Welcome one and all to this year's Labor Day Special! There's no particular reason why I do this special every year, but we just do it anyways. And by "it" I mean updating every active story all at once! Starting here in Uncharted Beyond Realms, where last time, Nathan Drake and company solved the riddle of the combined pendants and revealed a spiral staircase leading down into... well we don't know where quite yet. All we know is whatever's down there will "Put the Ancestors' power in hand". Today, we find out what the heck that means. So read on, to discover the truth...

(Our scene resumes on the spiral staircase deep into the city's depths, where our newly reunited quintet is not exactly in the best company, as the Malefic Order is forcing them to lead them to whatever prize they've been seeking this whole time.)

Sully: Nate, you know we're dead meat to these guys once they have what they want.

Nathan Drake: I know. But there's still one thing we need to find out.

Sully: That being?

Nathan Drake: Whatever it is these pendants have been leading us towards.

Sully: And you're willing to bet they won't kill us before we can find out?

Nathan Drake: They think we know everything about whatever it is. Chances are I can bluff them into showing us the rest.

Spyro: Don't be so sure. One of their guys was in with us the whole time. He probably knows as much as we know.

Nathan Drake: Well then what are we up against here?

Cynder: That's the one thing Terrador wasn't clear on. All he would say is that it's the worst mistake the Ancestors ever made, if it works.

Nathan Drake: If it works?

Cynder: He wouldn't go clearer than that.

Nathan Drake: So at least we have that possibility, that their hunt will have been for nothing.

Elena: If it's for nothing, then won't they just kill us sooner?

Nathan Drake: That... is also likely. I guess we're just going to need some luck.

Spyro: So knowing that, how doomed are we?

(Nathan Drake doesn't answer that, because he has no idea how to answer it. But before he can figure that out, the staircase ends at a door, ornate and magnificent, and very locked)

?: At long last, we've found it. (To the Watcher) Blow the door.

(Not wasting time, the Watcher and the two troops with them pull out what looks like a bunch of Semtex and stick it to the door. Everybody is pushed back up the staircase as the Watcher blows the ornate door to smithereens. And as the smoke clears, the target of all this madness is revealed: a massive clockwork machine or rings and little spheres all surrounding a central sphere)

Watcher: By the Dark Master, it's real!

?: The Orrery.

Nathan Drake: What am I looking at here?

Watcher: This isn't your place to question, human.

?: They won't be around to talk about it much longer. (Looks back at the Orrery) This device, is the stories are true, will...

Nathan Drake: If you're going to say "Put the Ancestors' power in hand", we already know that.

?: Then I may as well be clear as to how. Once I activate this machine, I will be able to turn back time, rewind the stars, and allow us to undo the mistakes of the past.

Spyro: So that's your plan. You're going to go back and stop us from defeating Malefor.

?: Better than that, I'll stop you from even being born, Purple Dragon. And once Malefor is restored to power, I'll use this device to ensure his reign never ends!

(With his declaration made, the Malefic Order's leader approaches a valve wheel in front of the machine.)

?: One turn of this wheel, and time itself will bend to my will!

(And thus, he turns the wheel, throwing the Orrery into action, and time seems to start moving backwards.)

?: And now you are useless to us.

(Now the moment is at hand, because Nathan Drake realizes one thing, he's still got his gun. If he can take a shot fast enough, he can stop all of this. But as he's about to draw his weapon, he sees the Watcher has the same plan. It's a literal battle of the quickdraws, who will shoot first? The answer: next time, as our tale ends for now)

This concludes Part I of the Labor Day Special. For Part II, head on over to A Song Of Spiders And Dragons. We're in the endgame now, folks. I predict only two chapters remain before we wrap up. Now, as time flies backwards, one shot will decide the outcome of this encounter. So, who will shoot first? Tune in next time to find out! Same time... same channel!