Chapter Seven: Truth

The last thing Linda remembered was Epros, staring at her with wide, frantic, scared red eyes. Then she had been basically dragged into the air, kicking and trying to scream, but unable to. Then she just remembered darkness.

She was just now waking up, in some kind of dark prison cell, where light seemed to have decided to go on vacation.

"You're awake." A voice said to her before she could even get her thoughts together. She lifted her head, terrified, watching the smirk spread across the strange, shadowy face of Melas.

"Don't worry; you won't be in here for long." He promised, smirking nastily.

"What are you going to do with me?" Such a cliché line, but it was needed.

"Nothing really. At the moment."

"What are you talking about?" Linda asked, confused. But Melas simply left.

***

Linda wasn't sure how long she was in the cell; she just knew she slept a lot…most of the time, really. It seemed like an eternity without any human contact, or ghost contact, but finally someone came.

It was a light fluttering noise, really quick though. She lifted her head, surprised, and watched as something flew in through the bars of her window.

A delicate, black moth.

"What?" She whispered, leaning forward to look at it.

The moth compressed, transforming, and reared up in the shape of a sleek black cat. It opened its pupiless green eyes and blinked at her.

"Melas?" She pulled back quickly, but the cat shook its head. It spoke in a quick voice, staring around.

"No, not Melas. I'm Coracinus. Ari and the others sent me!"

She had never been happier to hear the Evil King's slave name.

"Ari!" Her eyes lit up, and she leaned forward to hear the cat's frantic whispers.

"I knew you'd be up here. You're in a floating citadel in the clouds above your continent. I don't know how the others will get here, but-"

"You're not going to leave, are you?" Linda hated being alone, it reminded her too much of her time before she met Coach and the others.

"I have to." Coracinus admitted. "But I'll be back, Epros told me to give you this." The cat removed a necklace from somewhere, seemingly just from behind it, and handed it to Linda.

She held it tight, and then slipped it over her head. "Thank you! Come back soon!"

Coracinus turned back to a moth, and then fluttered away.

Alone again, at least for the time being, Linda leaned against the wall, stroking the black gem.

All alone.

***

Ari was surprised to hear that the Stone Circles had stopped working.

"Apparently, these things are connected to the environment." Rosalyn grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah. That's not going to help us now. Let's head for Madril." Stan grumbled.

They set off, and Ari couldn't tear his eyes away from the environment.

The river was still flowing, but it looked dark and black just like the sky. There was just enough light to cast a shadow, but it was barely noticeable against the darkened landscape. The fields, once bright green with healthy grass was now streaked with openings in the earth, and tattered trees drooped towards the pits. Patches of landscape seemed to have survived, like the Big Tree Hole, but some areas were completely and utterly destroyed.

Rosalyn frowned, staring at the environment. She walked closer to Ari, and she spoke in a quiet tone.

"Look at what's happened."

For away, in the distance, there was the faintest gleam of sunlight, but everything else looked depressing and dark.

Ari decided to comfort his friend.

"Remember, the bleaker the night, the greater the sunrise at dawn."

She nodded distractedly, glaring at Stan who was going on and on about how this was almost an improvement to the old landscape.

Big Bull was trying to break up their argument, Kisling was muttering something while running the soil of the ground through his fingers, and Epros was silent. Marlene kept interjecting her opinion into the conversation.

It was hard to tell what time they came to Madril. The gear doorway was partially open, and Stan had to go into his shadow form just to unjam the door. The city wasn't empty; some people were out talking about what had happened.

A sighing lady said, "Sigh. I knew something like this would occur. I just knew it."

A frowning faced man said, "I can't believe this has happened!"

Ari knew usually there was someone with them, a young man that believed in justice. He must not have made the cut.

The few people that were out crowded around Rosalyn, demanding to know what had happened.

"Please, one at a time." The Hero raised her hands and frowned, trying to get the crowd to settle down. "Everyone, really, just-"

"SHUT UP!" Stan rose out of the ground, his shadow form towering above everyone. Immediately, everyone started blaming Stan for what had happened.

"I wish I could take credit for this! No, this isn't my fault. DON'T POKE THAT THING AT ME! Slave, get rid of that man with the sword."

Ari rolled his eyes and snatched the sword from the skill-less man holding it.

"Ari, Ari what's happened?" Robert, a young boy that was the leader of the Whisker Mole Team in the higher portion of Madril shoved his way to the front.

"It's a long story. Can we go somewhere less…?" He smiled, gesturing helplessly to everyone around them.

"Professor Kisling, sir, what's happened?" Someone asked.

Kisling raised his voice above everyone's, and eager to hear what was going on, they all quieted down.

"It appears some variety of a dominant spirit has ambushed our diminutive planet, and by means of the haze above us, siphoned life away from the surroundings, for unidentified reasons. The motives of this life form, the 'Oblivion Emperor', are generally undisclosed, but he has some sort of supremacy that derives from an item called the Necomortis. This item can only be counteracted by something called the Spiritus, which we deem is in the possession, or was anyway, of Beiloune. Does anyone distinguish where this said human being is?"

Everyone was mostly confused, and Big Bull explained it simply.

"There's this dude stealing life from the world, and he's powerful. We need something to beat him up, and this something is owned by Beiloune. Where is he?"

While everyone chattered, Robert beckoned for the friends to come with him to his home, and left Kisling and Big Bull alone to explain the situation.

"Who is this boy?" Asked Marlene, staring at Robert. If Robert noticed, he didn't react.

"Guys, what's going on?"

Ari stepped forward. "We're just checking up on the cities while we look for where Beiloune might be."

"The Chamberlain dude that's usually with her?" Dill, a friend of Maggie's jerked his thumb toward Marlene.

"Can she call him?" Robert asked thoughtfully, scratching his head.

Marlene looked contemplative while everyone stared at her.

"Not that I know of." She admitted. "But if Father is anywhere, he is most likely in the World Library."

"The Stone Circles don't work. How are we going to get to the Highlands?" Stan demanded.

"The Gear Tower is in possession of a fake Stone Circle, is it not?" Marlene asked.

"That's true. But will it work with the others not working?" Ari asked. They looked at Epros, who had made the thing in the first place.

"It will not work with the others out of commission; to turn them back on is our current mission." The magician said.

"That's that then!" Rosalyn said, clearly eager to move on.

Robert placed his hand up. "Wait a moment, guys."

They all paused, Stan reared up out of Ari's shadow.

"What is it?" He asked irritably.

"Where's Maggie?"

"Who?" Growled the Evil King.

"Maggie!" Robert basically screamed. "The leader of the Spotted Cat team!?"

"How the heck do we know?"

"She's been gone ever since those clouds came!"

Rosalyn sighed, turning her head to the side. "She must have been destroyed along with the rest of the environment."

"WHAT?!"

"Calm down, will you? I lied." Stan said smugly.

Silence.

"What?" Rosalyn demanded.

"If you have a strong Light side, then you won't be destroyed. All of the rest have just been thrown into a sort of negative state. They're in a separate state from us, still here, but unnoticeable, like how Ari was in the Ignored state."

Ari gestured for everyone to step back while Rosalyn drew her sword and pointed it at Stan.

"I didn't have to get bitten?!"

"You did, woman. You wouldn't have died, but you wouldn't have been useful in the other state, now would you? Not that you're useful now." Stan snickered.

Robert interrupted then before they got into an argument.

"Where's Maggie, and how can I help her?"

"When the Necomortis is nearby, it affects the area. The darkness had basically overwhelmed the light, and the girl must be hidden underneath the shadows. For example….she could be standing with her hand on your shoulder right now, but you wouldn't see or feel it."

Robert touched his shoulder, and then glanced up at Ari.

"Fix this. Now."

"We're on it." Rosalyn promised before Ari could reply, and the friends left the Madril