"I am here to see a Headen?" Isuka asked one of the elven guards. They shook their head and pointed their spear, prodding their stomach lightly. "She is busy planning. You must come back later."

"This is ridiculous! You dark elves always do this when I arrive," Isuka yelled, pushing the spear aside. "I said I want to come in."

"And I say no!" The guard said back, swinging the blade end of the spear back up to Isuka. "You can ask tomorrow, or else!"

"I'm, not, asking!" Isuka said, grabbing the blade with her bare hand. It quickly froze before she snapped it, grabbing the elf and pushing the icy blade against her neck. The guard started to blush, a smile creeping up her face as the blade crept further and further into her neck. "I'm demanding you let me in."

"Finally found a little backbone~ in yourself?" The guard said, grabbing Isuka's wrist. She didn't push the danger away, only running her fingers to feel the ironclad grip on the human's arm. "I was beginning to think you were just a meek little bitch. You are a lot hotter when you're all riled up, Queen's second.~" Her eyes grew heavy-lidded, feeling the blade begin to break the skin. "Ooooh yes~"

"I-" snapped out of her short stretch of anger, Isuka withdrew the blade, realizing what she was doing. "I didn't mean to do that! I'm just a bit upset, is your neck okay? Do you need to go to the hospital? Please forgive me!" The guard sighed disappointingly and stepped aside, opening the way inside for Isuka. "Never mind, please just go in." Isuka nodded and quickly walked in, the dark elf watching her pass by, snapping her fingers disappointed while she watched her ass going in. "So close. I could have gotten a few toys in her hand…" she said under her breath.

Isuka knocked before opening up the door, seeing Headen with a visitor with her already. She was the first dark elf she had seen with dark, silky hair. They both turned their head as the door creek shut, Headen sitting with her legs crossed while the mysterious dark elf was leaning over the table. "Ah, you must be the moon teller," The newcomer said, extending a hand. "I am the Betire clan leader, and you must be Isuka."

"It's an honor," Isuka said, taking the handshake. The Betire's hand felt course and rough to shake, feeling like it could scratch the skin off of her hand. She took a step back once she could part her hand away, patting her satchel hanging from her shoulder. "I suppose you have come to see the proof for yourself?"

"Well I can't just believe that a moon that has risen and fallen for generations is going to, out of the blue, turn the shade of this Asseto's eyes," She pointed out, Isuka and Headen taking a brief look at each other. Headen nodded towards Isuka, her face staying as still as stone. Isuka, however, wasn't as good with half-truths.

"Of course," Isuka said, taking out her book. "I have been, erm, studying this moon for weeks on end! All my results have pointed to Queen Headen herself. I'm sure of it!"

"I will believe it when this moon rises in the middle of the godforsaken day." The Betire didn't seem to buy the prophecy one bit, walking around Isuka with the skepticism of a 10-year-old child. "Right? Because of course, a golden moon is going to rise in the afternoon?"

Isuka nervously nodded, sparing an instant to evil eye Headen. For some reason, her partner in crime decided to announce this moon to rise in the brightest part of the day, as a shade nearly impossible for it to naturally occur. Headen didn't seem phased by the Betire's accusations, tapping her feet with the poise of a war general…or a mad woman.

"You both are lucky the Asseto won the duel, or I wouldn't even honor this request," the Betire Queen said with dread. By the time she walked out her attitude had completely shifted. Isuka stayed still until she was sure the leader was gone, before finding somewhere to bury her head in.

"You seem stressed," Headen pointed out. "She has to come, I beat her in this "Quiddish" thing you told me about."

"Why would you say a golden moon was going to rise in the day!?" Isuka screamed, her noise muffled by the pages. Every time she thought about the oncoming day she got more terrified, her stomach knotting itself into such a bundle that a gremlin would get stuck trying to untie it. Headen shrugged and stood up, pushing her chair towards Isuka's shaking frame. "Relax, I'm sure the deity you found will be able to set the moon up for us perfectly."

"That was before I mentioned the moon turning gold," Isuka said. "She said it is beyond her power!"

"What!?-I mean…" Headen didn't want to panic with Isuka already on edge. She carefully lifted Isuka, setting her down in the chair while pulling her legs back down. "...It is fine. We overshot our welcome, and we lost one branch we can use. We can figure something else in time."

"By the end of the week?" Isuka asked, looking up with a distraught face. Headen cringed a second time inside, as she may have proclaimed for such impossible things to happen by the next weekend. To her, it was the only way to ensure the warring clans would believe in her total dominion. It would be the first time Assetos and Betires would share the same colosseum seats together, and if they didn't have another way to fulfill the prophecy in a few days, it would quite possibly be the last.

"What of the other person?" Headen asked. "We haven't tried him yet."

"You mean the quack that lives in the middle of the woods?" Isuka said. "The one that posted his ads for spell practice?"

"If a sign says that they can teach you how to control the moon, what reason do you have disbelieve them?"

"All of them!" Isuka yelled. "Face it, we are doomed!" She put her head back in her lap in lap, sniffling as tears started to stain her dress. Headen patted her shoulder, being as sympathetic as she could. "You believed in me, and look how far we have gotten. I'm sure if you follow the sign, you will find an answer there as well." She moved in for the kill, hugging Isuka from behind. "Do it for me, Honorary Queen," she whispered in her ear. Isuka lifted her head slightly, her pupils turning to look at the dark elf at the edge of her vision. "What could possibly go wrong?" Headen asked.

"WhAt CoUlD pOsSiBlY gO wRoNg?" Isuka repeated mockingly, lamenting over all the possible ways she and Headen will get tortured after this moon prophecy goes completely wrong. She held the sign in her hand, following the landmarks before she was led to…nothing. It was nothing but a circle of rocks!

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Isuka said, tearing up the paper. "There isn't even a house here! It's a bunch of flipping rocks! I hate this! I hate you paper, I HATE YOU!" She kicked the rock with all her might, watching it roll down the gentle hill, just like her chances of being alive. She fell to her knees, bawling out with nothing around that could make her feel better.

"Yooooo!" she heard a man's voice go. She looked down the hill, seeing a bluish creature with pointy elf ears wave the rock back and forth in his hand. He jogged up the hill, holding a polished blue-white staff almost twice as long as he is tall. He wore even bluer clothing, with a hiking pack on his back and a pointy wizard hat that covered his short, forth-brushed hair. "You dropped this out of the circle," he said casually, placing it back where it was. Isuka pushed it over again, getting a weird look from the blue elf. "Really?"

"Do what you wish with me," Isuka said, glaring up at the elf. "If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to taunt death before I get a fate worse than it." The elf scratched his head confused, picking up the rock and placing it back. "Don't you know what you're sitting on?"

"Not a house, that is for sure." Isuka held up the torn-up pieces of the flyer, the elf taking a look at them. The elf started to chuckle, leaning on his staff while he waited for Isuka to realize as well.

"What is so funny?"

"Do you not realize where you are?" He said. He tapped his staff a few times, the rocks around Isuka starting to glow. "This is my house!"

"You're homeless?" Isuka asked.

"No, I just don't live on this surface." The both of them were enveloped in a circular wall of blue that whistled like a quiet train. Their bodies started to float up in the circle, ascending towards the infinitely far end above. Isuka looked around as the ground shrunk further and further away. Instead of the sunny sky, she began to see stars, twinkling above in one half of the sky, while the other was the curving horizon of the planet's atmosphere. It was a sight to take in, but her amazement was short-lived. She realized she wasn't with any old quack as she looked at the blue elf smiling at her. She was with a magic quack!

"Where are you taking me?" She asked. He laughed again, seeming to find the whole situation hilarious as he pointed above. "To the moon, of course!" He said, pointing up at the moon rapidly growing in the distance. Isuka waited for the moment they were going to slow down, but the grey, cratered surface just kept getting bigger and bigger. She screamed and covered her eyes, too busy panicking to notice the whirring in the background disappear.

"We're here!" The blue elf said. When she removed her hands, she saw the vast expanse of the moon. Its hills and random dips went on for a seemingly infinite amount of miles, to a sky that was nothing but space and starry light from far away. She could see her world from here, half of in its shadow of the sun. It was silent on the moon, with nothing on there but her and the elf gesturing to the great unknown.

"This, is my home!" He said, breathing in the imaginary air reminiscently. "And, you are my newest student in the art of the moon. How great is that human? Human?" The blue elf noticed Isuka holding her neck, her face turning a pale shade of blue. "Uh oh," he remarked, tapping Isuka's temple with the bulb end of his staff. A transparent bubble formed around her head. Her chest expanded for a very late gasp of oxygen. She almost fell to the ground, coughing over herself as she got her breathing started again.

"Now, you are my latest student!" He tried again. "I live here, watching over the earth from my moon. I make the moon rise and fall, and on the occasional blue moon…well, you know the rest." Isuka looked confused, looking back towards the earth once again. "But, I thought the Chief God controlled us, or Yokai, or Lilims, or…"

"Before you say another word, read this." The blue elf dug a pamphlet out of his backpack, handing it to Isuka. Isuka looked at the title, arching an eyebrow. "The World Theological Standard of Nature, by the…International Organization of Balance?"

"The name is a work in progress," he clarified. "It explains how each myth coexists with one another," The elf said. "Of course, I still have my moon duties, but when desired I would take over for another god, deity, natural entity, aspect of physics, or supernatural phenomenon."

"So…everyone controls the moon?" Isuka asked. The pamphlet wasn't solving anything for her. "How does all the people decide power?"

"We take turns. For you (and the reader's sake), let us just say I am the one currently in power." He then took the pamphlet back, folding it back into his backpack. "Now then; why is it that you seek my aid in moon-related activity?"

"Well, since you're not just a crazy person," Isuka said. "For personal reasons, I need to turn a moon golden and showcase it during the afternoon. Very soon."

"Oh, I thought you would just want to have a full moon for your love interest. That would be a doozy," he said. "It would take months for me to teach you all that you need to achieve it."

"But I do not have months. If I fail, then she will…be really, really disappointed." Isuka caught herself. She wasn't sure if the elf would like to teach her over some made-up prophecy. If he finds out, the whole scheme would be ruined! Isuka thought. It wasn't much, but for now, at least she had a chance.

"Well we can't have her…disappointed?" The blue elf seemed weirded out, but he didn't bother to pry further. "Before I begin with the first lesson, I go by Zackary." He then stepped back, burying his staff into the rocky surface. The surface began to crack and shake, the ground splitting in two under Isuka. She dove for one side, watching one side drift away from where she lay.

"Behold!" Zackary said with glowing blue eyes. Isuka crawled towards the edge, seeing the core of the moon exposed in the tireless sunlight. "The moon in all its glory!"

"Amazing!" Isuka wished she had something to record the moment, seeing all the rock that lay below the battered surface.

"This used to be a peaceful place, until a battle between a swarth of celestial elves sent bodies crashing into each other, one after another," he started to explain. "The moon was no exception, being bombarded by stray after stray stone. It was only through the great rebalance that the moon was finally saved, only in a worse condition." He then lifted his staff, the effects of his powers reversing almost immediately. Isuka tumbled after the canyon crashed back into each other, rolling onto her back. "That was breathtaking…"

"That was simply childsplay," Zackary said. "Breathtaking would be what you ask of me to teach you."

"Moving the moon is hard enough as it is, but to place it on a course crossing in front of a star would be more than suicidal." He pointed Isuka towards the sun. She looked with her hands shielding her eyes from the light, wondering what he spoke of. "For each planetary body there is an elf, but sun elves are most uptight, most annoying-" He stopped, noticing Isuka looking at him with concern. He could hear his grip on the staff, unwinding himself before he went too far. "They are a bit…peeved when I create a solar eclipse and block their light."

"But, I could still do it, right?" She asked. The elf seemed to sidestep the question, opting to spin his staff instead. "Let's start with something basic before we ask such, imposing, questions." He tapped the floor with his toe. "Try breaking a rock off from the ground."

"Only a rock?" Isuka said, getting on her knees and digging her hands into the ground. "Well, if you say so…"

"Woah woah, woah!" he said, waving the hand-digging off. "You can't use your hands, friend. You have to magic the rock out of the ground. Levitation?"

"Right, right." Waiting to impress him off the bat, she took her spellbook out and skimmed through the pages. Luckily, Headen had added a page on making things float up into the air. She drew the rune out on the ground, tapping it lightly to activate the spell. It powered on with a vroosh, vibrating the ground between her and the elf before cracks started to form around the rune.

"Come on…come on…" she goaded on the rock, almost bargaining with it to lift triumphantly from the servers. It finally broke off and started to hover, the volleyball-sized moonrock going up a foot before floating back down to the light surface.

"That was a great start!" Zach told her, hitting the moon with his staff. The moonrock gained his blue mana glow, floating back into its spot and sealing with a tonk into the surface. "Tomorrow, you will be ready for even bigger rocks!"

"Wait, tomorrow? This is the only lesson?" Isuka asked astonished.

"Correct!" the elf said back. "It's easy to learn on moon gravity, but once you get back home you will be able to practice with normal gravity. If you can't move the moon on earth, how would you move the moon on the moon?" Zach scoffed, knocking on his own head as if his idea made sense. "Duh!"

He then did the transport spell in reverse, the beam of light appearing in front of them again. It continued to shoot out until it appeared to bridge the gap between the moon and the home world, looking like a blue harmless ball in the distance. "Come on now! Your bubble of breathing space won't last forever if you stay behind."

The next day went disappointingly similar. It was ludicrous to believe he could teach her to move the moon in a few day cycles, but compared to the impossible task, every bit of effort she put in seemed null and void. "Let me stay!" She would demand, and Zach would begrudgingly agree when failing to remove her from the moon. She rapidly hurried through training, leaving puddles of sweat behind as she worked her way up from pebbles to chunks of asteroids. It was something out of a montage, with another page of notes added to the spare space in her satchel for every exploit she could push out of the cells of her body. Compared to yesterday, it was Herculean, and she was a better mage because of it.

Compared to moving the moon, she might as well have been sent back home after moving a second rock.

"Come on! One more!" Isuka yelled, looking around for another asteroid she could throw out of the solar system, but Zach shook his head. "I-I'm sorry, but I can't! You look completely tired!"

"I can keep going! I can…wheeze." talking felt like pushing her throat over hot coals. Her stubbornness was the only thing keeping her body from seizing up right then and there, but she stopped her demands when a sudden shadow covered both of them.

"You think making a shadow over us is going to keep me from training?" Isuka said, looking at Zachary. "I will just move!"

The moon elf shrugged. "Be my guest, but you are not faster than the moon itself."

"Wha…" Isuka sluggishly turned her head, her jaw dropping when she saw the corona of the sun get covered up by the earth. She had spent the whole time training, and now the moon was ready to go onto its dark side. She had light spells prepared for this, but not…for this!

"I'm sorry, but it's time," Zachary said, patting his pupil reassuringly. "You did amazing Isuka."

"I did terrible, agh," Isuka said, falling against Zachary. "I…I need to push more…if I don't…Headen would…"

"I'm sure this Headen would be proud of how stronger you became regardless. I would love to do it for you as well, but it is not my decision. Well it is, but then I would have to face those sun elves…" Zackary opened the passage over them. Almost instantly, they were brought back home, the stars out on the dark side of the world. Zachary moved one of the rocks a bit, destroying the connection for the time being. "At this rate, you might be able to travel back on your own," Zackary told her. "Well go on, I don't feel exactly sure of your safety until you are well on your way. I will be watching with great interest!"

Isuka limped back dejected. Another day had gone by, only to be shot down at the prospect of controlling the moon once more. She didn't know she was going to break it to Headen. They both always knew that things could go wrong, but now, everything seemed so bleak.

The trees covered the sun from Isuka, the leaves rustling around as she went back to Headen's place. She walked in and started heading to her room, only to slow down when she heard her conversing with someone already…

"Can't a queen come through her old grounds one last time?" Went a mellow voice. "I have some things here I need to collect!"

"The whole point of the duel is that you don't get to come back in here," went Headen's voice. "How did you even get back in here, Lesi?"

"That is Former Queen Lesi to you, and I flew in through a window." She heard a talon move, then scrolls clatter onto the ground. "Whoops…so, how is this plan of yours going? Not that I care or anything…"

"It's none of your business how it's going. I and Isuka know what we are doing," Headen retorted, seeming to pick up the scrolls by the sound of it. Curious for more info, Isuka froze a small patch in the wall and poked through, making a tiny peephole to watch.

"But a moon the color of your eye! I haven't seen anything close to it since my own fibbing days. In the afternoon too…" Former Queen Lesi put a wing over her mouth in sarcastic shock. "It must be one serious prophecy to unite with the enemy."

"I said it's-"

"I don't even know why you talk to those Betires anyway. They are a bunch of no-good offshoots are what they are. They wouldn't know class if we built them a school."

I said shut up!" Headen yelled. Isuka could feel the yell from her soul, and so could the Queen. She sat on one of the tables, her face distraught and shocked as silence levitated over the room. "I'm uniting our clans, and that is final!" She stated, the scrolls getting scrunched up in her hands. She made her way back to the surface they dropped from, placing the papers down like they were porcelain. "Even if...even if I have to trust another to do it."

"The human…can she-"

"I have no choice Lesi," Headen grumbled, her head staring down at the wooden table. "At this point, she has done more for me than I could ever ask her. I don't blame her if she runs."

"Then a last stand it is." Lesi got off of her seat, looking around the ground for something.

"What? No sneer?"

"I'm curious, that's all," she answered, tapping her feet around. "It's something about you and her that just fascinates me. Maybe becoming a harpy has given me a change of heart…yet, I wish to see this through."

"So you came just to bother me?"

"I came to get something important." Lesi smiled, seeming to find her spot on the floor. She hopped onto a seemingly random floorboard until she felt it give. She dropped two inches into the ground, seeming to have tripped a mechanism under the floor. "There we go."

In the middle of the room, another floor piece started rising. It broke early on, splintering in two as a chest-height pillar arose, holding a dust-covered potion on top of it. "Remember when I had you make a potion for me to fight a gang of ogres?" the former queen said, blowing the dust off of the old potion. It had long since lost its glow, but it was still a good orange, albeit a bit murky. "Well, I lied~"

"Of course you did."

"I did need it for something very important, however," she continued on, picking up the potion with her wings. She had to cradle it, holding it like a newborn baby since she didn't have hands. "When the day came where the Betires and the Asseto would have one last fight, I promised myself that I would boldly lead my guard into battle. An Asseto never backs away from a duel. However, I'm no longer in any shape to protect my people, Headen."

"I won't need the potion," Headen said, disregarding her. "I appreciate the gesture, but I have it covered."

"Right…" Lesi looked unsure, wanting the power (even if old) in someone's hands. "Just…make sure that our people our safe. I would hate to see you and the human lose so soon, but it would be cruel if you let the Betires take our people. They aren't meant to rule."

Isuka, watching the entire time, looked on as Lesi made her exit, still cradling the potion in hand. Headen was turned around, the gears in her head stirring as she sought to get the thoughts out of her head.

"Hello there," the harpy said right behind Isuka. She twitched and turned, moving away from the peephole to protect herself. "Stay back, I have more spells where that came from!"

"I know better than anyone." Lesi stepped forward without any malice, squatting down and putting a potion before her. "Please. It should boost your mana for a short period of time. I don't know what good it would do now, but I need it in someone's hands."

Isuka inched forwards, taking the potion and putting it in her satchel. "Thank…you?"

"Hmmph," the harpy grimaced. "I hope she was right to not turn you into a pig." she then walked off, leaving no other note to follow. Isuka looked back in her satchel, seeing the orange slowly move around inside the glass bottle. It looked positively disgusting, but with a quick boil, it could be alright. It better be, because she already knew what she had in mind.

It was the dawn of the prophecy. Before the elves of all kinds woke, Isuka was already back at the passage, figuring out the arrangement of the rocks. "Alchemy law demands that any teleportation be satisfyingly aligned with a common shape for drawing purposes. The moon elf wouldn't leave the rocks in any other shape…" Isuka said, measuring out a perfect circle formation for the rocks. As she placed the last one in place, the passage opened. Zachary was teleported down with it, covering himself embarrassed as he was in the midst of bathing. All his important bits were covered in moon soap suds, but still - he was streaking in front of his student with the breeze blowing along his sensitive skin!

"What manner of pranking is this!?" He said panicking to hide his genitalia. "And how did you do it! For...future reference on an annoying group of certain people!?"

"Teach me to move the moon!" Isuka asked, finally one time too many.

"Really, THIS AGAIN!? How many times must I say this, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO MOVE THE MOON." As he said that, Isuka revealed her glowing orange potion, swirling energetically in its bottle. "What is that?" He asked, Isuka grinning ear to ear.

"The power that I need of course. You know what I want, Zach~"