"Me, saving the world? Not likely. But I want to give it a shot, anyway." – Goro

The trip was uneventful compared to some of Max and Monica's other experiences. The woods between Norune and Queens were quiet and peaceful, with few aggressive creatures to slow their progress. They had to kill a few monsters along the way, but Max could count them on one hand and it had been, what, a few days? At most? What made it different from the Rainbow Butterfly Wood?

Despite their smooth progress through the land, Max couldn't help but feel bothered by the images he still saw in his mind's eye from time to time. Flashes from between following the pink genie into the pit, and waking up at the sky-piercing twer. He remembered seeing something strange. Like bunny ears and a strange dance before darkness.

"Almost there," Monica announced, pulling him out of his reverie.

They approached a village now, one marked on the map provided by the kind people of Norune as a good waypoint for any journey. It was built between a cliff side and the rest of the forest, giving them a better view of the sun than what they had in the heart of the woods.

Max glanced down at the map, nose crinkling as he tried to pronounce the name. "Matatawaki–Matatatata–ki. Matatataki Village?"

It was quiet and empty. Being the middle of the day, maybe everyone was out to their jobs. "Where's this guardian that the people talked about?" Monica asked "Does the map say?"

"No, but they said that once we entered the gate, there should be a tunnel and-"

"That one?"

It was a sparse village – more of a hamlet, really, given what he'd read about such things in his history books – so the gaping tunnel on the far end of the visible civilization wasn't exactly hard to pick out.

"I'll bet it is."

Despite the summer temperatures back in Norune, Max found himself rubbing at his arms inside the dark. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark, too.

He stopped with Monica as she fixed a stunned gaze toward the ceiling. They stood before a pond with an enormous, dark tree growing out of it, and Max wondered why exactly he-

The tree shifted in the shadows, and large yellow eyes blinked open on its trunk. Under those eyes, Max now saw that it also had giant nostrils just above the water's surface.

It rumbled.

"Jurak," Monica said, breathless. "Here?"

The giant tree rumbled again.

Max poked Monica's shoulder, "Do you think it's trying to say something?"

"What? Oh!" Monica held up a hand toward the tree, "One moment, please."

She gathered magic in her hand, then lightly tapped Max's forehead. Light flashed, and it felt like a floodgate opened in his mind, sending a rush of cool water through his confused thoughts.

"As I was saying," the tree rumbled, "It intrigues me that you would know that name - Jurak hasn't even seen the sun yet. He's barely seeded. Unless… oh, you smell of another era. You two are time travelers?"

"Yes," Monica said. "From the future."

"Quite far in the future by human reckoning, if you mistake me for Jurak. I am Treant. Pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Treant!" Max said. "We didn't mean to intrude on your village, but we're trying to hunt down a deadly creature and we heard he might be in Queens. Would you know anything about that?"

"Deadly creature? You'll have to be more specific."

"We're not entirely sure of its name," Monica said. "It was a fat, purple genie that-"

"No," Treant said, "It couldn't be the rat… but perhaps… hm…"

"What are you thinking about?" Max asked.

"A great number of things, little sprout. When timelines get wound in knots, the best path to take is often… circuitous. Yes, that is a good word for it." Treant breathed deep, "Near the waterfall, on the outskirts of the village, there is a path up into the cliffs. At the end of the path, there lives a boy named Goro – tell him what you've told me, and I believe he will give you the help you need."

Max looked forlornly toward the thicket's entrance. This was starting to feel an awful lot like a wild goose chase. "Yes, sir."

Treant's directions were pretty easy to follow, at least. Though once they'd arrived, Max had to pause. There was a house here, yes. Built on top of a tree.

He pulled out his camera and snapped a couple of pictures before they approached the house and Monica staring intently at the ladder that extended to the ground. A ladder by itself shouldn't be too much of a problem, but Max could understand her apprehension. This one didn't look like it could support anything heavier than a squirrel.

Before they could start climbing, however, a stocky kid wearing a bear's pelt appeared above them, on the platform around the main building, and leaped off. Monica jumped away and Max yelped in surprise. The kid landed with a heavy thud before them before straightening, a massive hammer resting on his shoulder.

"Whaddya want?" he grumbled, casting a suspicious look at Max's camera.

Max hurriedly put it away and Monica put her hands on her hips. "We didn't even touch your door," she said.

"Save yourself the trouble." The kid turned on his heel, "If you're lookin' for directions, try talking to anyone else."

"Wait!" Max said, "Goro!"

The kid paused, and slowly turned back around, his eyes narrowed to slits, "How do you know my name?"

"Treant sent us," Monica replied, "We're looking for a… a particular monster. Does 'the rat' mean anything to you?"

Goro growled, lifting his hammer and slamming it down beside him so hard that Max swore the ground vibrated. "The rat is dead."

Monica asked, "What is the rat? Is it a pseudonym, or-"

"No," Goro snapped, "It was just a rat. Thing got sealed with the Dark Genie and blew up most of the world, not that anyone remembers it now. We fixed it."

"Who's 'we'?" Max asked. If they could get more people together who had some idea of what was going on, then-

"Nobody important. I did most of the work, anyway."

"Dark Genie," Monica muttered, "Dark Element…"

Max glanced at her, "Do you think they're the same?"

"It's hard to say. The genie in the mine said that he created the Dark Element, so…"

"When're you from?" Goro asked. "'Cause you didn't blink when I talked about people not remembering stuff that happened. And I've been around a lot of places, and I've never seen clothes like yours."

"Oh," Monica smiled, sheepish, "We're from the future."

"Hmph. Figures. Lemme guess - the Dark Genie, or whatever you call it in the future, is messing stuff up in your time. It's too strong to beat there, so you came back here to defeat it when it's still weak. Except I guess it's learned from last time, and now it's hiding out."

Max frowned, "Uh… no. That's not even close."

"Let's back up a bit," Monica said, "This Dark Genie – it's a fat, purple thing? Big fangs, curly-toed shoes?"

Goro scowled, "No. That's the rat. Got its power from the Dark Genie. Now dead. You saw the rat in the future?"

"We fought it," Max said, "But we didn't kill it. We followed it into a pit, and then… well, we're not sure what happened. The next thing we remember is waking up at a huge tower."

"… How huge a tower?"

"What?"

"About a hundred floors huge?"

"Uh… maybe?"

"East of here?"

Max nodded, "Yeah."

"Hmph. Demon Shaft."

"Is that important?"

"I dunno," Goro said, "I barely understood how we defeated the Dark Genie, and this sounds way more complicated."

"So," Monica said, "The Dark Genie is…?"

"Embodiment of hatred, or something like that. It possesses people, gives them power, turns their eyes red." Goro's mouth pulled to one side, "Tch. If you're trying to solve a puzzle, I can't help you."

Max slumped.

"But I might know someone who can. You know how to get to Queens?"

The small shop on the waterfront was busy, people filtering in and out each hour. Through the windows, ships could be seen traversing the harbor, either docking or departing. The sun shone clearly in a lightly clouded sky, and King and the Joker's mischief was at a record low.

Yes, Rando thought as he rested behind his counter, it was a pleasant day, all things considered. His own shop wasn't exactly ignored by the traffic. In fact, it was quite busy. He could already see number estimates in his mind's eye, all those digits.

Although most smuggling operations would disagree with him. With the hundredth anniversary of a certain wedding night approaching, a restless spirit in the sunken ship had awoken. It attacked intruders and could be heard wailing when the moon was new. He'd heard some fairies had even been seen in those drowned corridors, drawn by some malevolent force.

Rando glanced back toward the door to his room. Inside that room, there was a small box in the corner. And in that box was a crystal ball. It would keep him alive forever, and all he had to give in return was…

Nothing that he hadn't lost a hundred years ago.

By the midnight ocean, he missed her…

The door opened, and a tall woman with lavender hair sauntered inside.

Rando scrambled to his feet, smiling nervously. The shop had gone deadly silent.

"Good morning," Rando said, "May I help you with anything?"

An armed boy with a cat at his feet entered just behind the genie. He gave a narrow glance around at the customers in the shop and Ruby responded by jabbing a finger at the door, "Everyone out."

So far as Rando knew, Ruby wasn't friendly with anyone, and yet this random kid that he'd never seen before hung close to her like a lost dog she picked up. When he saw Rando, though, those eyes hardened and his jaw set. "Remember me?"

He tried to recall any green hats or orange shawl-things or tabby cats recently, but came up blank. "No, I'm sorry."

The boy looked to Ruby. She shrugged, "It's plausible that he doesn't remember. But then, he is exceptionally good at keeping secrets."

What?

No. She couldn't know.

Rando chuckled nervously, "I'm sorry?"

The boy turned back to him, "I don't think we're not the ones you should be apologizing to."

"Oh," Ruby said, "That's a matter of opinion."

"Mrrow."

The cat did not sound happy, and Ruby's tone strongly implied that she didn't really consider this issue 'a matter of opinion', though Rando had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to apologize to her and her friend for. He inched backward. He was reasonably confident that the orb would protect him if they tried to kill him, but… he wasn't certain.

Ruby hovered a few inches above the ground. "Don't bother getting away, Rando."

He stopped short.

The boy propped himself up against the counter. His mouth remained set in a hard frown, as opposed to Ruby's saccharine smail. "If you remember," she said, "then go ahead and say so now. Otherwise, my friend here will explain it to you."

Rando said nothing.

Ruby looked to the boy and he took a deep breath before doing as indicated. "You used us to get to your dead fiance. She nearly killed us before you dropped in and gave up immortality so you could be with her. But now, none of that happened."

"La Saia's here," Ruby said, "and she's angry as usual, so if we could just skip to the 'you both rest in peace' part, that would be great."

Rando blinked.

Ruby floated around the counter and snatched a small case inside one of the drawers, "We're going to put her to rest either way. She was brought back by the radiant energies of the Moon Orb, and that kind of power in the hands of an angry spirit isn't something that can be left alone. You can either go with her, or I can just break your ball right here."

"What?!" Rando yelped.

The boy flinched, "Er, isn't that a bit harsh?"

"It's an evil artifact, Toan," Ruby said, "Or at the very least, it's the worst kind of neutral artifact. Immortality in exchange for the most precious part of a life? No. Not in my city."

Toan met Rando's eyes, "You still want to be with her, right?"

"I–" Rando glanced at the genie. There was no way he could take her on. "I don't see that I have a choice."

"You could move away."

Wood splintered between Ruby's fingers as her eyes narrowed, "Toan…"

"It would be murder, Ruby."

"He should have died decades ago."

"It would still be murder."

"It would not."

The two locked gazes over the counter. Rando looked between them, then raised his arms in surrender, "Calm down. Please. I'll do it. Look, I–if I have to leave this place… leave her… then… I'd rather be dead anyway."

The words shocked him as they left his mouth. Mostly because they were true. He'd never been able to face the guilt of abandoning La Saia, always passing it off, year after year, as some fleeting thing. Something he would get past, eventually. But it had been a century now, and–

Wow, wait. Had he just agreed – agreed – to give up immortality? What was happening?

Although, none of his three 'guests' seemed surprised. Toan seemed relieved, the cat looked disturbingly aware of what was going on, and Ruby…

Ugh, Ruby. In his hundred years of life, Rando hadn't learned much about genies, but he did know that she had been a fixture in this city since before he'd been born. She was actually the reason La Saia's ship was now used for smuggling – the submergers had been built specifically to retrieve her lamp from the wreck. For as long as Rando could remember, Ruby had been the bogeyman.

And now La Saia was literally haunting her ship, and some part of that was Rando's fault. As he ghosted through the years, watching his city while keeping his distance from her people. So, who was truly the bogeyman here?

"Is there anything you need to do?" Toan asked, "Any affairs to put in order?"

Rando shook his head, "No. Let's just go."

Go… to talk to La Saia. To see her again, after all these years, and finally apologize for leaving her at the altar… Rando looked at the glass sphere in Ruby's hand, and imagined it shattering.

A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.

Embodiment of hatred…

Monica dug her fingers through the cloth of gloves and into her palms, as she walked alongside Max, following Goro through what he called the 'Wise Owl Forest'. She thought it had been over, this endless war across the eons. She'd been born to it, had the arrogance to think she could put an end to it…

But it would never end, would it?

"Kind of an eerie coincidence," she muttered to Max, "That this friend of his is in Queens."

Max nodded, "Well, the knight did say that this thing would hunt people who've had Atlamillia. And if Goro's travelled through time…"

Ah. Of course. Either he'd had an Atlamillia at some point, or one of his friends did.

"Hey," Monica said, louder so that Goro would hear, "Who exactly is this friend of yours?"

"The most annoying woman you will ever meet," Goro growled, "Complains about everything. Even whines when you say 'Dark Genie', 'cause apparently it's not really a genie, and it's not really dark."

Max frowned, "Uh, then what is it?"

"Don't know, don't care. You can ask Ruby when we see her."

"But you've beaten it before," Monica said.

The trees grew thicker overhead and blocked out more sun, and Goro idly tapped the head of his mallet against his hand, "Yeah. Beat up a bunch of fairies that it was possessing along the way, but those were just… symptoms. Seems like it needs a human host as a root before it can spread. And it got that root four hundred years ago. So we went back to that day, and destroyed it there."

"You killed the host?"

"What?" Goro blinked, "No. I mean, I would've been all for that, but as it turns out, my friend was able to use this shiny little rock of his to bring the host's wife back to life. Went through an alternate dimension and everything to beat the snot out of it, too. Don't ask me how it works, I don't know."

Alternate dimension, huh? That sounded familiar. Monica could still remember that endless night, full of stars and winding stairs that fell into a vast nothingness. The clock ticking down as the Star of Destruction drew ever closer. She shivered.

"We fought something similar," she said, "It even had a host, although he wasn't human. But there was this… hatred inside him, that created a monster, and twisted the world around him. And we could fight the monster, but if the host had continued to hold onto that hate, then… it didn't matter what we did. We would have lost."

"At least the view was nice," Max mused.

"If this is the same monster," Goro grunted, "Then you and I saw very different things."

The branches above them cleared enough for sun to shine through, once more lighting the place in soft, golden green light. It was quiet, especially here where the villagers all insisted that the animals were too friendly to hurt them. Did that also make them too friendly to live daily lives and make normal sounds?

"Hey-" Monica started. Goro held up a hand for silence and they quieted. Goro then made his careful way down the path, stepping surprisingly quietly despite having his thick frame.

"This is Sindain," Monica whispered while Goro made his way down.

"What?"

"Think about it. Treant, this forest dungeon – Palm Brinks is southwest, near the coast, which means that Balance Valley must be northwest, and Veniccio must be somewhere east of there. This is Sindain. Or, it's going to be."

Max glanced behind him, "So, that's what it was like before it gets–got–gets destroyed?"

Monica nodded, "I think so."

"I guess the firbits don't move in until all the humans are wiped out."

Monica cringed, "Uh. Yeah. I guess. Actually, I was thinking more about… I mean, I don't really know what to think about this place. Did you notice that this guy is wearing a bear? It's really weird."

"I guess that is pretty strange."

"I mean, I know the world can change a lot from one era to the next, but he's wearing a bear."

Monica quickly hushed again as Goro reappeared, casting Max one last sideways glance.

"We're clear," Goro said, hefting a new, huge axe onto his shoulder. "Let's go."

Luneth sat, perched on a chair and staring at Ingus' still body. Ingus wasn't asleep – in fact his eyes were open and he sat in an upright position and acted very alert, but he didn't seem to register the fact that Luneth was there. It was kind of insulting, really, on top of being downright creepy.

They were in Ingus' chambers and it was early, with the sun showing soft and golden through the many windows–seriously, how many windows did he need?

He frowned. They needed to be leaving soon, but something about the show last night must have upset Ingus, since he refused to leave his room, or even acknowledge Luneth's presence. Perhaps they hadn't placed their trees right. Ingus always was a perfectionist. Perhaps he was just deeply insulted?

"You can be so picky," Luneth said with a sigh. "If you wanted it done differently, you could've told us."

Arc and Refia were ready to leave, yet Ingus wouldn't respond to Luneth's attempts to get him moving, or at even talking. Luneth cocked his head, poking Ingus' shoulder. "Hello?" He poked him again. "Are you in there? Should I prep a raise? Hey, maybe you'll answer a question I've had for a while. Do you actually enjoy giving up your whole life and soul to the king?"

Ingus knocked Luneth's finger away.

"There we go!" Luneth said, jumping from his chair. "You're alive! I was starting to get a little concerned that maybe we'd accidentally frozen your heart or something during the feast. Granted, I guess that's a little impossible since your heart's already been frozen, like the World Below-"

"Ingus! Luneth!" Refia huffed, coming in. "We're running late!"

Ingus moved his glare to her instead. "You just humiliated me in front of the entire court."

"Humiliated?" Refia shook her head. "You doofus, they're all just waiting for the wedding announcement. They loved it!"

"The wedding-?" Luneth began before Ingus cut him off.

"You turned me into the court fool."

"Did not. We merely affirmed what they already knew."

"Princess Sara and I have no such relationship."

This was about Sara?

"Oh, wonderful." Refia exchanged a look with Luneth. "He's delusional, isn't he? Poor guy. But for what it's worth, I had nothing to do with instigating the incident. And they've now stored the sculpture in a chilled display case in the Grand Hall. Probably better to just accept it now and move on."

"Right," Luneth said. "It's not like people are going to forget it anytime soon, anyhow."

"The Grand Hall?" Ingus blanched. "You… the Grand Hall? That thing is in the Grand Hall? Right now?!"

Refia shrugged. "The king liked it so much, he had Arc enchant the box with a chilling spell and stored it there. I honestly had no idea, didn't think he could appreciate it if an Ancient painting smacked him in the face, but hey. Just when you think you know someone, right?"

Ingus stood, a little shakily. "Fine. Let's go. Right now."

"That's the spirit!" Luneth said. Before catching up with Ingus, Luneth turned to Refia. "Did they really put it in the Grand Hall?"

Refia shook her head. "King's chambers, actually. Personal decoration."

"Nice. We've got ourselves our first fan." Luneth pumped the air. "Good start."

Ingus took a different route through the castle, winding through some hidden stairs and tunnels. "Hey!" Luneth shouted, rushing to keep up. A guy could get lost in this place.

"Where did these come from?" Refia asked, also picking up her pace to keep up with Ingus. "You we have food, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Or weapons," Luneth said. "In fact, any supply you can think of, we've got it. So I hope you're not trying to get to a shop. How far down does this go?"

Ingus remained silent. Torches lit the way, likely enchanted with an everspell. Luneth cast Refia a questioning look, but she shook her head. She didn't know what he was doing, either. The stairs stopped eventually and they hit a long hallway. Ingus walked on and Luneth remained silent, curious to see where they would turn up. He could see why Ingus liked this castle, now.

They hit another set of stairs, this one ascending up for forever. The torches kept the tunnel warm, and between that and the exercise, Luneth felt like he was going to suffocate in the heat. Ingus huffed once or twice on the way up, but that was it.

When stone walls finally gave way to the cold air of an early morning, Luneth paused just to take in the chill.

Arc waited for them at the airship, journal in hand as he sat on the steps leading up to the Nautilus. Luneth waved and caught his attention.

"What took you?" Arc asked. "Is Ingus okay?"

"No," said Ingus.

The propellers started spinning and Luneth grinned. He could see it already, the bird's eye view, the dotted landscapes. The Ancients certainly did a good job on these ships and they had yet to fail the orphans and the thought that Saronia or Sasune could try to claim them as their own made Luneth grimace.

He quickly forgot his irritation again as the deafening roar of the engine drowned out all other sound. The sweet thrill at the thought of exploration, the promise of new land and sights. A continent barely known to this part of the world.

He wouldn't let it pass him by.