for now.

"I will now send you back to your places. I shall await your success," Rhinne said as she raised her hourglass, which then glowed a yellow colour. However, as she was about to warp them off, Soro interrupted.

"Wait, what do we do to send them back after getting them together?"

"The answer will come to you. I have foreseen in the timeline that we shall meet again," Rhinne smiled as she resumed. Moments later, the three of them felt a glow around them, becoming brighter as Rhinne channeled more of her energy. Soon, they vanished.