Surprise surprise! Fast update alert! We meet a new character or two here!

Savas gasped as he jerked his head up from his bent over position. He'd been meditating at the foot of the Sacred Statue, following her energy. He'd been so close this time! He could feel her, clearer and closer than ever before! But then a searing pain had entered his brain, and he'd been forced out of his trance. Her energies had been suddenly cut away from this world and released into the universe. He felt his own energy and hers collide for just a moment, and it nearly forced his heart to stop. Now he was breathing heavily, gasping for breath, mouth dry and eyes wide.

He shakily forced himself up; he had to find Avci! For a moment he stared up at her statue, her face still contorted in pain, eyes wide and desperate to reach what she had lost, arms outstretched. "Oh Mother… save us all." And he left swiftly.

The palace was dark this time of night, as he was the only soul awake. He and his five brothers were the only ones that inhabited the palace anymore. They may have had no claim to the throne, but they were still of royal blood. They lived simple, modest and unpampered lives, watching over their mothers' subjects the best they could. But they weren't meant to rule; that job was for their mother or lost younger sister. His siblings had retired to bed long ago, but Savas hadn't been able to sleep. He could sense something amiss in the universe; something big, something angry and evil, something slowly throwing the eleven dimensions into chaos. The universe was really just a collection of balances; everything relied on something else, and everything was interlinked. If one scale tipped, it set off a chain reaction which could throw the entire universe out of balance.

"Avci!" he gasped out, pounding on his brothers' door. "Avci! Wake! It is urgent!"

He stood back as a burst of fire incinerated the door, and his eldest brother burst out. He powered the four elements of the world- earth, wind, fire, and water- and they could be easily agitated, so he wasn't surprised to see forms of all four raging round him.

"What is it, Savas?"

"Brother, I have found her!" he exclaimed. "At least I've located our lost little Time!"

His quarter-colored eyes widened and lit up. "Where?! Are you sure?"

"Positive! Her energy has never been stronger! She resides on a nearby island!"

Avci's smile was uncharacteristically gleeful as he announced "Summon the rest. We leave at once!"

As his youngest brother huried away, towards the other wings of the palace, Avci grinned, letting water dance in his palm. 'At last…' he thought. 'At last Mother will be freed and we may welcome our lost Time home again.'

…

Squint panicked.

Outright, he panicked. He couldn't help it though; they were still following her cosmic portrait, when suddenly, it just vanished. Not just faded, but vanished. One moment it was there, and before he knew it, all her stars were blinking out, as if they were being physically plucked from the sky.

"Omigosh, wh- what're we gonna do?!" he stressed. "How we supposed ta find her?! No map, no Raz! What we gonna do?! We gotta find her! We have to! We can't just not find her! We have to-" SLAP! "OW! What the heck dude?!" he glared at Gupta.

"Seriously Squint! Get it TOGETHER!"

"I can't!" he snapped. "Look! Our maps' gone!"

"I noticed! But chill out! We're already on course, send yer freakin out ain't helpin our situation!"

"I don't care!" he yelled back bitterly. He'd already been stressed and tense enough as it was. And now their only lead was gone! What did Gupta expect? For him to act all calm and sane about the situation? He didn't act calm or sane when they weren't hunting for their missing baby sister! He stormed off angrily, finding himself again in his sisters room. By now, it had become routine for him. And, as shameful as it was, he couldn't help peaking in her journal every now and again.

He flopped down on the bed, cold and stiff, and threw open the book. He began skimming- he knew if she ever found out, she'd flay him alive and let Shira eat him as an appetizer. But it was I'll he had; the closest he could get to her. These were her words, once thought by her. It was as best he could get to talking to her again.

Currently, he was reading a page from last spring. 'The dream are getting more frequent, and way more intense.' It read. This interested him, and he continued to read down the page. 'I keep hearing that strange voice. It says the lost time should come home. What the heck does that mean? Its always real dark, but there's this little spot of light. That's where the voice comes from. The dreams keep coming every night. Sometimes I see some big blue jewel, and I can hear someone screaming my name. What's goin on with me? Am I just crazy?' and that was the end of it. "Huh, weird…" he mused to himself. "Real weird."

"What's real weird?" He leapt up with speed impressive even for him, whirling around. Gupta stood there, arms crossed, expression flickering between teasingly mischievous and curiosity. He shook his head. "You are sooo busted."

…

As Kertenkele leapt out the window, after making sure Raz had stopped breathing completely, she changed into a scaled, winged form, Opal tried to scream. She didn't remember anything; one minute she was standing in the garden and the next she was watching some odd human with green skin bearing over a startlingly blue Raz. Of course, she'd gasped and had tried to run, but the human had seized her, before promptly binding she and Lela magically and tossing them in a corner. She'd forced a magic mist into both their mouths, rendering them unable to speak. Neither could move.

Opal tried again and again to scream, wriggle, something- anything that would get someone's attention! She had to help her friend!

In a last attempt, she squeezed her eyes shut and began shouting in her mind, calling t Zalim. With any luck, his telepathy would pick up on her mentioning his name 'Lord Zalim!' she screamed mentally. 'Lord Zalim! Something's happened to Raz!'

Oh no! Opal and Lela are trapped, Kertenkele's escaped, and Raz has stopped breathing! LE GASP! What will happen next?! Review and you shall find out!