Chihiro Hatsuki's Skylanders: Here Come the Giants!

by Tilde-Heart

The past and present collide when an ancient evil from the bowels of Skylands' history is awakened by Kaos as he attempts to restore his empire of evil! Now, Chihiro and the Skylanders must team up with the heroes of Skylands' distant past in order to bring a stop to the revival of the Arkeyan Empire! (Canon-divergent retelling of Skylanders Giants)

16. Chapter 16

Luz couldn't quite recall why it was that he woke up so early that night. Perhaps a bad dream had roused him awake, perhaps something bothered him in the middle of the night, perhaps he had gotten sudden pangs of hunger and thirst—but either way he found himself awake and alone in his family's shared bedroom, stuck in the middle of their bed as he rubbed his eyes. Normally nights like this were tranquil and free of the day's chaos, yet just outside he could hear something that shouted like frantic crying and screaming, shouting and ordering while the smell of smoke burned in the air. But why? What was going on? Were they having a festival? No, they wouldn't have a festival this late.

And for that matter, where were his parents? Normally they'd be asleep with him in bed, yet here he was all alone. But, he did hear some voices shouting from the other room that sounded an awful lot like their own—maybe that was what woke him.

Rubbing his eyes and creeping out of bed, Luz tiptoed to the door and poked his head out to the heart of the house, where beside the hearth his parents shouted and cried with surprising rage! He gasped and hid behind the wall as his heart pounded. What could have made them so mad? His parents never fought like this… He wanted to run, to close his eyes and go back to bed, but something about this drew him in like a moth to flame, so he peered back around and whimpered.

"I'm telling you, we have to flee now!" his mother cried. "If we stay here, we'll surely die!"

"And leave our home to be reduced to rubble?!" his father shouted back. "You know we can't do that! We have to fight for our home, our family—"

"Our family won't last against them! The Arkeyans have more numbers than us, they're much stronger, and with how remote we are there's no way help will arrive in time! We're much better off fleeing!"

"That doesn't mean we can't try! If we leave now, we're abandoning everything we care about!"

"And what about Luz, then?!"

Luz's mother gestured back to the hall, and Luz gasped and hid behind the wall once more.

Arkeyans? He'd only heard the Arkeyans in whispers from the grown-up—weren't they those really bad people who went around destroying places and making empires and taking people captive? Why would they come to a small village like his?

"Luz will be fine, dear. The elders and children are being sent to a safe haven," his father said. "It's impregnable and he'll have provisions, he'll be safe!"

"But if his parents die, who will take care of him? How will he cope if he grows up knowing his parents died in a losing battle? What will he—"

A soft creak came from the floor, and Luz winced as he glanced down at the toy he had accidentally nudged with his foot. The shouting from the outer room had drawn to a close, and Luz just gulped and tried to stay as quiet as he could—he hadn't meant to alert them, not at all! Hopefully they hadn't noticed!

"Luz?"

And they had.

Luz gulped, then crept out of the halls and into the family room, where the hearth burned bright and illuminated the wide-eyed, terrified looks on his parent's faces. Weapons laid on the table, all swords and spears and lances paired with what seemed like armor, and laid on the floor was a sack almost as big as he was! The whole air was hot and stuffy and uncomfortable, and Luz could barely stand it! He wanted to run back into bed, to jump in there and pretend this was all a dream, because whatever this was, it was certainly a bad one.

His father was the first to move, grabbing the bag and shoving it in Luz's arms. It was so heavy and came so suddenly that Luz almost fell over, but he quickly collected himself and peered inside. All sorts of food, skins of water, clothing and more laid within, enough for a few days' trips.

But, why would he need this?

"Good, you're awake," Luz's father said as he knelt down to Luz's height and laid a hand on Luz's shoulder. "Luz, there's something big and scary happening right now, and all the children need to leave the village. Everything's going to be fine, but—"

"Mom, Dad, why are Arkeyans coming here?" Luz asked.

Luz's father winced and shared a pained glance with his mother, but quickly shook his head. "There's no Arkeyans coming here, Luz, you didn't hear anything about that. You just need to go, and when everything's alright we'll come and get you!"

Luz puffed his cheeks and clutched the bag tight. "But, I heard you! You said Arkeyans were gonna come here and smash our whole village to pieces!"

"Luz—"
Before his father could protest more, the deep, bellowing sound of horns sounded off from outside, shaking the floor! Luz's father gasped, then turned Luz around and pushed him out the door. Luz tried to shake him, struggling as his father pushed him out, but the bag in his arms was so heavy that he could barely protest against his father's strength.

"There's no time, Luz, just follow the others! We'll come back for you, we promise!"

Before Luz had known it, he had been pushed outside, where torches had been lit across every house and painted the normally-cool night in warm, scary shades of firelight.

Outside the village, Luz could barely make out the silhouettes of soldiers who wielded weapons and gathered around the front of the village like a barricade, and all around him the other grown-ups all grabbed weapons and ran out, or they were pushing the kids he knew out with sacks similar to his. The kids were all crying and protesting like he was, save for a few of the older kids he knew, before they were taken in hand by a few of the village elders and guided away from their homes and families.

Luz himself could barely watch, so the gentle brush of a wrinkled hand against his shoulder gave him some relief. "Luz, darling," said a voice sweet like honey, "come with me."

Luz whimpered, then took the aged woman beside him in hand and didn't even protest as she left his home and walked him towards a parade of children his age, some older, some younger, and a lot more old people that all walked away. The older people all seemed really quiet—they didn't say a word outside of whispering something to some of the smaller kids as they cried and shouted.

"What's going on? Where are we going?"

"I want my mom and dad!"

"Let me go!"

Luz and the elderly woman came to the back of the group soon enough, right as an old man tried to calm down a little girl as she sobbed her eyes out. She just barely clutched a doll in one hand while her sack rested in the man's arms—or maybe it belonged to the man? Luz couldn't tell. Either way, Luz just clutched his sack with both hands the best he could, its leather pressed against his chest as he walked in silence.

His eyes fixed on his feet as he marched through thickets of leaves and endless forest, the firelight growing dimmer behind him and leaving the paths muddied and confusing. He had wanted a light now, but he wasn't sure that was a good idea. If Arkeyans really were coming, then they'd spy them, and then they'd hurt them and do awful things to them like they do to other people to!

But, his mom and his dad and all the other grown-ups would protect them, right? And he was sure help would come! After all, the grown-ups always said that the Elder Elementals and those magicians they were friends with always stopped the Arkeyans, maybe they would come and stop them before anyone could get hurt! Luz hugged his sack like a toy and smiled a bit at the thought—it would be really cool to meet an Elder Elemental and get saved by one, too!

As their group rose a hill, a small twinkle of light came from within the bushes, and one of the old men pushed aside the leaves to show… A hole? A door? A hutch? It was so dark, Luz could barely tell what it was supposed to be. Either way, it creaked open and the man whispered as he urged people in. The old people were so tall that they had to duck just to get in, but the kids came in just fine, and their group grew smaller and smaller.

Luz himself had gotten ready to walk out, but then one of the older kids stopped and turned around behind him, almost like something was wrong.

"Hey, I hear something over there!" The older kid shouted while he pointed back down the hill. "It sounds like marching!" The kid leaned forward and frowned. "And it looks like a whole lot of people are coming!"

As he said this, two of the older men in the group both turned to each other, and though Luz couldn't really see their faces… He didn't need to do that to see how worried they are.

"They're here, already?" croaked out one of the two men, his voice trembling and barely above a whisper.

"There's no time to panic!" shouted the second as he ran off. "Come on, everyone, follow me!"

But, Luz couldn't bring himself to run. It was as if his feet stuck to the spot, only able to watch as the soldiers poured into his village while more came to fight them—were his parents among their ranks?

A couple of the other kids joined him, their eyes teary as they whimpered and shouted. To his right, he barely made out a smaller kid shouting as another, older one held them back from running to the village again, and to his left, a few he believed were siblings whispered together.

"Come on, young ones!" shouted one of the elderly men as he walked up. "We need to go hide!"

"But, my mom! My big brother!" cried a boy from below. "Where are they?"

Another girl whimpered and rubbed her eyes, then shuddered and turned around. "Hey, what's that?" she asked as she pointed to the bushes.

Luz winced and turned around, then hugged his sack tight. He barely spied some glinting lights like eyes peering out from the bushes, and he wanted to think that it was maybe a wild animal, maybe a cat or a squirrel or a dragonbunny or something. But, something about that felt wrong—not even the scariest wild animal's glare chilled his heart the way looking at this did, and a bunch of weird noises that reminded him of creaking wagons came from the bushes as they shuffled. He backed away a bit as the rustling continued.

In front of Luz, the elderly man passed him and winced as he grabbed a knife from his pocket.

He crept closer to the bushes, his knife raised and prepared to stab. But right before he could strike, something leaped forward and the man collapsed right in front of them! A nasty gash ran across his chest and his shirt was stained red as he gasped for air, all while blood poured out and pooled as his attacker landed right in front of them all!

It looked like some kind of person, but it couldn't have been—beyond the red and gold knight's armor it wore, its arms and legs were made of what seemed like metal, and the cold look that passed well beyond its helmet was anything but human! Its body creaked as it stepped forward into the little moonlight, showing the ax it held in hand, and it screeched as it raced forward and swung its ax!

Luz's group completely dispersed and screamed as the ax missed them and lodged itself into the ground instead, while the other kids split and screamed as they ran off! They all disappeared into the woods, their bodies growing more and more distant until they were little more than faint silhouettes like the ones in the village.

The strange metal person yanked its ax out of the ground and glared at Luz, the sole one remaining as he fell down and clutched his sack!

"Alonso, what's going on—" cried an old man as he pushed through the forest. He gasped as his eyes fell on the sight of Alonso's bleeding body and the strange metal man while his face went pale as a sheet, then he fell to his knees and pulled Alonso into his arms. "Alonso, Alonso! Speak to me!"

Luz gasped as the strange man turned his attention to the two elderly men, and before he knew it, his legs picked themselves up and ran off!

He just ran without even thinking, not noticing as the sound of a swinging ax and a pained scream rang in the air. He clutched his sack and kept moving, trying his best not to collapse again even with its massive weight. He had to leave, he had to find his mom and dad and leave! He had to get out of here!

More screaming and swinging came all around him, and the birds around him all cawed as they flew off, perhaps startled by the strange lights that flashed in the woods. Were those more of those strange men? Luz wasn't sure, but he didn't want to know. All he cared about was finding his family and getting out of here! He panted as he adjusted his sack's position, his clammy, shaking hands barely keeping hold of the sack as he ran further and further, the forest floor blending together in front of him…

And then, he woke up. Luz sprung out of bed, clutching his heart but feeling nothing but thin, cold air as his vision blurred around him and left him barely able to discern his sights. Cold, icy sweat poured down his face as he panted, his stomach churning like he was going to throw up any second now. But, his vision settled, and with it the rest of his body. He wasn't in a forest, he was in his dorm room in that ship, sleeping in bed. At least, up until a few seconds ago.

"A dream?" Luz whispered as he held his head. Well, it wasn't entirely a dream, but… "Whatever."

The sunlight shone from outside his window while birds just faintly chirped in the skies outside, and yet Luz just wanted to sleep. Even though he had rested all morning, oddly enough he still barely had any energy to him—maybe that strange dream was at fault.

But, it was daylight and he was sure there was work to be done, so he hobbled out of bed, out of his room, down the halls… It was all just as blurry as that forest in his dream was to him.

Luz groaned and rubbed his eyes as he pushed the door open, and there he was on the deck, which still bustled with life as those Skylanders, the other magicians and the Elder Elementals ran across the deck or made small talk. That mabu, Flynn or something, steered the wheel and talked with that other mabu and Sihiri, but they were so distant that Luz couldn't really make out what they were saying. So, Luz sighed, then stumbled over to the railing and leaned against it, arms crossed as his mind wandered back to his dream.

He, he hadn't expected to have a dream about that. Was what happened yesterday still weighing on his mind, the thought that everyone he knew and loved was deader than dirt now—and somehow, he was the only one to survive? Well, it wouldn't be the first time.

"Hey there, Luz Maguz!" buzzed an upbeat voice Luz knew all too well.

A faint thunk came from beside Luz as Swarm sat down before him, and he frowned as he nudged Luz's side. "You alright there, buddy? You look like something's bugging you. Well, something beside me, anyways!"

Luz snorted and smiled without even realizing, then shook his head. "Just had a kinda weird dream," Luz said.

"Anything like that one where you were fighting walking bananas?"

"Not that kind of weird dream. It was… Well…"

Swarm frowned, and it seemed like he didn't want to talk about it any more than Luz did—so, he just yawned and stretched against the deck, nearly tripping that shark and that lava monster (Terrafin and Eruptor, Luz thought their names were? He was still too hazy in the head to recall) as they walked across. His wings buzzed together a little, making some kind of chirping noise as he sat upright, and one of them rubbed against Luz's back.

"Well, we're almost to that Molekin Mountain place—mostly cause of Cali and the boss lady. If it wasn't for them, we'd probably be at the other edge of Skylands right now."

Luz smirked, then raised a brow as he glanced at where Flynn steered the ship. Something about the group felt a little empty, but he couldn't tell why. What was it… Oh right, Nemir said he lived there last night during that briefing, why wasn't he helping?

"Nemir's working on that ghost's robot body with the others—said something about finding something something weird in the wreckage or somethin' like that." Seemed like Swarm read Luz's mind in that instant, judging by the smile on Swarm's face. "But, he left us some instructions. Apparently, only the high priest of the village can speak to the Oracle, so we're gonna look for this high priest and see if they can hook us up with the dude. That is, if there's even a high priest still…"

"Oh, there is," Cali said, "I've had the pleasure of meeting her personally during my last trip!"

Luz and Swarm both jumped up as Cali seemingly appeared out of thin air before them, but she just laughed. As they settled, Cali turned to Luz and held out a hand.

"Speaking of which, we're almost at the place! Luz, can you head over to that robot and tell the others?"

Luz nodded, but Cali just frowned and flicked her ear a little. Chances are she was probably gonna ask if he was down in the dumps, but Luz didn't really feel like answering that, so he just clutched his pendant and closed his eyes.

The familiar sound of rushing magic surrounded him as light danced over his eyes and warmed his face, and when the light faded and he opened his eyes again, he was right inside of that ghost's body!

The whole place was still pretty banged-up, the walls dented and strained even with repairs done, the control panel dented in half and half the pipes twisted and broken, but it seemed to be in slightly better condition compared to however it must have been the night prior. Cracks had been sealed and metal had been polished, and some parts seemed slightly less distorted compared to the others, though the whole place still reeked of oil and death.

Or, maybe that awful scent was a remnant of the repair works going around, from Bouncer sealing up torn metal while Trigger Happy and Jorden offered him gold and other metals as a sealant and that hermit guy nitpicking every step of the way. Spyro swooped overhead and adjusted the walls back into place, and right in front of Luz hopped Chihiro, who offered drinks and food to those around. And in the center of it all, Nemir and 'Enehana stood in front of a tall tube set up in the center of the room, where a small, blue wisp flickered in and out of the light as they held their glowing hands out with eyes transfixed in awe. They released and slunk over as their light finally released, then lifted themselves up a bit later as Chihiro hopped between them and lowered her box of concessions.

"So, what is that think?" she asked as they took some bottles of water from the box and drank.

Nemir's eyes fluttered, then took a breath as he gulped down his water.

"Its presence is incredibly faint and small, but I've no doubt that this is a semblance—the remainder of an object ghost when the object that hosts them is severely damaged," Nemir explained. "It will need an immense amount of care to stay stable, but if it's tended to carefully, and if we can repair its body, I do believe we can revive the ghost who once inhabited this body." Nemir frowned and lowered his gaze, turning his head far away from Chihiro. "Hopefully, it'll still be him, at least."

Chihiro gasped, and in that moment the box of concessions slipped from her hands as she knelt down. "So that means this is the Machine Ghost? You can bring him back?"

"If we can keep this stable and properly repair his body, that is," 'Enehana chimed in.

"And how's that been going?"

Nemir and 'Enehana only sighed.

"I'm afraid it's been quite the uphill battle," Nemir replied. "This semblance is incredibly, incredibly weak—it has to have its essence stoked constantly."

"And as you can imagine," 'Enehana added as they wiped their forehead. "It's been taking a lot out of us. I haven't gotten an ounce of rest since we found it during repairs on the way here… It'll be a miracle of the Ancients if we can keep it up."

Chihiro hummed, then knelt down between them, laying her box to the floor. "Well, isn't there some easier way of doing this? Surely there's gotta be some kind of machine or something that can do the stoking for you." Chihiro shuffled a bit to the left. "I mean, if magic's what we need, I could just take a turn—"

"I'm afraid ordinary magic won't do—it needs to be of the semblance's elemental alignment, or else it will only sicken it." Nemir hummed, and his head lowered slightly. "But, that being said, I believe the underbelly of the Occulere Normalis has all sorts of beings selling undead devices and wares. They're bound to have something that could act as a conduit."

"Then we'll just pick it up while we're there, it's settled!" Chihiro beamed as she patted them both on the back with glowing hands. "In the meantime, here's a little juice for the road!"

Luz chuckled as Nemir, Chihiro and 'Enehana all smiled at each other. She was way more of a leader-type than he was at her age. When he was twelve, he was playing pranks with his siblings and goofing off with them, and all he cared about was picking apples at his Gramps' orchard and his… Family. Luz squeezed his arm a bit, and his eyes stung without even realizing—his family was gone now, gone for good, and he was all that remained. But then again, Fintster had come with him during that fight, so surely, by some miracle he might be alive, right? But where would he even be, where would Luz even look?

"Hey, Luz, when'd you get here?" Chihiro asked.

Luz popped his head up as Chihiro turned to him, and then quickly cleared his throat.

"That Cali lady sent me," he said as he forced a smile. "She said we're almost here—"

"Actually, we've just arrived!" Sihiri shouted as she teleported beside Luz!

Luz gasped and jumped back as Sihiri popped into thin air beside him, but to his other side Chihiro just chuckled.

"Perfect timing! Now we can go find that device!" Chihiro proclaimed. She turned back to where the semblance rested, then frowned a little. "But, just to be safe…"

"I'm right ahead of you," Nemir said as he held out a hand.

A round ball of smoke emerged from Nemir's palm and rested behind the semblance, its wisps feeding into the semblance as it glowed a bright blue—and seemingly, Nemir was satisfied enough with it that he left the semblance's side for what Luz guessed was the first time since they had liftoff. They all gathered together as Sihiri clapped her hands, and magic surrounded them, blanketing their vision in purple light while their feet lifted off the ground.

The magic disappeared right as they dropped off onto the ship's deck, where everyone had gathered and crowded around the drawbridge as it slowly churned out of the ship's side, then docked itself onto rocky orange ground. It swayed and bent a little as the smaller members of their group slid down and landed on the islands before them, but settled as they all left.

The stretches before them were a lot less magical or dead as Luz had expected them to be when he heard of this place from Nemir. What met him instead were stretches of sun-kissed stone carved into platform formations, all topped with dome-like houses with chimneys spewing smoke into the air and rickety wooden bridges linking their islands and lining the sides. A tall mountain stretched into the yellow and pink skies above, and though it was so distant Luz could barely make it out, it almost seemed like there were gears or something like that, churning away with the dedication of a well-oiled machine. It all looked so peaceful on the surface, but something about the air felt wrong, and it wasn't the occasional smoke or scent of something vaguely like incense that came with it. No, it felt more like… Danger. Or maybe that just came from the distant screaming that came over the wind.

Chihiro was the first to break from the group after Luz, frowning and holding a hand over her eyes as she scanned the area ahead, then she drew back as she raised a brow.

"Wait a second, is that?…" Chihiro whispered.

In front of the two of them, something small and stout came stumbling right for them, nearly tripping over the loose robes it wore, and as it came closer its form came into better view. It had small, beady black eyes and shiny peach skin, long claws and teeth. Yeah, that was definitely a molekin, though it had to be an old one considering that it was completely bald! Not even a hair remained on its head, and it shone like a jewel as it raced towards Luz's group.

"Hello!" Chihiro shouted as she waved towards the molekin. "You wouldn't happen to know where we can find the high priest, do you?"

The molekin didn't even entertain Chihiro with an answer. It just screamed and ran right past, racing down the bridge without even blinking!

Chihiro herself just blinked and turned around, gasped and jumped back as even more crowds of screaming molekin ran past her without even a word, then she turned back to the front and clenched her brows. A sword found its way into her hand with a snap of her fingers, and she raised it as something charged over the horizons, kicking up dust all the way!

That same creaking noise from Luz's dream rang in the air, and for a moment his body locked up and screamed at him to hide, but instead he stomped his feet and summoned his shield.

"Sounds like we've got company!" he shouted. "And not the good kind!"

The clouds cleared, but the first to leap from them wasn't an Arkeyan robot—no, just a couple of cyclopes in shoddy armor! They wielded out shiny red and gold spears that were definitely Arkeyan in origin as they crowded around the front, and it was only then that the robots came out from behind them. The robots' shiny green and gold armor was harsher, brighter in the sunlight, and just the sight left Luz's stomach churning again…

"Alright, fess up!" cried the cyclopes helming the charge as they held out their spear. "Tell us where the high priest and the oracle are, and maybe we'll let'cha live!"

Chihiro and Luz both knelt down and prepared to jump, but a cold hand on both their shoulders stopped them both. They leaned up and shifted their positions, stepping back as Nemir passed them by and cleared his throat. That cold air he always seemed to have seemed icier than usual as he held a hand behind his back, and the tips of his hair started to float/ Oh, those guys were in trou-ble.

"And tell me, what business do you have in this realm?" Nemir asked.

The cyclops scoffed and pointed his sword up at Nemir, its blade just inches from Nemir's nose. "And why should I tell you, old-timer?"

Nemir only snapped his fingers behind his back, and the ground rumbled as a wall of bones burst from the floor, knocking the cyclops back! He squeaked as his spear landed in the ground just inches away from his hand, then squealed and ducked as the bones leaped out of the ground and rammed into the rest of his forces! The bones skewered through the Arkeyans first, before slipping out and batting them away as they exploded, and with another swing they tossed away the other cyclopes—all that was left was that single, trembling cyclops, who only sat wide-eyed in horror as Nemir strode up to them.

"I'm sure you realize that those robots tailing you are Arkeyan in nature, correct?" Nemir asked as he crossed his arms. "How exactly did you obtain them? Did it have anything to do with a certain person claiming to be in pursuit of Arkus, capital of the fallen Arkeyan empire?"

The cyclops gulped and scrambled backwards, its legs and arms trembling so badly it was a wonder that it hadn't just given in then. "I, I'm not telling you!" the cyclops exclaimed, teeth chattering. "The queen, she told us not to tell a soul about her deal!"

"A deal, I hear? So it's true, then?" Nemir crossed his arms and scoffed, his head hanging lower as thick, dark purple smoke churned from underneath his robes. "So it's true that Arkilles has hired you lot out? Then what business does he have here with the high priest and oracle?"

The cyclops only whimpered, their words having left them as Nemir grew closer and closer. But then again, who could blame them for being scared—before him was Nemir all glowey and smoky and stuff, the same way he always got when he was super angry! Not that Luz had personal experience on that front…

"I'd confess if I were you," Luz taunted from the back of the group, smirking as he walked around to get a better view of the cyclops's paling face. "If you get on the king's bad side, he might poison you, or feed you to the skelehounds, or suck all the life from your body, or…"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I'LL CONFESS!" the cyclops wailed. "YOU SEE, WE—"

And just like that, the cyclops was gone—a massive plume of darkness erupted right where he stood and absorbed them in its grasp, only for them both to fade away as the wind blew away the smoke. Judging from the way Nemir's face fell as the light and smoke around him died, that definitely wasn't of his doing, and even if that were the case, those dark clouds looked nothing like the kind he'd summon, though their deep indigo coloration reminded Luz of someone else.

"That was strange," Nemir remarked, even though it was obvious.

"Wait, are those the Skylanders?"

Nemir and Luz both turned around as the molekin that took sanctuary climbed back up from the bridges below and approached them, wide smiles on their faces. And, now that Luz had gotten a better look at them, he had to wonder just how many old people lived here—seemed like all these molekin were bald too, even though most of them didn't even have a wrinkle on their faces! Or maybe going bald was just in style now? He wasn't gonna question it.

Instead, he stepped back as the molekin rushed up to them their smiles still wide.

"Thank the Oracle, Skylanders!" cried one molekin. "You arrived just in time!"

"What's going on?" Chihiro asked as he pushed to the front of the crowds. "Those cyclopes, are they looking for the Oracle?"

The molekin at the head of the group sniffled. "You bet! They stormed our whole island out of nowhere and demanded to know where the high priest is and how to get the Oracle! It came so fast, we could only whisk away the high priest just before they caught us! And with sure brutish attitude, I can only imagine they must have poor intentions at heart…"

Chihiro clenched her teeth and nodded, then turned to Spyro.

"No doubt about it, Arkilles probably set this up to keep us from finding Arkus before he does," Chihiro said before her face fell a bit. "But, we've still gotta get the Machine Ghost's semblance its artifact."

"Then we'll just split up," Spyro said as he took Chihiro's hand in his paw. "Chihiro, Nemir and I will head down and get the artifact—the rest of you, clean out these cyclopes and see if you can find the high priest!"

A couple of resounding cheers of agreement came from the group as Spyro parted ways with Chihiro and Nemir behind him, and as they grew further in view, Luz smiled and raised his head. With a flick of his wrist he summoned his shield and held it up to the sunlight, its surface glistening as he did, then he lowered it and beckoned.

"Alright, I'm gonna go ahead and clear a path! Who's with me?" Luz cried.

Swarm grinned and beat his arms together. "You know I'm always ready to bring the sting!" he shouted.

"And eye'm sure we could easily spot out the opposition," Eye said as he popped atop Brawl's head.

From below the ground, Vaayu smiled and shook his head. "I'd better make sure you stay out of trouble," he chuckled, before his face softened a little. "Besides, I wasn't able to stop Arkilles from escaping then—I can't let him succeed now."

"You couldn't help getting laid up like you did, Vaayu," Dej added as he gently punched Vaayu in the arm. "Don't worry about it! 'Sides, I'll tag along and watch your back."

Ninjini, Hot Head, Terrafin, Gill Grunt, Whirlwind and Eruptor all nodded as they stepped out from the ground, and Luz nodded in turn. With his team assembled, Luz held up his shield and raced forward, the sounds of the ground rumbling behind him as the others followed in turn. And above him, the sun shone its strongest, the perfect beacon of his oncoming success.

Or at least, it would be if he wasn't still bothered by that cyclops's strange disappearance. His footsteps slowed, and Luz frowned as he glanced at his reflection in his shield, eyes fixed on his pendant.

"That couldn't be him, could it?" he whispered.

§

Though the village laid far in the distance, the sounds of battle that came from it roared like thunder. The sights of something in vague, blurry shades of green and gold, red and blue could barely be made out as whatever it was kicked up dust that shielded it from the distant view within seconds of it even appearing… But not quickly enough that it prevented Luz from spying whatever that thing causing such a ruckus was as he ran up the road, his shield held tightly in hand.

"Seems like there's quite the ruckus going on up there," Luz whistled as he absentmindedly spun his shield around. Lifting it up, he set it into place on his arm with a soft clink, then chuckled and turned to Dej. "How's about we show these troublemakers the light?"

And beside him, Dej smirked while frost formed around his hands and dusted his knuckles. "Sounds good to me—I think they need to cool down a little!"

"You've got that right, they're sure full of hot air!" Luz grinned the widest, snidest grin he could as he elbowed Vaayu's arm. "How 'bout that, Vaayu? Huh? Huh? Come on, you know that made you laugh!"

Vaayu only groaned and massaged his temples as the two of them laughed, then sprung back up as an explosion sounded! A severed robot arm crashed down beside Vaayu as he jumped out of the way, and he cringed as he levitated it up beside tossing it aside. With a tap of his heels, he sprinted off with a cheetah's speed, running so fast he left only faint trails of clouds that wafted I the wind before blowing away.

"Come on, you two, there's no time for cracking jokes!" he cried, clouds forming around his fists. "We've got Arkeyans to fight!"

Dej and Luz nodded at each other and beamed as they raced forward, rushing into the heart of the small village where such big chaos had formed!

Arkeyans and cyclopes alike had swarmed the village like flies, ransacking houses and buildings and upturning the decorations! The molekin around all cried out as they raced to hide, or were unlucky enough to be found—as was the case for one molekin that was currently in the hand of a particularly bulky cyclops. Arkeyans crowded around the molekin's cyclops captor as the cyclops held them over the ground, their legs dangling as they coughed and choked.

"Alright, spill it!" shouted the cyclopes as they yanked the sweating, shuddering molekin up further. The molekin cried out and kicked their legs in some attempt to escape, but the cyclops just gritted its teeth and held them tighter. "Where's this high priest supposed to be?!"

"I, I," the molekin sputtered. "I'll never tell you!"

The cyclops snarled and brandished an ax close to the molekin's throat with its free hand, its snarl growing wider while its fangs shone in the sunlight. "You sure about that?"

"That's what I should be asking you!" Luz cried.

A few bright yellow lasers shot out and sniped the Arkeyans surrounding the cyclops, and while they collapsed, the cyclops gasped and dropped the molekin! It only scoffed as the molekin ran for safety and squeezed its ax's handle as it turned around, then groaned as it laid eyes on Luz's group. Just the sight of Luz at the helm, his shield's core glowing as bright as he did within the sun's warmth left the cyclops shaking—but from fear or rage, Luz wasn't certain.

"The Skylanders! They're here!" cried some of the molekin taking shelter behind potted plants.

"We're saved!" cried another molekin as they leaped up from a crate.

Beside the crates, another molekin beamed and leaped out. "Show those awful cyclopes who's boss!" they cried as they punched the air.

Luz chuckled and spun his shield, then cocked his head as pounding footsteps shook the earth beside him. A shadow cast to his side and the sun blocked off as Swarm knelt beside him, the two exchanging raised brows and smirks.

"Sounds like the audience's pretty eager to see us in action!" Luz remarked, fixing his shield in place with a click as he drew back. "I'd saw we shouldn't leave them waiting!"

"Read my mind!" Swarm shouted as his eyes and arm barbs started to glow. "And I know just the thing to brighten their day!"

Swarm thrust a barb to the sky as it glowed its brightest, then shot a bright laser of spiraling yellow and sky blue into the stratosphere! The laser exploded in a shower of sky blue and yellow sparks, but those sparkls could barely be seen as the sunlight glowed brighter and harsher around Swarm. His carapace shimmered in the bright light, but it wasn't the only thing.

The whole area glowed with searing light, so bright that the cyclopes around squealed in pain and shielded their eyes!

Swarm smirked as their weapons dropped down the floor, then raised a brow as the Arkeyans that came with them charged right for him!

"I'll handle these guys!" Luz cried as he swept out hands that glowed a bright yellow. "Let's see if they can take the heat!"

Luz clapped his hands together, and the light around swirled around him, consolidating in the center of his open palms the moment they released! The bright orb of yellow light was a miniature sun in its own right, so harsh and warm it was hard to look at—if you weren't Luz, that was. Luz just slashed the orb in its heart with his shield, and its split halves burst into waves of white-hot light that cascaded over the robots, burning so bright that for a second the whole world melted away ahead of him.

He reeled back a bit as a warped, shrill shriek paired with agonized wails burst, then the light faded and the sight of the village returned, save for the Arkeyans who were rendered half-melted and deformed!

And the cyclops behind them all wailed as they hopped around and yanked off their armor, which was so hot it glowed red and white! One by one they pulled off helmets, shoulderpads, breastplates and boots and tossed them off, leaving only their tunics and clothes behind, and as the heat faded they panted and nursed their burning wounds. A few moaned and rubbed burning red body parts for a moment, then turned around right as a torrent of water shot forward and knocked them backwards!

The cyclopes tumbled back into a pile as the water formed a shallow pool around them, but quickly jumped to their feet and snarled as their eyes laid on Gill Grunt, who merely glared back at them as he hoisted up his cannon.

Water splashed underfoot as the cyclopes went to charge, but right in that moment the water around them cooled and crystallized into a sheet of ice, sending them slipping! The cyclopes slid back and forth as they skidded on the ice, all while cold mist wafted from it and swirled around them, chilling the water that drenched their own bodies until it froze them in a solid case of ice! Not even the slightest echo could be heard from what remained of them, their bodies little more than gawking statues that only barely moved their arms and legs.

Dej chuckled as he skated on an ice trail underfoot, then spun around and yanked a particularly large icicle from the cyclops ice sculpture. But before he could really admire it, the sound of horns sounded overhead!

He yanked his head up towards the sights of raging armies ahead as their stomping drowned out the horns, then snarled and squeezed the icicle tight. His fingers frosted over, and the frost seeped into the icicle as it stretched and changed shape like it was made of clay, transforming into a crossbow that fit comfortably in his grip. The crossbow pushed itself against his shoulder as Dej leaned back and drew it, and with a single snap of its frosty bow, a trio of icicles fashioned into arrows smashed into the ground and completely froze it over.

The first cyclops soldiers to jump down immediately slipped and spun away, but the Arkeyans that followed merely floated off and charged right for Dej!

Dej himself smirked and twirled away on the icy floors below him as they jabbed at his chest, then spun away for a second before tossing up his crossbow. Dodging a third blast, Dej leaped up as the crossbow fell back down and kicked it right in its center, shattering it into two identical halves that he yanked from the air right as he planted his feet on the ground. The broken halves shifted once more, consolidating themselves into fat knives with long, sharp blades, and with knives in hand Dej skated right back for two of the Arkeyans that once assaulted him, sliding with such speed that neither of them noticed as he slashed right through their bodies!

Dej twirled around and punched their broken halves right into the third Arkeyan, who turned around right as the broken Arkeyans exploded into furious flaming showers! The fire melted away Dej's ice rink and even the iced-over cyclopes, who screamed and ran off as the fires spread around the floor.

The trails of flames crept along the cracks in the floor, hurtling first for one of the half-melted Arkeyan corpses and setting it alight! The corpse exploded, feeding the flames as they sped for the next one and ate away at its body, then the next and the next, absorbing the melted robots until its flames brushed against the sky and formed a ring of fire around the arena!

The ring bled further into the cracks, seeping through and rushing towards several molekin as they screamed in horror. Right as the fires leaped for them, however, a purple glow surrounded them and they disappeared as the fires crashed over the docks where they once stood! The molekin reappeared on a stone ledge right as a magical, purple blanket crashed over the flames and extinguished them, then beamed as Ninjini floated over to meet them.

"Is everyone alright?" she asked.

"You bet! Thanks, lady!" one of the molekin remarked as they walked up to meet her.

Beside them, another molekin strode up and hummed as they rubbed their chin. "You know, you look a lot like that Elder Elemental, Ninjni! Are you a history buff or something?"

Ninjini winced a bit, clenching her teeth as she floated aside. "I, er…"

Ninjini pursed her lips as the sound of whirring blades bellowed from overhead, and craned her head up to find a fleet of red and gold helicopters coming in. Narrowing her eyes, she turned her gaze towards some spiky orange plants that inflated and deflated, then merely cast out a hand and hit them with a blast of magic!

The plants inflated to the side of a hot air balloon right before her eyes and flew off like jets, shooting right for the helicopters and knocking the helicopters out of the air mid-flight! The helicopters burst into flames, a rare streak of warm red and smoky gray amid the cooling skies, while a whole rain of small, red things poured down from their smoky remains!

The sounds of growling and gnashing teeth rang through the air as burning, bright red chompies dressed in blue and gold armor splattered on the floor, then leaped up and bolted across the battlefield!

Eye grunted as he popped off of Brawl and flew into the eye of the storm, shooting off lasers and sniping them away as much as he could—but, he was only one eye, and they were many! He panted, tears of sweat pouring down his body and splashing against the battleground as they drowned out the chompies, then right as he went to shoot, one particularly large chompy smacked into him and knocked him right into Brawl's arms! Eye grunted as he crashed into Brawl's chest, then wiggled his way back up and coughed.

"Look out below!" he cried.

Down below, a couple of molekin screamed and ran off as a few chompies bolted after them, but the chompies leaped forward and sank their teeth into the molekin! They screamed as flames danced along their clothes, melding with the scent of blood as they leaped around and futilely tried to flail off the chompies.

And in their moment of distraction, another ring of chompies licked their lips and went in for a taste themselves… Just to get blown away by a massive gust!

The same gust pulled away the chompies that had sunk their teeth into the molekin as well before tossing them all off the side of the island, and as the chompies screamed, Vaayu and Whirlwind rushed into the scene.

"Here, let me take care of those!" Whirlwind said as she lowered her head so that her horn pointed for the molekin.

Whirlwind's horn glowed in the colors of the rainbow, shining like a prism as it shot rainbows towards the molekin, then its colors faded as the rainbows sank into the molekin's skin and mended their wounds. Whirlwind smiled and flapped her wings as the molekin cheered for her, but her happiness lasted but a moment.

The sounds of growling chompies aching for another bite echoed from behind, and she snarled and flapped his wings as she turned around, her horn glowing in rainbows once more. The rainbow light of her horn glowed brighter, spreading to the tips of her wings as she flew up, and with a single flap, a burst of rainbows leaped from her body and swirled around in the heart of the battlefield, forming a vortex of rainbow winds that drew in everything, a black hole with a rainbow shield.

The chompies all squealed and clung to whatever they could as the vortex's winds drew them in, but the winds were mighty and they were not. The winds sucked them in within a moment's passing and eaten up by the black hole in another! The vortex grew with every chompy it ate, its colors tinged in warm tones as it spewed heat from its heart, and as the last of the chompies disappeared, it towered over the village and shuddered as it spewed out a volley of flames!

Brawl stomped his feet as the flames rained, then ducked and shielded Eye as towering bony brambles burst from the ground and wove themselves around the village. Their tall, strong bone blocked out the sun and glowed red as the flames cascaded down, but the glow quickly faded as the bones crumbled away, revealing an intact village with only a few stray cyclops invaders left straggling in its midst.

The last wisps of rainbow light faded as the cyclopes got to their feet and charged, while in turn Eruptor and Terrafin stepped forward and let go of each other's hand. Eruptor stepped forward first and clapped his hands, but what came from his hands wasn't a flow of lava—but rather a massive beast helmed by cracked volcanic rock formed in the vague shape of a face!

The beast roared as it charged for Terrafin, but he didn't run. He just leaped up in turn with the beast, who charged right into his back and pushed him forward. Now piloted towards the cyclopes, Terrafin corkscrewed through the air and slammed into them like a bullet, punching right into them with such force that they smacked right into the wall! Terrafin hopped back down and wiped off his hands as the cyclopes collapsed, then grinned and gave a thumbs up to the rest of the group behind.

"Well, looks like things are cleaned up here," Luz remarked as he strode up to some of the barely-conscious cyclopes and wiped his hands. "Now, for the important part!"

"And what would that be, ghosty?" croaked one cyclops as he pushed himself up, his voice grizzled with pain as he snarled. "Asking for directions to the underworld?"

The cyclops yowled as Luz bonked him in the head with his shield, but Luz only chuckled in turn.

"I dunno, you look pretty dead to me too!" Luz chuckled. "Didn't know you bad guy types had resorted to grave-robbing for your armies! Your leader must be pretty desperate~"

The cyclops gritted his teeth, a low growl rumbling in his throat as Luz walked circles around him. "How dare you insult our queen like this!"

Luz, however, just smirked and toyed with his shield, rocking it back and forth as he paced. "I dunno what she's thinking, raiding a tiny village like this—surely, she's got better things to do as a queen?" Luz raised a brow. "Unless, perhaps, there's an ulterior motive?"

"The, the queen—"

"Don't do it!" cried another cyclops as they slapped their hand over the first cyclops's mouth with what little strength they had. "The queen told us not to reveal anything!"

And with that, both cyclops gasped as shadows cast over them. The rest of Luz's group had encircled them, fists held tight and scowls on their faces, but it was Vaayu who was first to come.

Lifting up one cyclops's head, Vaayu scowled as lightning crackled from his fingertips, zapping the cyclops's chin as they yelped. "Forget it—we already know why you're here, so go on and tell us," Vaayu said as he squeezed the cyclops's chin and shocked it further. "What does Arkilles need the Oracle for, and what is he planning?"

"I, I, I don't know who you're talking about! But, our queen, she told us to storm this place! Said she, she said—"

"Yes?"

Luz frowned and glanced down at his shield, spinning it back and forth as it ticked like a clock. He hummed a tune as he glanced over to where Vaayu interrogated the cyclops, then shuddered and glanced back aside. His eyes narrowed as something akin to dark blue fog started to creep out from the cracks in the ground, and he rubbed his eyes for a moment, but it still stayed and grew larger by the minute!

"Hey, Vaayu!" Luz cried as he rushed over and shook Vaayu's shoulder, shooting glances over at the creeping smoke and then at Vaayu in sharp turns. "We've got trouble!"

But, Vaayu didn't move an inch—his glance was still stern and focused on the cyclops he interrogated.

"What did she say?" Vaayu asked.

"Said, this guy… He wants the Oracle, to help him with something… Told us to find some mole to talk with him…"

"And that would be?"

The smoke raised further, and Luz winced as he glanced back to Vaayu.

"Vaayu, Vaayu!" Luz called as he shook Vaayu's side. "Seriously, do you have clouds in your ears?!"

Vaayu squeezed the cyclops's lower jaw, snarling as his hair started to raise, then grunted as something smashed into his back and knocked him into the floor with Luz collapsing beside him!

Vaayu fell on his side and grunted as Luz pulled him up, and both their eyes fixed on the swirling mass of dark blue smoke that hovered in the air! The smoke churned and growled as it shot bullets of smoke all across the ground, knocking the others off their feet as the bullets hit the ground and exploded, then it turned to Luz and shot one for him.

Luz whipped out his shield and the smoke smashed against the shield and exploded into harmless puffs and wisps. Luz shuddered as they vanished right before his eyes, then the shaking spread to his hands and legs as he fumbled with his shield, spinning it with trembling fingers as its core glowed faintly.

Sparks spat out, casting a single beam of thin, yellow light onto the ground, and with one last spin the beam exploded, creating a wall of light that sliced the smoky ball in half.

Luz shuddered and lowered his arm as the smoke vanished right before him, then clenched his teeth and fist.

"I, I know that technique… I'd, recognize it anywhere…" Luz whispered.

"Just where did that come from?" Vaayu groaned as he scratched his head.

Vaayu turned to his side, back to where the cyclopes still laid, though their shadows had grown suspiciously large. Then, he gasped and jumped back as the shadows pooled around the cyclopes and formed a pit! He could only watch, jaw and eyes wide as the cyclopes fell through while their pit disappeared, then he flinched and turned around as the sounds of cackling came from above!

"Well, well, looks like we've got a few intruders here!" smirked a cyclops in heavily-decorated armor as he hiked over the cliffs, the ax he wielded a mock walking stick that thudded against the ground with every step. "Wonder what brings you to this washed-up old place?"

All around Luz, the others got up and steeled themselves, hands near their weapons or charging with magic. But Luz just shuddered, his lip twitching into a frown as cold sweat started to pour! He panted as he stepped forward, then tossed up his head and pointed right towards the cyclops, eyes burning with hot flames!

"What do you think you're doing?!" Luz screamed at the top of his lungs!

"Luz!" Ninjini cried as she glanced down at him, eyes wide.

The cyclops, however, just chuckled and ran his finger along the side of his ax.

"Isn't it obvious?" he crowed as he spun his ax around. "I'm making sure you don't stop the king and queen from getting what they want!"

The ax struck the ground, the chime of its thudding metal ringing through the air like a gong, and all around them mist formed as the skies dulled. The whole area turned cold and chilly as the mist blocked out the skies, and the scent of cold, dead air ran throughout. The faint sound of footsteps crunching the ground underneath rang, and yet nobody had moved—they stood in their places as their shadows crept out from underneath their feet!

It was Gill Grunt who finally turned around and noticed as his own shadow stretched well past him and gained a mischievous glint, then it leaped out of the ground and beamed! It towered over him as it bore its fangs and raised sharp, clawed hands, and Gill Grunt in turn grimaced and shot it with a harpoon, piercing a hole through its heart, but it just reformed in moments! The shadow lunged, and Gill Grunt jumped away as it smashed into the ground before pulling itself up!

All around, everybody else gasped as they grabbed their weapons and warred with their own shadows, and Luz himself winced as his own shadow laughed in his face! It threw a punch, but he just swung away and sliced off its head with his glowing shield! The light burst and burned away the shadow as it squealed, but it wasn't its death that shook him. No, it was the sight of the shades around that left him trembling.

"That, that was his technique, too…" Luz whispered. His hand moved to his shield, and his brows narrowed as he pulled its glowing body from his arm and flung it like a disc.

"EVERYONE, DUCK!"

Everyone else bounced away as the disc flew and curved around the arena, but the shadows weren't so lucky! The shield sliced their bodies in half, heads yanked from their necks and limbs cut off as the shield circled around, and they collapsed as they went to reform. A searing light shone right then, and the shadows screamed as the light drowned them out and washed away the battlefield, its warm whites and yellows painting over the cold blues of the battlefield before vanishing and returning the normal village.

The shield flew back to Luz and latched onto his arm in a moment, and Luz only scowled as he glared daggers back at the cyclops atop the ledge.

The cyclops blinked, stumbling back as his ax fell from his hand and clattered along the floor. "How, how did you know what I was doing?!" the cyclops cried.

But, Luz just grunted as he bashed his shield against the ground!

The floor rumbled and split as turrets of solid, rainbow-dyed prism burst through and set their cannons on the cyclops, pelting the cyclops with bullets of light and knocking him backwards in short work! The cyclops cried out as his back hit the floor and cracked, and staggered up as a burst of yellow light leaped from turret to turret with incredible speed—one moment it rested atop the furthest of the turrets, and in the next, Luz had pinned him down with shield raised and glowing!

"GIVE HIM BACK!" Luz screamed as he slashed at the cyclops!

The cyclops disappeared into shadows and rolled away just as Luz struck, then dashed for his ax and yanked it off the ground! He screamed as he ran forward and swung, but Luz merely turned around and tossed the blow aside with his shield! Luz swung next, his shield aimed for the cyclops's chest, but the swing of the cyclops's ax forced him to jump aside.

"Luz, what do you think you're doing, you numskull?!" Vaayu cried. "Get down from there!"

"What in Skylands' gotten into you?!" Ninjini cried. "Please, calm down!"

"I've never seen him this angry before," Eye whispered, his voice wavering as he rested in Brawl's hands.

The air turned tense as Luz slashed at the cyclops, who only hopped back with every slash and left Luz to strike at thin air! Luz lifted his head and growled, then leaped forward at light-speed and bashed his shield against the side of the cyclops's head at last! The cyclops hacked out blood as he collapsed onto the ground, yet was still quick to grab his ax and bounce away.

"I said, give him back!" Luz cried as he rushed forward and slashed once more.

The cyclops jumped back again, pivoting to the side as he chuckled.

"What're you talking about? I haven't taken any prisoners lately!" the cyclops goaded, swinging back as Luz attempted to slice his head. "None that I can recall, anyways!" the cyclops spun aside as Luz sliced again, then hopped back as Luz sliced further, every blow coming only inches towards his face as he escaped. With one last hop, the cyclops spun his ax around and smirked. "Now, we've got a couple treasure thieves and loiterers in the dungeons… By any chance, would those be the person you're looking for?"

"Don't play dumb, you bastard! Give him back!"

Luz screamed as he charged forward, and in turn the cyclops just swung his ax and shot a blade of darkness right for Luz! The blow came faster than he could, slamming into his chest and knocking him back on the ground while his shield slipped from his grip! The shield rolled around before falling and rattling on the ground, and Luz fell next, hacking as he collapsed on the ground while his pendant pulsed with light atop his chest. He hacked and coughed again as the cyclops stomped on his chest, yet he still held enough strength to snarl as the cyclops leaned down over him.

The cyclops hummed, rubbing his chin as he glazed over Luz's chest, then as his eye fell on Luz's sparkling, pulsing pendant, he gasped! A wicked cackle rose from him as he fell back, then he chuckled as he dug through his shirt.

"Ah, I see, I see!" the cyclops crowed as he yanked a string from underneath his shirt. "I presume this is what you're looking for?"

Luz heaved heavy, labored breaths as he pushed his head up and forced his eyes open… Then, his breath stopped short and his eyes shrank, their view fixed on the object that dangled from the cyclops's pendant.

There, sparkling before Luz in the light it just barely pulsed with was a cobalt crystal wheel as dark as the night sky, with runes carved into its surface and shining in indigo light as the wheel aimlessly spun!

"FINTSTER!" Luz cried as he flung himself up. "GIVE HIM BACK!"

The cyclops tsked, and the pendant clouded as shadows leaped from the ground and twisted around Luz's body, pulling him back to the ground!

Luz grunted as he struggled, thrusting and flailing his arms and legs as he pushed against them, but the shadows in turn only grew larger, stronger as they kept him pinned down. He resorted to glaring at the cyclops, who just chuckled and drew his ax.

"Now, I'd say right now's the perfect time to gain her majesty's favor!" The cyclops chuckled as his eye laid on Luz's pendant, and he swung his ax in turn…

But right before it hit, a burst of wind blew the cyclops right off of Luz's body! The shadows all blew away with him as the cyclops smashed against the floor, his body letting off an awful cracking noise, and the cyclops himself groaned as he staggered back up only to collapse slightly. The cyclops hacked out blood as he clutched his side, then snarled as he lumbered down and just barely grabbed his ax from the ground.

"Stay away from Luz, you one-eyed creep!" Swarm cried as he flew up and landed on the ground behind Luz.

Luz himself scowled, then jumped from the ground and rushed forward, sparkles swirling and glistening around him as he leaped forward, propelled by the speed of light itself! In a flash he came within inches of the cyclops and just barely brushed his fingers against Fintster's pendant...

Then, the shadows engulfed the cyclops and he vanished, leaving Luz to collapse wide-eyed on the floor.

"Luz, are you alright?" Swarm shouted as he crept forward and swept Luz in his hands. "I dunno what you were thinking, blowing up like that! I mean, it was pretty cool, but—"

Swarm stopped short as Luz screamed and pounded his fist against Swarm's palms, and on instinct Swarm dropped him back to the ground! A cloud formed at Swarm's feet, catching Luz just before he could hit the ground, and Swarm backed away as Luz shot him a glare for only a second.

With another scream, light sparked at Luz's heels and he nearly ran off—but just before takeoff, Dej and Vaayu jumped up and grabbed him by the arms! Luz screamed and kicked back as he thrust against the grip, and the two of them only frowned and pulled him back.

"Let me go! Lemme go already!" Luz screamed, his voice strained with every yell as he squirmed and flailed further. "I, I have to go! I have to find that guy and—"

"You're going to calm down, is what you're doing!" Vaayu spat. "We can't have you running off and getting yourself hurt like that!"

"Vaayu's right, Luz!" Dej cried in turn, frowning as his brows softened. "Just cool your head a little!"

"I, I can't!" Luz cried, his strained voice strung its highest as tears began to fall down his cheeks. "I can't just sit around here!"

Luz's voice strained its furthest, until it was all he could do to croak out his words, and finally the strength left him. His arms slipped out of Vaayu's and Dej's grip, and he collapsed to the floor in a heap, curled up and sobbing with his face planted to the floor.

"I, I, can't, not when they have Fintster! I, I have to…"

Dej and Vaayu both gasped, their own glances softening as they both knew down—but it was Swarm who took in Luz first, kneeling down and gently brushing Luz close to his knees. Luz curled up against Swarm's leg and sobbed as Swarm brushed a finger against his back, his wings chirping with a soft, soothing sound as Swarm shielded Luz with his hand. With a small frown Swarm stroked Luz one last time, then finally stood tall.

"Alright, change of plans," Swarm proclaimed with a sterner, larger frown, the air around him much more serious than normal. As the others climbed up the cliffs, Swarm pumped a fist in the air. "We're finding that cyclops and getting Fintster back, no matter what! Who's with me?"

Eye-Brawl was the first to hike it up, then Eye nodded and popped off of Brawl.

"I'm in," Eye said, before floating down to Luz and wiping the tears from his face with his wing. "After all, I know how hard it feels to lose family."

"And I'm coming as well," Brawl signed.

Vaayu and Dej both glanced at each other, then nodded and stepped forward.

"Same here—Fintster's one of us, after all," Dej said as he placed his hand on his hips. "We've already lost so many of our friends… I'm not losing anyone else."

"Agreed," Vaayu said, a small frown crawling along his face as he glanced down at his shirt's stitched-on sleeved. "None of us are getting left behind."

Ninjini and Hot Head both nodded as Ninjini clutched her wishblades, and beside them Whirlwind flew up to Luz and gently patted his shoulder with her wing.

"Don't worry, we're not going to let them take him," Whirlwind whispered.

Luz sniffed a bit, brushing away tears as Gill Grunt laid his hand on Luz's other shoulder. Though Gill Grunt said no words, he had a sort of kind, understand look in his yellow and orange eyes. But, it rang with sadness too, as if he understood Luz's anguish better than he let on.

"Well, guess we're going, too," Terrafin remarked as he crossed his arms, then chuckled and turned to Eruptor as Eruptor nodded in turn.

Luz blinked back tears, his eyes still wide and red, but he quickly wiped off his face and nodded as he stepped out from the ground.

His eyes trailed first onto the ground, then to a string of shadows that carefully snaked along the ground, letting off faint wisps of blue smoke.

"Just like I thought, it's his shadow-stepping!" Luz shouted as he pointed to the trail. Taking a moment to snatch his shield from the ground, Luz hooked it back to his arm and held it out across the ground, pointing towards a string of cliffs and bridges ahead. "He ran that way!"

And with his head held low and his eyes on the faint trial of smoke, Luz snarled and bolted forward, clutching his pendant the whole way.

"Follow me!"

§

"Now the gate to the underrealms should be here," Nemir said as he fixed his crown and pulled up his robes some.

He cleared his throat as he glanced over the masses of purple rock and dark, smoky skies that laid before him, ones with chilled, cool air that raised goosebumps along the skin and chilled the very core of one's soul. But, his attention wasn't fixed on that, or the occasional dead trees and tumbleweeds, or even the bony brambles entwined with dead vines and their sickly purple leaves that burst from the cracks in the floor. No, his eyes instead focused on a gate comprised of spiky bones with a simple, shiny silver disc with an Undead Element symbol carved on it, one that beamed with sickly undead energy just from a glance.

"And here they are."

Nemir only hummed as he strode over to the gate and placed a hand against its disc, while behind him Chihiro just crossed her arms behind her back and hummed as she glanced at Spyro.

"So, Spyro, what are these Underrealms supposed to be like? Think they're anything like the ones we have to get the Undead Source from? Or like that Darklight Crypt place?" she asked as she tapped her foot.

"Well, maybe not," Spyro replied as he scratched his chin. "Sure, the Underworld has a reputation for being gloomy and morbid, but I read that around these parts, there's a thriving community of natural Undead Elementals who made a living for themselves, doing business in the more supernatural aspects with the living. It's one of the oldest-lived intermortal communities between the living and the dead—"

"And if you want to know, you can find out for yourselves," Nemir said as he stepped back.

Spyro and Chihiro both blinked and turned away from each other, and found that in the moments they spent talking the gate had finally receded.

Its bones just barely peeked from the earth now and decorated the top of a long, spiraling staircase made of much smoother and sleeker purple stone compared to the old, cracked stone of the world around. Faint music and the howling of ghosts echoed from the bellows of whatever the staircase ended at, ones so faint that it was hard to hear them over the wind, or figure out whether they were born of joy or mourning or something else entirely.

Spyro and Chihiro glanced at each other once more, then Nemir floated over to them and gently draped two simple pendants over their necks, both made of a ghastly ribbon and a single skull for a charm. The two of them lifted up their pendants as a strange, almost chilling kind of energy resonated from them. Protective amulets, perhaps?

"These pendants should protect you from the Undead energy inherit to the Underrealms," Nemir explained, then beckoned for them as he floated towards the staircase. "Now come, follow me—the Underrealms are just down this way."

Spyro took down the stairs first, jumping in the air and flying down while Chihiro skipped after him. She hopped down the stairs two at a time to keep pace with his flight, her hands clasping and releasing as she glanced down at the walls of sleek obsidian that made up the world around her.

A faint shimmer of light shone beside her as she ran her hand against the wall, and she frowned as the sounds that echoed from the staircase grew louder, and merrier. She hit the last step, light poured through the path ahead and she crept out while craning her head the entire way… Then, as she left the pathway, she stumbled back and gasped as confetti popped in her face!

For a place in the Underworld, the whole area around was filled with life! The streets shone in bright shades of purple and cyan, milky whites and shiny silvers, while ghouls and ghosts and creatures of all kinds raced down the streets and cheered, all while they brandished party poppers and sparklers of ghastly energy! Stands and stores with signs bearing colorful displays lined the streets, and in the heart of it all, a whole parade stormed down the way, complete with a band of ghosts performing music on invisible instruments! The smells of baked good rang in the air, and a glance aside showed it came from a few ghosts in baker's clothes handing out pies and crepes to couples lined up a stand. Heh, she didn't think Batterson's chain delivered here, of all places! Music and laughter rang in the air, warming the otherwise-cold winds of the underworld, a sight that left Chihiro smiling as she stood and basked in it.

Beside her, Nemir just chuckled and lowered his crown, keeping it clutched to his heart in lieu of his hands.

"So much has changed here," he whispered, "and yet, it's just as wonderful as I remember it being."

Nemir chuckled and laid his crown back atop his head, then drifted away from the group. "Anyways, the Undead conduction device we need should be sold in some of the shops around here. We'll split up and look—I'll take this end, and you two will take the other."

"Got it!" Spyro shouted as he took Chihiro, hand in paw. "Come on, Chi, we've got a device to get!"

Spyro and Chihiro both laughed as they raced through the gaps in the parading crowds, heart-shaped confetti and colorful streamers raining down on them as they passed by. The two of them laughed as they brushed the dying paper out off their heads, and Chihiro herself chuckled as Spyro pulled a streamer from between her bangs and tossed it away. Something about the warm atmosphere made the tension of their mission just disappear. They hadn't quite had a moment like that in a while, abd not to mention, there was so much to see and do, it was hard for Chihiro to not run off and check out all the sights and sounds!

But, she did still have a device to find and a friend to revive, so she grabbed Spyro by the paw and dragged him away to the shops, weaving through some ghouls and goblins to avoid the crowds. Crowds were enough of a pain shopping on Earth, and she couldn't imagine how much of a pain it would be to try and shop through a pack of people you could walk right through!

Luckily the few crowds were sparse, and soon enough she slowed to a walk and stopped right by one shop, then gently released Spyro's paw and pressed her hands against the glass.

Within the displays, all sorts of jewelry and trinkets laid lined up and sparkling, their stands peeking out from the thickets of promotional fliers and posters that had been taped to the walls on ectoplasmic bases. On one display there stood necklaces, bracelets, crowns and earrings and more, and to the other, tiny clocks and other strange devices Chihiro couldn't quite put a name to. A place with fun trinkets like this would be as good a place to start as any, right?

She supposed so, so Chihiro pulled herself off the glass and went towards the door—but she didn't even need to, for a ghost with a body the color of honey phased right through the door!

"Welcome, welcome! Welcome to Bane's Baubles and Bijoux, where every ware is a precious gem in the eyes of the beholder!" the ghost proclaimed, before chuckling as their milky white eyes drifted from Spyro and Chihiro. "Here to get a little something special for your date here?"

"D-date?!" Spyro and Chihiro sputtered, shooting quick glances at each other and then back at the giggling ghost.

Chihiro stepped forward first, forcing a laugh and shaking her hands a little. "Er, well, we're not here on a date, per say—"

"Aw, don't be coy!" the ghost nudged Chihiro's arm with their elbow—though, being a ghost, it just phased right through and sent chills down her spine. "You know, we have a special deal going on right now for the festival of lovers! You buy one, get one half-off!"

"The festival of lovers?"

The ghost raised a faint brow, then smiled and nodded. "Ah, you must be visitors here. You don't know about the festival of lovers, do you?"

"Not really," Spyro affirmed as he shook his head.

"Why, the festival is lovers is one of our oldest holidays!" the ghost clasped their hands. "Ages ago, when our town was but a small village, a horrific monster rose from the depths and used its powers to turn our entire village against itself! Family fought family, friends stabbed each other in the back… Oh, it was horrendous!" the ghost mock-fainted for a moment, their body paling as they did, but they quickly pulled themself up and smiled. "But, two lovers bravely stepped in and used the power of their love to seal away the beast! Now, every year we celebrate the power of their love, and the strength of a couple's bonds!"

Spyro and Chihiro both smiled to each other—that did sound pretty nice, celebrating the strength of bonds.

But, their moment of enjoyment was quickly broken by the ghost shoving a book of jewelry with ghastly, melting faces reflected in its surface.

"So, interested in some rings or a necklace for your little lady?"

Chihiro winced and backed away, then leaned in closer to Spyro. "Little lady?" she whispered. "Are they talking about me?"

"I dunno," Spyro whispered back. "Maybe?"

He cleared his throat and flew forward, gently pushing the box out of the way as he did. "Actually, we're here for something called an undead conduction device," Spyro explained. "You've got a lot of odds and ends here, so we wanted to know if you might have something like that?"

Hearing this, the ghost just chuckled and withdrew, a bit of a sad look in their eyes. "Actually, we don't have anything like that here—we just have little house trinkets. If you're looking for supernatural wares, the Moon Cat's Alleyway is your stop! In fact, it's right over there!"

The ghost gestured right across the street, where another shop decked out in glowing signs that resembled stars, moons, suns and other magical things sat. A curved sign that resembled a black cat with crescents for eyes read the shop's name in Skylandian, and a few ghosts lingered to and fro, glancing in the windows or popping in and out of the shop for mere moments while apparitions of short people swaddled in cloth offered them cards.

Yeah, seemed like the kind of place that would be super magical. And truth be told, Chihiro was starting to get a little weirded out from the way this ghost looked at her and Spyro, so it seemed like a good next stop.

"Thank you for your time!" Chihiro spat out as she yanked away Spyro and rushed into the streets, her head hung down the entire time.

All of a sudden, the normally-comforting grip of his paw felt strange, cold and alien, so she released and stormed her way in herself. Not once did her eyes lift from the streets, even as the sounds of parading and cheering and loud, joyful music singing about couples and their love for each other rang in the streets, not even as the world thundered around her. She knew it, something in her gut told her she was going to look up and be met with someone hounding her about love, about herself and Spyro, about—

"Chi, watch out!" Spyro cried!

Something yanked Chihiro's arm back right as a particularly burly ghost passed through, and Chihiro shook her head as she turned back to Spyro. She, she hadn't seen that guy there… She had gotten too wrapped up in what that shopkeeper said.

Spyro just chuckled and fixed her bangs a little, and she winced and looked back down. It stung a little, feeling his claws against her skin at a time like this.

"You alright, Chi? You seem a little out of it," he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Chihiro chuckled as she scratched her head. "Guess I just got a little lost in my thoughts there."

A bright purple light brushed against her face, and Chihiro craned her head up to find herself right at the Moon Cat place's storefront.

"And would you look at that, we're here! Better go ask if they have that device!"

Chihiro pushed the door open, and the store greeted her with the smell of fresh incense and flowers, while the cool lights of the outdoors turned to warm pinks and reds like her classrooms on Valentine's Day. All around her, pink and red trinkets decked out the shelves in addition to common magic wares like potions and fortune-telling tools and more. A love potion to the left, a kit to find your future lover's name to the right…

Her stomach churned at the sight, so she just gulped and held her head down as she headed to the back. Maybe the devices and stuff would be there, and she could quickly leave—all this talk of romance felt something akin to somebody dumping a bucket of cold water on her head, and she wasn't quite sure why.

The sound of soft, flapping wings came behind her, and the familiar touch of a scaly paw brought her back up.

"Hey, don't worry about what that ghost said earlier," Spyro whispered. "They just seemed… A little eager to sell that stuff."

Chihiro chuckled a bit, but couldn't bring herself to smile. "Don't worry, I'm not," she lied. Well, only half-lied—it didn't bother her, because that itself wasn't what bugged her. It was more that she didn't know why it bothered her in the first place.

"Have you come to get your fortune told, young lovers?"

A cold wind whispered in the wind, and Chihiro jolted up for a moment as her eyes moved around the stores in search of its source. Her eyes locked on a small wisp of blue smoke coming from the floorboards that billowed into a pillar, and she yelped and backed away as it exploded! On instinct she crafted a shield, but the smoke quickly faded and she quickly released in turn.

Chihiro turned to where the smoke once rested, and founded a ghost so heavily swaddled in robes that only their eyes could be seen floating where the smoke once was.

"Fortune told?" Chihiro echoed, straightening her posture as she spoke.

The ghost nodded, though it was a teensy bit hard to tell with all their clothing. "Yes, we're doing a special deal on love fortunes for the festival of lovers!" the ghost replied, their voice a bit shrill with glee as they clapped their hands. "And you, and that dragon boy, I can smell it—you two are deeply in love, aren't you?"

Chihiro jolted up and backed away as the ghost floated straight up to Spyro and grabbed his paw, Spyro himself only able to sputter out awkward, garbled nonsense as the ghost stared directly into his eyes.

"Now what concerns might you have? How long will your love last? When your wedding day will be? How many kids your partner wants?"

Well, at least they didn't assume she was a girl this time—Chihiro would give them that. She didn't know why, but something about the way the other shopkeeper jumped to that left a bitter taste in her mouth.

But, Spyro didn't seem particularly comfortable as he subtly tried to pull his paw away, so she pushed through and pulled Spyro away. "Actually, we came here looking for an undead conduction device," Chihiro explained, pushing herself in front of Spyro on instinct. "Do you have one?"

The ghost's face fell a bit, as if they were almost disappointed that Chihiro and Spyro didn't come here for love fortunes, then shook their head.

"I'm afraid we just sold out of our last one."

"Ah, I see." Chihiro turned around and made her way straight for the door, Spyro's paw clasped tight in her hand. "In that case, we'll try elsewhere."

"But wait, aren't you curious about your love—"

And Chihiro slammed the door behind her just before the shopkeep could finish, then released Spyro's paw and sighed as she sat on the side of the street, watching as a colorful float topped with two ghosts in ceremonial robes passed her by. The two ghosts waved down to the cheering crowds around, then leaned in to kiss—and all of a sudden, Chihiro's stomach churned and she had to turn away before she threw up.

A familiar scaly embrace came as a wing shielded over her eyes, and Chihiro nodded as she nestled in closer to Spyro, the warmth of his scales pressing against her… Then she winced and drew back. The faint recollection of those words came back, and she couldn't help but frown as they echoed in her head.

"Here to get a little something special for your date here?"

"Have you come to get your fortune told, young lovers?"

"You two are quite the item, aren't you?"

Sure, she might've sounded a little stupid, but… Hearing that about her and Spyro just felt strange. Not once had she really put much thought to it—sure, she and Spyro said "I love you" to each other all the time, they hung out all the time, and she felt a kind of connection with him that didn't quite feel the same way she felt about the other Skylanders or anybody else. But being called a "couple," something about the word felt strange to her. Were they in a relationship?

She guessed they probably would've been, seeing as how they did almost all the stuff couples did, and the way she felt about him wasn't quite the way she felt about friends or family, yet something about it didn't feel right.

But, why? Was it because they had never kissed or really gone on a date? Well, they'd gone on missions by themselves before, and dates were just spending time alone, right? No, that didn't quite feel right either. Something about their connection came so naturally, and yet just that one sentence was enough to make it strange and unnatural in an instant. Was it wrong that she couldn't quite put a word to the kind of relationship they had? It should be simple—either they were friends, or they were lovers, but neither word really fit…

"Chi? Chi?" Spyro called, waving his paw in front of Chihiro's face. "Chihiro?"

Chihiro hastily shook her head and nodded. "Yeah, Golden Boy?"

"Are you alright? You were spacing out a little back there."

Chihiro frowned, turning away from Spyro. Should she ask him how he felt about all that? After all, he seemed kind of weirded out by it too, and besides, regardless of whatever they were or whatever people thought of them, she could tell him anything. Well, she supposed she could…

"Er, well, kind of." Chihiro teased her hair and bit her lip. "Spyro, are we a couple?"

Spyro blinked and tilted his head. "A… Couple?"

"Well, I mean, I was thinking about what Boomette said the other day, and what those shopkeepers said, and well… I don't know. I mean, I don't really know anything about romance…"

"Well, I don't really know the first thing about romance, either." Spyro scratched his horn a little, the same way he always did when he was deep in thought. "I mean, being a couple's just like being friends but you kiss and go on dates and stuff, right?"

"I think it's a little more complicated than that." Chihiro fell back on the platform and sighed. "I mean, people say Marisa and Monika are a couple all the time cause they're together all the time, and they talk about how important they are to each other all the time and how much they care for each other and how they don't know what they'd do without each other, heck, they even raised a kid together in one season! And we do most of that stuff, right? I mean, we haven't raised a kid together—" Chihiro chuckled a bit, "—unless you count taking care of Wrecking Ball, but…"

"So, well, I guess that would make us a couple, wouldn't it?"

The two of them sighed, hanging their heads for a bit. Chihiro supposed he was right, but judging by the reluctant tone in his voice, he seemed just as confused and uncomfortable as she was. Something scaly and warm brushed underneath Chihiro's chin, and Chihiro turned her head up to find Spyro smiling back at her, his wing now underneath her chin.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it—we're each other's partners no matter what, right? Doesn't matter if we're friends or a couple or anything."

Well, that was true. Even if she didn't really understand what romance was or what really made people friends or a couple or things like that, she knew she cared about Spyro more than anything! The two of them clicked in a way she didn't really click with anyone else, heck, if she could only pick one person to spend the rest of her life with… It would be him, no hesitation.

That awful, sickly feeling that rang in Chihiro's stomach disappeared in that very moment, and all of a sudden, that yearning to hold him in her arms came back—so Chihiro thrust herself in Spyro's grip and squeezed him tight! He shouted out from the sudden weight, but Spyro quickly embraced her back, head in her shoulders and legs and wings wrapped tight around her. The whole world melted away, and it was just the two of them, just the way Chihiro liked it.

"I love you, Golden Boy," she whispered as she squeezed him a bit tighter.

"Love you too, Chi," Spyro whispered.

The two of them released as the float passed them by, and Chihiro kicked her feet against the pavement as the sounds of music faded and grew in the distance. She didn't really have any idea where to go next, so she supposed for now she'd sit here and watch the parade as she waited for Nemir to get back. Surely, he'd probably have some idea where to go next.

A loud crash sounded, and Chihiro winced and covered her ears from the sudden noise. Just where did that come from? It didn't sound like it came from the music, but more like…

Chihiro's eyes glazed back to the other side of the street, where a few ghosts had surrounded that jewelry shop's keeper from earlier, except a strange, pink and blue mist wavered and wafted over them as they shouted at each other. A few others gathered together, trying to pull the ghosts away as they shouted, but the mist just spread to them and their eyes glowed red as they began shouting and cursing too!

"A curse!" Spyro cried as he jumped to his paws and flew off. "Hold on, I'll take care of this!"

Chihiro jumped to her own feet and raced after Spyro, hands glowing cyan… Just in case.

She bit her lip as ahead of her, Spyro held out glowing purple paws and clapped as he sent out strings of lavender mist towards the crowds. They both stumbled back as the mist swirled around the cursed ghosts, flashing and shimmering with light for moments—then it froze and shattered completely! The mist's fragments glistened on the floor like fresh snow for moments, and Spyro and Chihiro only gasped, staring dumbfounded at the mist's dusty remains just before they disappeared.

The curse in turn leaped like a flea around the crowd of ghosts that had formed further, dyeing their eyes in swirling mixtures of pink and blue and fixing snarling frowns on their faces as they all turned around and glared towards Spyro and Chihiro. They clenched their fists and crept in as Spyro and Chihiro backed away with hands and paws raised in an act of peace, but the ghosts just closed in further! Their ectoplasm turned redder and warmer as they came in closer, crowding tight around Spyro and Chihiro as they pressed their backs together.

"Now, calm down, everyone," Spyro began as he held his paws up further. "We mean you no harm—"

One of the ghosts leaped from the crowds and lunged for Spyro, and on instinct he grabbed Chihiro and flew in the air!

Spyro's eyes turned azure as he flew off at a storm's speed and dropped Chihiro back down on the ground, then took a breath for a moment.

"Spyro, I don't think now's the time to take a breather!" Chihiro cried as she pointed ahead. "Look!"

Spyro lifted his head, then gasped as more red mist seeped out from the ground and infected the crowd of ghosts ahead! He backed away as the ghosts all slowly turned on each other, their once cheerful chatter turning to shouts and insults that rang in his ears as his eyes went wide… In fact, he was so fixed on them that he didn't even notice the mist that crept up behind him!

Chihiro gasped as the mist rose, then pushed himself in front of Spyro and cast a shield out right before it struck! The mist slammed against the shield, thrusting it out of Chihiro's hands and knocking her back into Spyro with a grunt, and the two of them winced as they lifted their heads.

Before them, Chihiro's shield turned pink and blueas it burst into magic, but not the kind of sparkly magic remains that usually came from its expiration—no, this kind of magic was more akin to a murky dough, one that bubbled and popped as it grew legs, horns, snarling fangs… Then finally, it dropped down as a massive beast that roared and swung a claw for Spyro and Chihiro!

Chihiro jumped to her feet and pulled Spyro away just before it could strike, and with her free hand she pelted its forehead with spheres of energy! Though they phased right through the monster's forehead, it reeled back just long enough that Chihiro teleported away, just out of the monster's sights!

The monster roared as it charged away, but not once did its eyes glaze over the old, rotten crates in the alleyway beside it as they rattled… Much to Chihiro's relief as she hid behind them, then poked her her over the crates and winced. The monster had long since left her sights, but the smashing of buildings and the cries of scared people turning to shouts of rage told her enough.

"Just what is that thing?" Spyro whispered as he popped up beside Chihiro. "My purification spell didn't even stand a chance!"

"Hey, what're you doing in our hiding spot?" piped up a tiny voice.

Spyro and Chihiro both winced, then dove behind the crates and turned around with hands raised and charged with magic… Then quickly lowered them.

Before them sat two ghosts in long robes, one with short hair styled into a small mohawk and another with long hair styled into some elaborate, voluminous ponytail with two more ponytails hanging from the sides. Their bodies were a pale purple in color, their eyes milky white, and they rang with a kind of magic power that the others ghosts didn't quite seem to have. Perhaps they were Magic Elementals who hadn't quite lost their elemental alignment yet?

The ghost with the ponytails hummed as they broke free of the other's grip, creeping closer to Spyro and Chihiro in slow motions. They rubbed their hand over their chin as they craned their head back and forth, then nodded a bit and smiled.

"You two have quite the strong bond, don't you?" the ponytails ghost said. "I can sense it, you care for each other deeply."

Spyro and Chihiro both winced and warily nodded—what they said wasn't wrong, but after those encounters with those shopkeepers…

Chihiro had went to speak, but before she could, the ponytails ghost gripped her hand and pulled her away.

"I'm Payiz," the ponytails ghost said as they held a hand to themselves, then gestured to the other ghost, "and she's Havîn. Follow us, we know how to get to safety!"

Chihiro just nodded, not even able to speak as Payiz dragged her away with Spyro frantically flying behind and Havîn trailing at the group's back. They ran around winding corners and long straights, all while the sounds of the raging city behind them slowly started to disappear into silence, and all around the sights began to meld together into length walls…

And then, they passed through the end of the halls and met the sounds of whistling wind and the sights of cold, stone hills! Dead blue grass coated a hill that stood right before them, while polished stone steps lined the hill's center and led up to a large building topped with a heart intertwined with vines and the bony brambles of the underworld. Ghastly plants that glowed with an eerie aura filled its base, and a crackling purple barrier occasionally flashed and faded into existence around the building. Was that some kind of temple?

"Luckily, the temple's barrier is strong as ever—no matter how strong that beast is, it'll never break in!" Havîn explained.

Oh, so it was a temple. Chihiro sighed as she scratched her head, still a little dizzy from the running, or maybe just how hectic today had been. But, as the sounds of panting reached her ears, she turned aside and frowned. That voice, it sounded familiar, could it be?

"There you two are!" Nemir cried as he floated in, then fell to his knees and held his chest. His face seemed a little bit more flushed than usual, as if he'd taken a lot of strength out of himself, but he quickly collected himself and stood nonetheless. "I'd been looking for you when that strange mist came about, and—"

"Wait, hold on a second," Havîn gasped as she pushed through the crowds. Digging through a pocket in his robes, she pulled out a scroll and glanced it over, taking quick glances at Nemir for moments… Then she gasped and rolled it up before rushing up to Nemir with stars shining in her eyes!

"You're none other than good king Nemir, one of the greatest kings our town had ever known! To think, you're still walking amid the dead, even after all these years!" Havîn clasped Nemir's hand in her own and grinned. "I have so much I want to ask you!"

"Greatest… Kings?" Nemir echoed, his own eyes a bit wide as if he couldn't believe it himself. "Me?"

"Of course! Your struggles to balance the needs of your living and dead subjects, your fight for the undead to be properly understood and valued, your guardianship of the gates to the Underworlds, your valiant fights against the Arkeyans… They're all some of our most treasured historical tomes! Every king we've had has aspired to be as wise and benevolent as you!"

A roar rumbled the ground, and Havîn gasped as she parted away. "But, I think I can save that talk for another time! Come on, we have to start the ritual!"

"Ritual?" Spyro, Chihiro and Nemir all echoed.

Havîn and Payiz both grabbed Spyro and Chihiro by the paw and hand, then sped to the temple, phasing right through its barrier.

"Just follow us!" they both cried.

Spyro and Chihiro both winced, then warily nodded as Havîn and Payiz reached the temple's doors and pushed it open before rushing inside…

§

Luz panted so heavily that he was practically heaving as he bolted along the beaten stone pathways before him, his shield held up to shoulder the blows of the plants exploding around him.

Behind him, the cries of the others as the rounder balloon cacti of the paths behind tossed them to and fro, or as they shielded themselves from the spikier, orange prickle plants that lined the stone paths he ran on. Common pests, he'd dealt with them plenty while tending to Gramps' gardens…

But luckily, they weren't strong enough to withstand a little sunlight. Luz pushed his shield off of his arm and spun it around in a half-circle, and in turn its core charged up and flung a beam of sunlight across the area, one that fanned out and blanketed everything for moments before disappearing and leaving only singed plants in its wake. With his opposition gone, Luz just fixed his shield back on his arm and ran ahead, his breaths growing more shallow as he ran.

"I almost can't believe this is the same Luz," Luz barely heard someone whisper behind. "He's never this serious!"

Luz winced, then clutched his shield as he sprung another mile ahead. Of course he was being serious! This was his brother at stake! His older brother, the only family he had left, his, his…

Luz shuddered, then hit the cold, hard floors, except what he felt wasn't stone but a carpet of leaves and dirt so harsh despite being soft to the touch. The world around him was bigger and wider and thick with forest, and he himself was so, so small by comparison. His shield had vanished from his hands, only leaving him with a sack mostly emptied of its contents at this point. He couldn't quite remember how long he'd been running for at this point. It felt like days had passed, but that couldn't be right, could it?

Whatever it was, something in him was so, so, tired, and he just wanted to collapse and sleep, but the sounds of rustling and stomping around him forced him to run. He had to, surely they, those things, they were looking for him! They'd find him, and they'd hurt him just like they did the man from his village!

That's right, his village—what had happened to it? Had it been completely destroyed? What happened to his neighbors, what happened to the other kids he had been sent to hide with? What had happened to his parents, his mom with her bright smile and his dad with his kind eyes. Did they have those? It had been so long, and Luz had grown so, so, tired.

He, he couldn't even remember their faces anymore.

Luz shuddered again, and he wanted so badly to sit down and cry after everything, but more of those rustling noises forced him to run.

Light poured from outside the path he had taken, and when Luz rushed out he was greeted by loud, cheerful noise. The sights of the forest around him had disappeared, replaced with a busy town where tons of beings ran around. The smell of food was in the air, and with all those people talking, surely there had to be somewhere he could sleep, right?

But, something in him snapped from seeing all these strange people in a place he didn't recognize, from being alone and lost after running so long—all he could do was cry as he ran ahead, not even looking at the faces of those he passed! He sat down in a cold, dark space between two houses and cried, still clutching his mostly-empty sack tight. He was so hungry, and so tired, and so cold and so, so, worried, and all he wanted to do was go home. But he was sure his home was gone, and so were his parents and everyone he knew, and, and—

"Here, you look hungry—you want this?"

Something smooth nudged Luz's face, and he opened his eyes to find a smooth, shiny and fresh red apple right before his eyes! This, this couldn't have been a dream, right? He looked up, and…

Luz grunted as held his head, finally collapsing to his knees as he reached the top of the path. One, one of those memories again? He shuddered for a moment, but quickly gripped his shield and traced circles around its surface, the warmth of its body pulling him back into the present. As he finally regained the strength to stand, Luz clutched the shield tight and narrowed his eyes.

Before him was a large, stone platform with a few sparse houses atop it, but nothing interested him so much as what rested in the center. That cyclops, the one that had kidnapped Fintster, laid on his knees in the heart of the platform, still wheezing and clutching his side while his bruised skin rose and fall with every breath. He was so weak, there was no way he could fight off Luz—he was basically a lamb in the lion's wake!

Luz scowled, then clicked his wheel. Light formed around his heels, and his whole body warmed underneath the sunlight, bubbling with heat until he was so hot that he might've melted, and he jumped up to find himself right above the cyclops!

The cyclops lifted his head, eye wide and jaw open and gawking in an off-guard fashion. And as the cyclops gawked, Luz fell down and shot his hand out, reaching straight for Fintster's wheel! It was so close, he could just feel its smooth crystal as it…

No, it wasn't smooth, it was soft?!

Luz brushed against the cyclops once, and the cyclops completely dissipated into puffy, soft, dark clouds while Luz himself just crashed against the floor and rolled on his side.

Cackling, ugly, snide cackling rang in the air as Luz pushed himself up and grunted, but footsteps and shouting from the other side drowned it out—good, that had to be the others.

Luz grabbed his shield and spun it a few clicks, and as light charged, he held it into the air and shot a beam of light into the air. The beam spewed like a fountain, raining light like water all across the area and creating a barrier of solid light that rose in front of every possible escape route. Then, its light poured over the area, and that cyclops, the real one, appeared right before Luz's eyes!

He laughed his head off still, but Luz would fix that soon enough. Lowering his arm, Luz leaped forward and swung his arm around, bashing his shield against the cyclops's side! The cyclops hacked out a tooth as he collapsed and screamed, clutching his side still, then he staggered up and gasped the moment he laid eye on Luz.

"What, you, you—" the cyclops sputtered, the shock so immense it sent him into a coughing fit.

He snatched the wheel from his neck, and wispy, dark clouds slowly churned around him and swirled like a tornado—but right before he could escape, a breeze flew in and blew them away!

The cyclops fell on his back and growled as he staggered up, his eye moving from Luz to Whirlwind as she flew up and glared her down. No party said any words, the only sounds coming from small steps and growls, and the cyclops yanked up the pendant.

"Alright," he hacked, his fingers trembling as they struggled to hold grip of Fintster's wheel. "So you're not intent on letting me escape! Fine! I'm not a general in her majesty's army for nothing!"

The pendant shimmered with cobalt light, glowing the brightest Luz had seen it, and the cyclops held it the highest he could while still keeping balance.

The light itself quickly faded, almost stopping Luz's heart for a moment, but then murky clouds formed in its surface before spewing out of the wheel and consolidating around the cyclops. The clouds morphed, shuddering and pulsing as they formed limbs and heads, then finally their smoke and puffs smoothed themselves out while the took the shape of an entire wilderness's worth of animals—massive boars, sleek cheetahs and graceful, tall birds, they all stood before the cyclops. Their eyes laid devoid of light and their stances were statue-like, a chilling reminder of their status as illusions.

"Come on, you beasts! There's some fresh meat for you to try!"

The animals screeched and howled as they rushed past the cyclops, their footsteps pounding against the ground as they charged right for Luz!

Luz himself just stood frozen, his body completely chilled and unwilling to move itself—but why? He pushed, he thrust, he tried his best to press forward, but his legs wouldn't move. Had they locked themselves in his memories, too frozen with fear to move? Had he exerted himself too much?

Luz's trembling hands reached for his shield and he started to spin, then lowered them as the pained wail of a boar rang in his ears.

Right before him, Terrafin had punched the boar out, its body dissipating as he bounced across the floor, then he jumped in front of Luz with fists raised. His footsteps were short and spry, full of energy as he punched aside the next few boars, then hopped aside while bursts of flaming volcanic rock shot forward and knocked out another.

Terrafin smirked, stepping back as his back pressed against Eruptor's while the rest of the singular came in for them, then Eruptor simple stepped aside.

Terrafin leaped in the air and punched the ground below with such force that it buckled and cracked, forming firm cracks the knocked the boars off balance and sent them on their sides. They flailed their stubby legs around as they tried to get back up to no avail, and Terrafin simply huffed and stepped aside as Eruptor took his place at the cracks' head. But, Terrafin's neutral expression turned a bit warmer as Eruptor clapped his hands and sent out spewing lava that flooded the cracks, the light emanating from it burning away the boars like fire.

Flames spewed from the lava, but a massive torrent poured in and drenched them quickly enough. Was that Whirlwind again?

No, it was Gill Grunt, Luz had realized, when Gill Grunt flew through on his jetpack and aimed his cannon towards a flock of swans that crowed and raised their wings. He clicked the trigger on his cannon, and another burst of water blasted them away before some suspiciously-gray clouds that lingered in the otherwise clear skies absorbed every last drop.

The clouds zipped away, growing larger in girth as they lingered closer to the ground where Whirlwind backed away from a clowder of large cats—and yet, she just smiled, not intimidated in the slightest by how they surrounded her. She flicked her wings, and the rain poured out from the clouds, pounding against the cats as they yowled and dissipated into smoke.

Whirlwind smiled and flew away, but right as she turned, a shriek came and she craned her head as a cheetah leaped from the storm, its claws beared and ready to slash! Whirlwind snarled and lowered her horn as it crackled with electricity, but a sword slashed right through the cheetah's middle.

The cheetah's severed halves disappeared into smoke as Whirlwind craned up to where Ninjini blew the smoke from her wishblade, then both of them glanced over the battlefield.

Surely, that had to be the last of it, but the smoke still lingered around the battlefield, growing thicker and stronger with every second it stayed. It pulsed like a heart, then snaked along the ground as it fused right around the cyclops.

"What, did you think I was done?" the cyclops remarked, staggering up as he tossed an empty potion bottle to the ground and smashed it underfoot. Now that Luz had looked at him again, his bruises had all cleared from his skin, and he seemed a bit more spry compared to when Luz had found him. "I'm afraid shadows aren't as easy to get rid of as that!"

Luz cringed, finally regaining the strength to step back and growl as he reached for his shield once more. Before him, eyes had formed in the smoke as they rose in mass, towering over even the buildings as they rumbled and shuddered in places. They were big, but, he'd fought bigger—and he'd fight anything, even the worst of foes, just to get his brother back!

He clicked his shield, ready to fight, but before he could, Brawl charged forward and pinned one of the shadowy masses to the wall, right as it formed into a muscular, hulking cyclops dressed in armor and animal skins! The two grunted as they pressed against each other, then Brawl growled and turned around as he held off another, identical cyclops before it could strike him!

His strained, pained gasps for air grew louder as both cyclopes grabbed his arms and twisted them. The arms' metal strained underneath the weight, then the searing sound of a laser's screech and agonized screams from the side forced Brawl and the cyclopes to relent.

Before them, a line of silver light shone through the middle cyclops, then its halves fell apart and exploded into smoke as Eye flew forward and zapped the first cyclops in the shoulder! The cyclops yowled as Brawl pushed it against the wall once more while Eye zapped holes in its surface, both oblivious to how the smoke from the first one slunk off and rose!

The smoky remains of the other cyclops formed more of those bulky cyclops warriors, ones that only reached up to the waists of the others but far more numerous in numbers, and they joined with another tall cyclops as they charged right for Swarm and Ninjini! The two of them snarled as they stabbed the larger cyclopes right through the chest, then drew back their blades and flicked the smoke. The larger cyclopes started to stagger away, and in that moment both Swarm and Ninjini shot quickly glances down below.

"Dej, Vaayu, go get Fintster!" Ninjini cried as the smoke started to rise. "We'll take care of things here!"

Luz's eyes fluttered as he bore witness to Swarm and Ninjini fighting, but he quickly shook his head and bolted right for the cyclops holding Fintster's wheel.

He jumped back as one of the taller cyclopes stomped down and rolled aside right as Brawl punched it back, then Luz staggered up and ran forward as he tapped his feet. Surely, he had enough speed in him to call upon the speed of light still, just enough that he could jump in there…

He closed his eyes, and a cool breeze brushed against his skin while his body grew lighter underfoot, and the ground slicker, faster, more like he was sliding rather than running! Luz opened his eyes, but he didn't find the harsh light that normally enveloped him, nor did he feel the sensation of heat. Rather, then ground below him had turned to sleek ice, and a powerful breeze propelled him forward. He only just barely caught a glance to the side, but the sights of Dej skating alongside him and Vaayu flying beside Dej told him all he needed to know!

That cyclops cackled for a moment, but as he turned around and found Luz, he gasped and gripped the pendant! Darkness started to shield him, its wisps swirling like clouds around his body once more. The darkness almost consolidated right as a large circle of ice pillars burst from the ground with speed so great that the clouds immediately dispersed!

The cyclops staggered back a moment, and in his moment of weakness Luz charged his shield and shot a string of laser beams right inside the pillars. The lasers seeped into the glassy ice of the pillars, and the moment they hit, they glowed so brightly that the cyclops screamed in agony and clutched his face! The cyclops fell on his knees, completely weakened and unable to strike!

Luz gasped, then something clutched his side and he turned around to find Vaayu smiling right beside him.

"Bring him home, Luz," was all Vaayu whispered as he tossed Luz into the air!

A powerful gust met with Vaayu's toss, throwing Luz well above the cyclops and the ice pillars that surrounded, and Luz gripped his shield as he pushed himself forward and crashed down!

He raised his shield, screaming at the top of his lungs as his eyes fixed right on the pendant that hung from the cyclops's neck. Just one strike, that would be enough to knock the cyclops down and steal back Fintster, to get his brother back, to, to… Have his family back. The cyclops turned to Luz right as he raised his shield, and—

"Here, you look hungry—you want this?"

The vision of a boy, a young boy with tanned skin and long, black hair holding an apple towards Luz came to him, and for a moment he found himself in the past.

Then, the vision cleared and he was met with the cyclops staring in horror as he held Fintster's pendant just barely away from the spikes of Luz's shield!

Luz gasped, and he thrust his arm aside so that it only grazed against the wheel's surface, while Luz himself tumbled aside and slammed against the searing ice pillars. A cracking, shattering sound hit the air as something both hot and cold stabbed into Luz's back and helplessly fell from his armor, while Luz rolled aside and knocked into someone's legs. Struggling to keep his eyes open, Luz clenched his teeth as the proud stance of that cyclops dangling Fintster's pendant laid in front of him, just to taunt him further.

But then, the cyclops jumped back as Dej slid in and slung a punch! The cyclops hopped away as Dej kicked for him next, and as the cyclops reached for a weapon, Vaayu flew down beside him and slammed into his back! The cyclops fell to his knees and coughed, and instead of relenting he flicked out his arms.

Both Dej and Vaayu stumbled back and clutched their eyes while black smoke seeped between the gaps of their fingers, and then, and then, and then…

The smoke, the cyclops, he was escaping! Luz stumbled to his full height and ran after the cyclops as smoke enveloped him. Luz reached out his hand as he stumbled over his own feet, running as fast as he could while resisting the ground's attempts to trip him over it, but by the time he had gotten close to cyclops—he—
He disappeared.

Luz just blinked, and he was gone. Luz slipped and collapsed in the center of the ground, his face burning and tightening as tears poured once more as he pounded his fist against the ground.

"I, I was so close," Luz croaked as he pounded his fist against the earth, as if hitting it would somehow bring Fintster back. "It, it, it's not fair! It isn't fair, I, I…"

"There, there, Luz, deep breaths," Vaayu whispered as he pulled Luz from the floor.

Luz whimpered, nodding just a little bit as he wiped his tears, then breathed in… Out… In… Out.

Taking his last breath, Luz pushed himself to stand and sniffled just a bit, before steeling his glance and clutching his shield.

"Now, if I had to guess, maybe the locals would know something about these cyclopes," Vaayu said as he crossed his arms. "We should probably ask around."

Luz nodded, then wandered off towards one of the shops, one decked out in stars and suns and moons.

He pushed the door open to be greeted by shelves with all sorts of potions and other magical stuff he barely understood, all lit in ominous green and purple tones while smoke filtered out. A smell of roses and cinnamon so thick that Luz's eyes watered just from its scent lingered in the air, but Luz just shook the tears off and stormed through the halls.

"A love potion kit?" Vaayu mused behind him. "'Use this potion kit to unveil the identity of your true love, just pour the completed potion into a dish and state your heart's desire…'" A disgusted scoff came from Vaayu next. "Who would buy something like this? A mere potion can't discern what true love is!"

"I'm pretty sure those things are just for party activities," Dej remarked behind him. "Then again, Ninjini's the magic expert, not me."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Luz pressed forward towards the back of the shop, where a molekin dressed in wizard's clothes sat at the back of a desk. Their large alabaster claws folded together, and a kind of expectant smile rested on their face as they hummed.

Luz went to speak, but the molekin just tsked.

"I already know why you're here—you're in pursuit of one of those wretched cyclopes, aren't you?" the molekin proclaimed.

Luz relented a bit, nodding slightly. "So, do you know where he is?" Luz asked.

"Of course I know, my scrying abilities are the best in the village! I could find him without even batting an eyelash." The molekin raised a brow. "Of course, though, my services aren't for free… I'll need a little, compensation if you wish to know more."

Thinking of money at a time like these, when these guys were messing with this molekin's home? Luz had some thoughts about that, but he quickly pushed his own irritation aside and waved a hand, crafting a prism right before the molekin's eyes. He had to admit, it was one of his better ones—its clear surface had all sorts of colors painted on it, even ones Luz wasn't even sure were colors, its body shone like a diamond…

And judging by the grin on that molekin's face, they seemed to agree.

"Ah, yes, this will do quite nicely!" the molekin proclaimed as they snatched the prism, then clapped their hands and dove underneath their desk. "Now, I just need to get my pondering orb."

The molekin huffed as they dropped a shiny crystal ball on the desk, then waved their hands and grinned as its surface flickered and shimmered. A few flashes of light sparked on it, then its reflection changed to…

The mountain! Yeah, that mountain Luz had seen coming in.

"Ah, so it seems that the one you're looking for is hiding out in Mount Mechanogear!" the molekin proclaimed, before grinning as the view changed to a cavern filled with crystals, then a cave's open mouth on the base of a stone hill. "And it looks like the entrance you seek is just ahead of here!"

Luz nodded, then turned around and slammed his hand against the desk. The sudden sound brought Dej and Vaayu's glances to him, with Vaayu frantically putting away some pendants and other things covered in hearts while Dej just whistled.

"He's in that mountain with all the gears," Luz proclaimed as he swept past them and made his way for the door.

The sunlight poured through and dimmed the eerie colors of the shop within as Luz left, not even turning back. "Come on."

Luz turned his attention past the shop and towards an open cave with crystals poking out of its mouth not that far ahead—probably the entrance to that cave, he reasoned.

He pressed ahead without even acknowledging his other teammates or the world around him, hardly noticing as the light above him dimmed before returning in a whole rainbow of colors! The light brought his attention to the sights around, meeting him with a large tunnel that had crystals in all shapes and sizes poking out of its surface. Tall crystal wands, smaller formations, even some sleek and reflective like a mirror.

Luz glanced in one, but the reflection of him he saw wasn't of him as he saw now. Instead it was just his younger self, wide-eyed and teary and worn from all the time he had spent running.

"Luz, hey, Luz!"

Luz gasped and turned around.

"Fintster?" he cried, before his face fell as he realized it was just Gill Grunt shaking his arm.

Gill Grunt gave Luz a weary smile, and Luz just glanced behind him to find the others examining the crystals or talking amid themselves. Heaving another sigh, Luz just glanced back in the mirror crystal to find him and a younger Fintster, running together as Fintster lead the charge, then jolted a bit as Gill Grunt's cold hand wrapped around his arm.

"This Fintster person means a lot to you, doesn't he?" Gill Grunt asked.

"He's my brother, of course he does!" Luz retorted, wanting to lash out all of a sudden. What kind of a question was that?

But then, Luz glanced in the mirror to find that the illusions of him had disappeared, and what he saw was surely a younger Gill Grunt, singing in a rocky lagoon to a mermaid woman as she laughed. Luz glanced at Gill Grunt to find an almost wistful, kind of yearning look in Gill Grunt's eyes. Had he lost somebody important to him too? Luz's anger quelled in that moment, and the two of them just stared together as the mirror's reflection faded.

"Well, no use standing around here," Luz remarked as he strode off. "Come on, he's not gonna sit around and wait for us."

Luz lowered his head and tried to block out the world around him, though the thundering footsteps of Swarm and Brawl behind him and their whispers were hard to ignore.

"Of course this means a lot to Luz, he and Fintster were practically the best of buds!" Swarm said behind him to a party Luz couldn't discern. "I'd never seen siblings get along as well as they did! But, I never really got along with my sibs, so…" Swarm's tone faltered a bit, turning almost sad as his wings started to buzz. "Sure wish I at least apologized to them before I left. I can't imagine any of them are still around. I wonder if Ambrosia was still mad at me for hiding her favorite tiara that one time…"

Luz lowered his head further, but a soft pat on his back lifted him up again. He turned his head around, then he found himself lifted in the air as Swarm held Luz up to his face and beamed.

"Hey, chin up, Luz! We're definitely gonna get him back!" Swarm chirped, before his tone turned a little softer. "After all, he's your family."

Luz nodded, but couldn't bring himself to say a word—so, he just clung to Swarm as Swarm ducked underneath the cavern's exit and found himself on a ledge overlooking the mouth of a giant mountain, where a cavern's entrance rested on the other side.

Cyclopes littered and lingered around the entrance as far as the eye could see. Some of them dressed in armor and wielding axes, others rode atop slobbering muttici, and some much bulkier than the others stood around and orders. But, if Luz needed any more sign that this was the place, that was it.

"Just let me handle this," Luz said as he floated out of Swarm's grip.

Behind him, Luz could barely hear the sounds of the others sheathing their weapons and lowering their attacks, something he took as a sign to step forward.

Luz breathed in as he laid his hands on his chest, the light flowing through his body as it warmed and cooled his skin. He closed his eyes, took a breath and opened to find that sure enough, his body had disappeared from view—perfect.

With a snap of his fingers, he teleported down onto the ledge and hid behind a rock for a moment. But when none of the cyclopes took any notes or strange glances, he nodded and stepped out. He clapped his hand, and the sunlight around turned hot and harsh as it shone down over the cyclopes, its light now a searing white that shielded them away with only their shouts heard!

Luz dashed along the floor and stomped down while pillars made of solid prism rose with every stomp, until they had formed a vaguely star-shaped formation among the cyclopes!

Luz dashed back to the first prism pillar and held out his hand, then winced. The invisibility spell was already starting to wear off, he'd better act quickly! Shooting a rainbow from his palm, Luz stepped back as the white light shifted in a rainbow of bright, eye-bleeding colors while the screams grew even louder… Then, both the light and the invisibility spell faded, and all that was left was Luz standing on the edge of an entire platoon of burnt, twitching, semi-conscious cyclopes. Luz turned back to the ledge and signaled off to the others, but didn't linger for long.

No, he dashed straight ahead into the cavern's mouth, its darkness a comforting blanket that washed over him as he ran.

"I'm coming, Fintster," Luz whispered, "just hang in there for me."

§

Chihiro winced as she fell into a room before she even had a chance to speak, her legs giving out in the moment and leaving the rest of her to collapse on the floor. She groaned as she pushed herself up to her knees, and rubbed her eyes as she glanced around at the decor—or the lack thereof. With all the dresses and robes and crowns and other things that surrounded her, the whole place looked a bit more like a dressing room than something she'd expect to find in a temple.

But, she wasn't going to complain. Rather, she just wanted answers! What was with that cursed mist? Who were these ghost girls and what were they doing with her and Spyro? Why was everyone fighting each other? How was that mist monster thing completely immune to her attack? Well, judging by the look Payiz gave her, it seemed Chihiro would get her answer soon.

"So, I'm sure you've seen that cursed mist, right?" Payiz asked as she floated in and closed the door behind her. When Chihiro slowly nodded, Payiz nodded in turn and floated off towards the clothes.

"That's the curse of the Odivia, a monster that feeds off of hatred. It uses its magic to instill hate in people's hearts and turn them against one another so it can feed and grow stronger. Ages ago, it awakened in our town and a ritual was performed keep it sealed—"

"I feel like there's a big but coming in all this," Chihiro remarked.

"But, the seal itself needs to be reapplied every year by a couple with a strong, unwavering love for one another around this time to stay." Payiz sighed and pulled a colorful dress from the racks. "Normally the high priest and priestess perform the sealing ritual, but they,"—Payiz winced and put the dress away—"had a dispute. So, we'll just have you and your partner do it in their steed!"

"But, is that really gonna work?" Chihiro stood up and scratched her head. "I don't know anything about ancient rituals, and when we tried to fight it, it didn't work at all—"

"That's because fighting and conflict is the stuff it feeds on! Rather, it needs a special display of love~" Payiz giggled and spun around with all the glee of a schoolgirl as she clasped her hands. "A passionate dance, ending in an act of the couple's passionate romance!"

An act of passionate romance? Wait, would that mean Payiz thought Chihiro and Spyro were… Chihiro gulped and shook her head, that feeling of having cold water dumped right on top of her suddenly returning right in that instant. The thought of them being seen as a couple left her stomach churning once more, but, if she didn't do this, that monster would keep raging around and make everyone fight! But, surely she wouldn't have to do that, right?

Well, before Chihiro could even protest, Payiz pushed her towards the clothing racks with the widest grin, then jumped to rack to rack as she shuffled through the fancy robes before pulling out a long, flowing gown colored in shades of minty green and white, with layers upon layers of jewels laid over the neck. She pressed the gown to Chihiro, her smile wide with expectancy, then dropped it in Chihiro's arms.

"And of course, you'll have to look the part, too!" Payiz proclaimed. "The high priestess wore this robe for last year's ceremony…"

So this was the girl's outfit? Chihiro didn't really know why, but something about wearing the girl's one specifically didn't really sit right with her—and judging by the look on Payiz's face, she seemed to understand as well. Payiz gently lifted the gown from Chihiro, then put it back on the rack and grabbed a white gown, one a bit tighter compared to the other with a red jacket over the chest, a fancy hat and its own lion's share of jewelry, and handed it off.

"Of course, you could wear the high priest's outfit if that doesn't fit."

Chihiro narrowed her eyes as she ran her hand along the smooth fabric of the new robe… But something about that didn't really sit right with her either. She glanced back at the high priestess's outfit as it sat on the rack, then at the high priest's outfit as it sat in her hands. Maybe, she could do both?

Chihiro hummed, then grabbed the high priestess outfit from the rack and rushed towards a small door at the back—probably the changing room. When she opened the door and her suspicions were confirmed, Chihiro jumped in for a moment and jumped back out in the high priestess's robe, with the high priest's jacket and hat fitted over it and its jewels laid around her neck. The fabric was comfortable and loose while not being overly likely to trip her on her fancy new attire, and she couldn't help but twirl around a few times in it.

"Much better," Chihiro proclaimed.

Payiz clapped her hands, then took her by the hand and walked down. "If that's the case, then follow me. We'll meet up with your partner and walk you through the dance."

But as they walked, that feeling of unrest bubbled in Chihiro's chest, and she frowned and clasped her hand.

"Just one question, though… You and your friend, you seem to know a whole lot about this ritual and stuff—can't you just perform it yourselves?"

"Afraid not." Payiz turned a little more solemn as she shook her head, her hands clasped tight together. "It needs a pair of lovers specifically, and neither of us are in a relationship. There's someone I've been wanting to confess too, for a long, long time, but she…" Payiz shook her head. "It wouldn't work, not for this."

"It can't just be anyone then, can it?"

"No, hatred like that of the Odivia's requires a strong romance to beat. The high priest and priestess had been in love for so long and they were one of the most passionate couples around, so they'd always taken it down before the night even began! Them fighting out of nowhere, and on such short notice took us all by surprise. In fact, we'd been looking for them when we found you!" Payiz sighed. "I'd much prefer to try and have them do it, but it seems we'd run out of time."

Chihiro kinda would have preferred getting them to do it too, but it seemed she had no options. With one more step, Payiz lead her into the heart of the temple, where Nemir, Havîn and Spyro all stood and talked—though Spyro had been decked out since in all sorts of gold bracelets and necklaces adorned with sparkly jewels, all brought together with a sparkling gold circlet atop his forehead! She had to admit, he did look really nice in it all, like he came straight out of a story…

"Looks like they're here," Nemir said.

Havîn and Spyro both approached Payiz and Chihiro, though Spyro shied a tiny bit away from Chihiro's glance while his wings twitched, and his tail restlessly swayed from side to side. Was he as nervous about this as she was? She was sure of it, so she just knelt down and adjusted his circlet's position a tiny bit.

"You know, you look good in jewels, Golden Boy," Chihiro remarked.

Spyro chuckled, then lifted up the brim of Chihiro's hat. "And you look pretty nice, yourself!" he beamed, his tension seeming to relent a bit.

They both giggled, but a chilling touch on their backs quelled their laughter quickly. They turned to Havîn and Payiz to find them both in a close embrace, hands held tight as they prepared to dance. Looks like it was time to practice, so they both warily nodded at Havîn and Payiz before they could even ask.

"So, first you start by moving like this," Havîn said as she drew closer to Payiz while they both swayed back and forth, hands held tight against their waists. "Then squeeze each other tight." Havîn drew Payiz close, so close that their faces were only inches away, before releasing as they both walked around each other, not one taking their eyes off of the other. "Now just spin into each other's embrace…"

And as the two of them dance, Chihiro couldn't help but smile a bit—they didn't say a word, and yet she could tell just from looking that they must've loved each other a lot. They looked at each other so sweetly, so tenderly, and they held each other with such care. Could Havîn had been the person, er, ghost Payiz was telling her about? She couldn't have guessed otherwise. The two of them smiled, drawing in close as Payiz pulled in like she was going to kiss Havîn—but her eyes went wide, and they both furiously blushed as they drew back.

"As you can see, that's what you have to do," Havîn explained, still blushing furiously as she snatched glances at Payiz. "You try it, then!"

"Ah, young love," Nemir whispered, folding his hands together. "Makes me think of when I was a boy."

Chihiro chuckled, then turned to Spyro and held out a hand. "We might as well get some practice in too, while we're here."

Spyro chuckled, then took Chihiro's hand in his paw, his grip soft and gentle as he held her tight. Now, they swayed back and forth first, right? The two of them swayed as she remembered Havîn and Payiz did, with Chihiro only taking a small glance back as Havîn and Payiz glanced over and grinned back at them, nodding furiously like they were urging her to continue.

So, Chihiro beamed and she and Spyro continued their dance as she recalled Havîn and Payiz did. And honestly, it was kind of fun! The world around them had disappeared for a moment, and she and Spyro just danced together with the biggest grins on their faces, laughing and spinning around without a care in the world…

"Alright, now for the big finale—the act of a passionate romance!"

And that single call froze every bone in her bone. Chihiro stopped midway through her spin with Spyro, left wide-eyed like a deer in the headlights as she stared at Spyro while he bore a similar expression. They, they had to do something romantic, right? But, oh god, she just couldn't do it! The thought of romance, it, it was just too much!

Spyro himself just winced and drew away, but cleared his throat and turned to Havîn and Payiz with a weary smile.

"We'll, uh, we'll save that for when the actual ritual happens," Spyro said, though Chihiro could tell from the tone in his voice he was lying. Not that she complained, for clearly he was as uncomfortable with the idea as she was.

Havîn and Payiz both nodded, then they frowned and turned to each other as they whispered something at such low volume Chihiro could barely make it out—were they leery of her and Spyro now? Was this not going to work out after all? Chihiro winced as the two of them drew back, then Payiz drew something purple and cloudy from her pocket.

"This is a ball of condensed malice. We'll use it to lure the Odivia here," Payiz explained as she floated off. "Follow me. We'll lure it just outside the temple, just so we can have somewhere to go if things go south."

"But, will it actually work?" Spyro asked as he flew after Payiz. "That thing could be anywhere by now!"

"Oh, it will." Payiz phased right through the barrier of the temple, paying no mind as it warbled behind her, then she laid the orb on the ground and held out her hands. "This stuff's like catnip for it—it can sniff it out from a mile away."

With a clap of her hands, the orb expanded and bubbled before finally expanded, letting off a scent akin to thoroughly-burnt, smoky food as its remains floated into the sky and sent trails of smoke amid the clouds. It seemed as though nothing had happened at first, the area around being just as tranquil…

But then, the ground started to rumble, and the sounds of angered shouting just faintly rang in the air. Stones and dead twigs bounced on the ground like it was a trampoline as the rumbling grew louder, only barely drowned out by the shouting and angered insults, then the familiar roar of a monster rang in the air, nearly leveling the plants around!

The rumbling turned to pounding footsteps as the alleyways had were torn through by something pink and blue and smoky, then with one last thud, that, that monster, the Ovidia landed right in front of them!

Long ears like a bat's stretched from a thin muzzle with insectoid eyes and a pointed snout, its body was bulky and muscular with clawed paws and torn wings stretching from its back, and its foggy mass had formed into something a bit more like fur. A sharp tail with a fin shaped like a pair of intertwined circles with a cross pointing from the bottom end of one and an arrow from the top of the other hung from its rear, and something akin to glowing marks or runes reflected in its fur as it salivated out mist and let out low growls.

Behind it, a whole village's worth of red-eyed and angered ghosts trailed behind it—just how many people had it gotten to in this moment? However many they were, their eyes were set on Spyro and Chihiro as they stepped out, and the monster stepped out in turn as it roared!

"The ritual, quick! Start it!" Havîn cried as she waved her hands.

Spyro and Chihiro glanced at each other, and for a moment Chihiro saw a bit of hesitance in his golden eyes—but nonetheless, they both gulped and took each other, hand in paw once more as they began swaying. But maybe it was the high expectations of before, or the fact that everyone's eyes were on them, or maybe just the fact that a giant salivating monster of raw hatred was currently looming over them and ready to strike, but she just couldn't move like she did before!

Chihiro stumbled over her own feet, nearly tripping over herself as she swayed and spun with him… And then, right as they went to spin again, Chihiro accidentally stepped on Spyro's paw and he yelped in pain!

That was the sole signal the Ovidia needed, and it screamed as it launched itself right for Spyro and Chihiro! The two of them gasped and rolled away as it pounced, and Chihiro winced as the sound of tearing fabric ripped in her ears. She glanced down for a moment at a gash that had formed in her attire's jacket—but before she could mend it, Spyro pulled her away while the sound of pounding footsteps came back!

The sound of the Ovidia's growls drowned out a few screams from behind as it lashed out and slashed at thin air, then turned back to her and Spyro as they backed away. Chihiro glanced behind as the area behind them grew smaller and smaller, whether the unnatural world or the Ovidia blocked them off. Then, she glanced at Spyro, his own gaze tense as his eyes shifted in a kaleidoscope of colors, like he was debating on how to fend the monster before them off.

They completely bombed it, but they were doing just fine moments ago! In fact, it was almost like the world around them had disappeared… Wait, that was it!

"Spyro, listen to me!" Chihiro cried as she pulled him close, taking his paws in her hands once more. "Don't think about the Ovidia, or anyone else, or anything else—just focus on you and me, alright?"

Spyro's eyes fluttered, but he made a small nod nonetheless as he wrapped his toes around Chihiro's hand.

"Good! Now, let's take it from the top."

Chihiro took a deep breath in and released, then slowly swayed back and forth as she closed her eyes. Spyro's own grip melted in hers, with him just pressing his warm, scaly body against her own as she held him close. She spun away as the Ovidia slashed once more, and for a moment Spyro's eyes flashed open. But, the moment he laid them on Chihiro, he smiled and swayed along with her. The two hugged tight, his grip warm and familiar against her own as it eased the last of her nerves, and they both smiled as they spun backwards, then forwards as they landed in each other's grip. She had to admit, he seemed a lot more radiant than he usually did—what little light resided in the Underrealms glistened off his scales, leaving them a richer purple than they normally would be. Heck, it almost seemed like he was glowing for a moment!

A growl came form behind, but it didn't seem like the angered growls she had heard before. No, it seemed more like a growl of pain! Chihiro and Spyro both glanced back at where the Ovidia lingered behind them, but no longer did it rage and lash out. Instead it whimpered like a dog and clutched its shaking head, while a warm, welcoming glimmer shimmered off of its body, reflected by the glowing runes on its fur in a sweet purplish color. Chihiro raised a brow, then glanced back down at herself and Spyro to find the same color glowing off of them!

"It's working!" Chihiro cried as she glanced up and turned to Spyro. He grinned just as widely as she did, then they both held each other once more and grinned. "Then let's keep this dance party going!"

But wait, what was she supposed to do next? Chihiro grimaced for a moment, biting her lip as she tried to rack her brain, but then shook her head. As long as they danced and kept the momentum going, it didn't matter what they did, right? So, she just spun around once more, her steps light and bouncy as she swayed and leaped and spun and danced the day away, Spyro laughing his head off by her side to entire time. The world around her had faded away, and all that was left was the two of them, just enjoying themselves like they were hiding away back on Ancient's Peak with not a single eye to see. The cold air of the Underrealms warmed around them, and that warm glow that shone over them grew brighter and richer as they spun together, holding each other close. Cheering came from beside them, and they both turned around and grinned.

The Ovidia grew weaker by the moment, its body shrinking and bubbling as it whimpered in pain and clawed its ears, and beside it the curse had lifted from the villagers! They all cheered, lifting their fists and shouting in glee as they watched Spyro and Chihiro dance. Seems like they were looking for a grand finale, and by god, Chihiro was gonna give it to them!

She turned to Spyro and chuckled, and he in turn smiled back and lifted up her arms. The two spun in wide strides as they danced their way around the fields, the cheering around them growing louder, then they both spun away as magic pooled by their paws! Sparkling lights bubbled up from the ground as Chihiro spun away and stomped her foot, tinting their pink shades in brilliant purples and whites instead! Spyro did the same as he fell to all fours and flapped his wings, then he leaped forward and glided towards Chihiro, and she in turn lifted her skirt up slightly and spun forward.

The two came close, brushing dangerously close to a crash… But instead of colliding, Chihiro spun at just an angle that Spyro swept into her arms, and she dipped him low to the ground and grinned. The two chuckled, and they both spun around and stretched out their arms as the lights shone even brighter!

And behind them, the crowd roared with cheers and applause, while the Ovidia wailed at the top of its lungs! And even that wasn't much—the Ovidia's cries grew strained with weakness, and the Ovidia itself was barely able to stagger forward and snarl at the crowds while they cheered. It fell to its side and whimpered, its paws twitching as it barely pressed itself up.

"It's weak now! Quick, finish the ritual!" Havîn cried. "Do the act of passionate romance!"

"Yeah, the act!" Payiz cried.

And all of a sudden, Chihiro's heart stopped. The lights around her and Spyro faded as they glanced at each other in cold sweat and wide eyes. All around them, the once-welcoming cheers of the crowd turned demanding, pounding and screaming against Chihiro's eardrums as they echoed in all sorts of talk about romance, so loud and demanding that the ground shook underneath her. Or, was it her legs, trembling at the thought?

"Come on, give us the act! I wanna see some fiery romance!"

"I don't know where they found this new couple, but they're so cute! Why don't we act like that anymore?"

"I wish I had a boyfriend like that... What's a girl got to do to find a love like that?"

"What'll they do? Will they kiss?"

The chattering grew louder, and she glanced at Spyro as he himself shuddered, she could fell it in the way he barely clutched her hands. They both glanced around, then gulped and closed their eyes.

"Better make this quick," Chihiro whispered.

Chihiro drew in, her stomach churning like she was going to throw up and her body trembling as she came in closer, closer. Her teeth chattered, her face went numb in parts, and then…

She opened her eyes to meet with Spyro's still wide-open ones. His jaw laid slightly ajar, and his wings twitched and trembled with the rest of him, just as much as Chihiro did.

"This… Doesn't feel right, does it?" Chihiro whispered.

Spyro only whimpered and shook his head—she knew it, he felt as uncomfortable with this as she did. So, she only drew him into a solemn, shaking hug, letting him bury himself and make himself as small as he could in her grip. The two fell to their knees, still shaking from the sudden pressure and everything else…

And then, a roar shook the ground around them and knocked them on their backs!

Spyro on instinct pulled Chihiro close as they hit the ground, then they both pulled themselves up as the Ovidia lurked closer to them, its body growing larger and larger as that sinister glow returned to its body while something that sounded vaguely like mocking cackles spat from its throat. It flung its head up and howled to the moon as it grew taller in size, then with another yowl it lashed out, flinging its tail at Spyro and Chihiro!

Chihiro pulled Spyro right out of the way, then both of them held out their hands and shot blasts of raw magic energy at the Ovidia—but just like before, the blasts just harmlessly exploded off of its pelt and it grew even larger! The Ovidia growled, but instead of attacking further, it only turned its attention to the cowering and panicking masses of undead crowds below and spat out a massive miasma of mist that blanketed the crowds!

The crowds' red eyes and angered expressions from before fell over them ones more, and the Ovidia sneered and flicked its tail, pointing them right towards Spyro and Chihiro!

The crowds screeched in anger as they charged for Spyro and Chihiro…

But one by one, their ranks all groaned and fell unconscious, collapsing on the ground just as they came inches within them! Low snores came from a few of the mob's ranks, and before Chihiro could figure out what happened, something yanked her and Spyro back into the barrier's safety! They both grunted and collapsed on the ground right as the Ovidia charged forward and pounced on the barrier just above them, then bounced off like it had landed on a trampoline!

Chihiro winced as the Ovidia snarled and ran off, then she turned back to find Havîn and Payiz both frowning, with Payiz holding the remains of a fading talisman of some kind in hand. They both looked so disappointed in her, it seemed… They couldn't even look her and Spyro in the eye.

"I, I'm sorry—" Spyro began to sputter, but Chihiro just pushed aside.

"No, it's my fault." Chihiro admitted as she hung her head. "I, I tried but the thought of kissing someone, it just made me so sick to my stomach, and—"

"You don't have anything to apologize for," Havîn said, her tone as gentle as the weak smile that formed on her face. "If anything, we're the ones at fault for putting you on the spot like that. I'm sure even a couple super deeply in love would freak out at something like that."

"I guess I should've figured just grabbing two random beings off the street wouldn't fix the high priest and priestess's absence…" Payiz remarked as the last of the talisman's remains faded from her hand.

We're not a couple! Chihiro wanted to scream, but she still shook so badly she couldn't even speak, so she just wearily nodded and glanced at Spyro, who nodded in turn with that same timid, shaky glance Chihiro herself held. It felt almost painful, seeing him look so scared—especially when she knew the reason why, even moreso that she felt the same way and couldn't do anything about it.

It was then that Nemir stepped in, humming to himself as he rubbed his chin.

"It's the high priest and priestess who typically perform this ritual, correct?" he asked as he turned to Mem and Zin.

"Correct." Payiz nodded and rubbed her hands. "Every year, they've performed this ritual to keep the Ovidia at bay—but, lately, the seals have been growing weaker and weaker, and it's been making them so tense that they blew up at each other and had a huge argument!"

"They split up and ran off right before all this happened, too."

Spyro and Chihiro both hummed and glanced at each other, then at Nemir and the glint in his eyes… And then two of them grinned and leaped to their feet! It startled the others enough that all eyes were on them, but Spyro and Chihiro just smiled.

"Then we'll just have to find them and help them make up!" Chihiro proclaimed.

Havîn grinned a grin shared by both Payiz and Nemir, then he flew over and took Spyro by the paw.

"Spyro and I will go look for the high priest—Payiz, you and Chihiro should go look for the high priestess!" Havîn proclaimed before glancing up. "Good king Nemir, if it's not too much trouble, could you—"

"I'll make sure to keep the temple safe," Nemir said. "Do not fret."

"Then it's settled!" Payiz cried as she took Chihiro in hand. "We'll regroup back at the temple, alright?"

"Right!" Spyro and Havîn shouted as they made their way past the barrier.

Chihiro and Payiz both nodded to each other, then they rushed through the barrier, taking only a moment to glance back at Spyro and Havîn before rushing onward…

§

Within the heart of the mountain, the first sounds that came to ear were that of the crystals and they reverberated and buzzed, their bodies shaken by the churning of the gears that could only faintly be heard as they whirred inside. Beyond that, even one's own footsteps couldn't even be heard underfoot—a perfect cover for anyone planning for a sneak attack, and it seemed that Luz's entire group knew this. Their eyes bounced and dashed across the room, as if they were just waiting for a cyclops to jump out and cleave their head in half at any moment… But, nothing came from even the deepest cracks in the walls, so they just trailed forward.

And of them all, Luz was the antsiest as he fiddled with its shield, pushing it back and forth from where it rested on his arm as he scanned the area. Though, nothing caught his eye but the crystals that lined the walls as they glimmered in all sorts of colors, or the shiny, churning gears that looked to be made directly from the crystals themselves as they cranked away within their spots in the walls. The soft hum of the crystals melded with the much louder cranking and churning of the turning gears, blocking out all the sound in Luz's ears, and yet it seemed as though he heard something else as he glanced around with wide, expectant eyes, then sighed and hung his head.

"Please let him be okay," Luz whimpered, his head still hung low as he stepped forward. "If, if he dies, I—"

"Luz, look out!"

Luz grunted as something yanked him back by the back of his chestplate, and he found himself pressed against Dej in a matter of moments.

"Hey, Dej, let me go!" Luz shouted as he pushed himself free of Dej's grip and shook his head. "What was that for, anyways?!"

Dej just scoffed and nudged Luz's arm. "Just trying to keep you from getting sliced in half! Didn't you see those buzzsaws?"

Luz blinked a bit more furiously, then shook his head and turned back to the path ahead, where shiny crystal buzzsaws infested the once tranquil stone paths as they bounced from side to side, left to right, up and down... A few even curled in circles. They all glimmered with such intensity that Luz shielded his eyes with his shield for a moment, then he frowned and lowered his shield.

"Just give me a minute," Dej said as he stepped forward, frost forming on his knuckles as he cracked them, "I'll have these things frozen up in no time—"

"But I can't wait for that!"

With one leap Luz sprinted along the path at the speed of light, going so fast that all that could be seen was the trail of golden light he left behind! He was sure he heard somebody calling his name, or telling him to look out, but the shriek of the buzzsaws as they trailed along their chosen path had numbed out the sound. So instead, Luz swerved around one buzzsaw, then jumped back as another burst past him! He stumbled backwards as both his feet planted on the ground, just barely avoiding the graze of another saw, then his eyes flickered.

Before him, he almost saw visions of his younger self, smiling as he walked hand in hand with Fintster while they both laughed.

"Now, just turn around this way," the younger Fintster said as they both side-stepped another buzzsaw.

Luz blinked as the buzzsaw ahead of him passed by once more while the illusions disappeared. He hopped along the path, wedging himself into a free space between two of the buzzsaws, and when he turned ahead there were those illusions, hopping and skipping right along the path with not even a scratch!

"Take the third street…"

Luz teleported behind them and inched away from one buzzsaw, and his whole body pushed forward without him even thinking about it. He trailed along after the illusions once more, the buzzsaws' screeching noises starting to numb a little in his mind as he followed after them. Now that he thought about it, he remembered this—it was when Fintster took him home for the first time, wasn't it? He couldn't bring himself to say a word or do anything but follow. If he reached out, if he said something, surely they'd disappear, so he just quietly followed. Even his footsteps barely pattered along the path as he trailed forward and dodged the graze of oncoming buzzsaws.

"Skip right across here!" Fintster chirped as he bent down and leaped across a small gap, one where a buzzsaw whirred back and forth. He giggled a bit, but his smile faltered as the younger Luz whimpered and stepped back.

"But, what if I don't make it?" the young Luz asked.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't fall! Just jump!"

The younger Luz gulped, and as the buzzsaw passed by him once more, he hopped right across, eyes shut and cheeks puffed the whole time… Then as he landed on the other side and swung his arms around, he popped one eye open to find himself on solid ground! He released his breath and beamed as he glanced up at Fintster, and his grin only grew wider as Fintster ruffled his hair.

"I did it, I did it!" the young Luz cried as his body filled with bright yellow light and slowly dissolving into glittering specs.

Fintster's body in turn dissolved into smoky black clouds, but he didn't even notice—he just laughed with the younger Luz as they both dissolved.

What had been across there when Luz had first arrived? He was sure it had a been a river or creek of some kind, one that had probably long dried up at this point. Luz hadn't even seen his childhood hometown since he left to train amid the free magicians with Fintster… Was it even still the same place? Was the place he once called home even standing still?

Luz shook his head, then hopped across the gap as the buzzsaw finished rushing past and grunted as he landed. Once he got back Fintster, he'd find out everything—what happened to their home, their family, to everyone! Luz huffed, then turned around towards the still-whirring and traveling buzzsaws as he spun his shield the fastest it could, until the heat and light it accumulated burned against his skin.

The heat grew as fast as the seconds themselves passed, and when it grew too hot to even embrace, he yanked it off and flung it away! It spun so fast that it burned like the sun, and sliced through one buzzsaw after another as it disappeared further down the path. Only sharp, shattering noises and sparkling crystal shards remained on the path, and the faint light that burned near the end of the path the sole sign of the shield's remains.

But slowly, the light grew brighter as the shield flew back to Luz, and in turn he lifted his arm right as it came in. It attached back with a click, and after that, soft talking resounded through the cavern. He supposed the others were probably going to make their way in soon, but he couldn't quite wait.

Luz turned around and gritted his teeth as a different kind of talking came from the path ahead, one that vaguely sounded like the idle chatter of guards as they lingered about, and he stepped forward… Then stopped as something kind of hard but warm brushed against his shoulder.

"Now, don't tell me you were gonna go ahead and take out all the guys yourself?" Swarm teased behind him. "I knew you were hot-headed, but I'm not letting you get busted up like that!"

Oh, seems like they all came back. Luz turned around and blinked as Swarm smiled back down at him, then grunted as Swarm brushed a finger against the side of Luz's head.

"After all, we can't have you getting beat up before you and Fintster meet up again!"

Luz forced a smile, and Swarm in turn gave him a kind of weak one before they both glanced down at the halls.

Swarm removed his finger from Luz's head and squeezed his hand, then when he opened his hand, a small swarm of bees formed in his gigantic palm and flew off with a surprising low volume despite being bees. They were so tiny, Luz couldn't even tell if they had left or not, but he didn't really need to—they came back just as quickly as they left, then swarmed around Swarm's antenna as buzzed.

"Uh-huh, yeah, yeah…" Swarm mumbled as he tilted his head and flicked his antennae.

He nodded a bit, then grinned as the bees disappeared and turned his attention down to the others. "The bees say they've only got a few guards down there—this'll be a drop of honey!"

"That's good enough for me!" Luz shouted as he stormed forward!

His footsteps thumped against the stone floor while the blue and yellow crystals that lined the wall glistened, their light brushing against Luz's face and warming it for moments before he lifted his shield and took it into the shield's core. If there were as little as Swarm said there were, then surely one light wave would be enough to put them out of commission! His feet his the end of the tunnel, and Luz found himself in a much taller sections of the caves free of crystals, but with a few sparse cyclopes dressed in armor littered around the floor!

"Intruder!" one cyclops cried. "Quick, get the defenses ready!"

Luz snarled, then smacked his hand against his shield and spun it around. All it would take was one little wave, just enough to wipe them out. The cyclopes rushed for a wall near the back and pulled on something, while in turn the wall itself opened. But, Luz just spun his shield further, the shriek of burning light crying away in his ears as he spun faster and faster! The cyclopes turned back at him and sneered, and Luz just held up his shield in response. Its metal burned against his skin once more, and he pointed it right towards the cyclops.

"Just one shot, just one shot, that's all it'll take!" Luz hissed under his breath.

The light shrieked and burned away as it funneled into the core, and a bright, intertwining laser of blue and yellow light shot for the cyclopes—but at the last minute, something rushed forward and shouldered the blow!

A large red and gold robot, undoubtedly an Arkeyan by the looks of its body, fell on its side then slunk over and collapsed. A hole had burned through its core and wafted with steam, while around it the cyclopes sneered and drew their weapons. A few meager beeps came from the robot as the cyclopes swarmed around and over it, trampling it underfoot as they ran to the back of the rooms—though with its massive size, the most they did was flip it on its back.

And Luz, he just stepped back a bit, the smoke wafting from his shield's core and clouding his vision as he barely managed to keep focus on the cyclopes. They all jeered at him, though their mocking cries he could barely discern as more large, lumbering red and gold things stormed out from the back of the room. Their faces glowed with dull red lights as they took labored steps forward, and Luz shook his head as he gripped his shield, ready to strike…

Then a sharp, swinging sound came from behind him and he immediately hit the floor! The sound of metal splitting and screeching rang in his ears, and Luz lifted his head to find that the large Arkeyan robots that had once marched for him tumbled and stumbled over their own feet, barely able to keep balance thanks to the swords and stingers that had lodged into their chests!

"Luz, are you alright?" Ninjini asked as she floated in and knelt beside him. When Luz gave her a simple nod and stood, she smiled back and lifted herself to full height, a wishblade appearing in her hand with a single snap of her fingers.

"Hah, that all you got?" Swarm asked as he flew in and sneered, his arms crossed tight to his chest. "That wasn't even a challenge! I'd dealt with stinkbugs worse than that!"

The cyclopes stumbled back in turn, their eyes wide and sputtered nonsense billowing from their mouths as they glanced at each other, then back to Swarm and Ninjini. One cyclops decorated in slightly fancier armor than the rest stepped forward and frowned as he crossed his arms behind the back for a moment. Then, his eye fluttered, and he dashed back to the panel.

"It's them! The people Her Majesty warned us about!" The decorated cyclops cried as he slammed a big, red button on the wall. "Looks like it's time to call in the big guns!"

The button sank into the wall with a single click, and the room rumbled as parts of the ceiling crumbled down and dripped on everyone's heads like rain!

Swarm and Ninjini both winced and covered their heads, while beside them Luz bounced away as a particularly large rock crashed down and splintered into many more right before his face! He grimaced a bit, then gasped as someone gripped his arm—but when he turned around and found that it was just Vaayu, running in with all the others behind him, Luz quickly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just what's doing all this?!" Vaayu demanded.

A single, red light flared from the depths of the open space in the wall, one high enough that it even met Swarm and Ninjini's gazes, followed by groaning machinery and even more lights, some red and some gold, flaring out from the wall's inner workings. The ground thudded, knocking the cyclopes and a few of the smaller members in Luz's group off their feet, then something that sounded vaguely like the whirring of a machine ruminated from the cavern as a clawed, red and gold hand emerged from the depths and grabbed at the air before it.

That single thud was met with another and another as a giant Arkeyan robot, about the same size as Ninjini, labored its way out of the cavern! Its red and gold knight's armor shone in the light the overhead lights had to offer, and its red eyes glinted with fury as it grabbed a shiny broadsword from its back and charged forward!

"That's one big Arkeyan Defender!" Swarm shouted as he flitted back.

"Eye've never seen one this size!" Eye cried out as he popped off of Brawl's head.

"This is only a taste of what Her Majesty's benefactor offered her if she agreed to get him the high priest!" the decorated cyclops cried as he puffed out his chest. He chuckled to himself for a moment, but quickly shook his head. "And just to ensure you don't wreck this one, too…"

The decorated cyclops whistled, and slobbering, huffing noises came from the back of the cavern as a trio of slobbering muttici stormed out of the cavern's depths and knocked the cyclopes onto their backs! The cyclopes sneered as they took the reins and whipped out crystalline axes, then with a snap of the reins, the muttici were off! Their drool pooled below their feet and steamed away as they charged for the giant Defender's feet, and yet not once did their steps slip!

Swarm and Ninjini both grimaced and charged forward, Ninjini wielding her swords and Swarm wielding his blades the entire way, but just as they came within inches of the Defender and prepared to strike, something bit into Swarm and he collapsed to his knees!

"That stung!" Swarm cried as he glanced down at his ankles. "Who did that?!"

And the answer? A simple mutticus that gnawed away at his foot, while the cyclops riding it slashed away at the wound the mutticus had created, just to salt it. Swarm whimpered as he yanked the mutticus from his ankle and tossed it away, but right as he stood, the Defender's broadsword swung in for him and he rolled back!

He slammed into the cavern walls and cracked it enough that a slab of stone slammed into his head and knocked him down, while the Defender lifted its sword and charged again for him!

Swarm lifted his head just as the blade came in once more, and Ninjini zipped in, shouldering the blow with her wishblades! Her blades and the Defender's sword clanged against each other, their shouts echoing around the cavern as they smashed together. For a moment the Defender hesitated, and Ninjini went to strike its neck then stopped midway as something gripped onto her skirt and gnawed away!

She grimaced and glanced down as two of the muttici sank their teeth into her skirt, dangling from it like leaves on a tree branch, but she just snarled and turned around right as the Defender laid its blade on her! She threw her swords up once more, then floated back as something slammed into the Defender's side and knocked it to the ground!

"You think you're pretty hot stuff, don't cha?" Hot Head chuckled as he lifted a flaming hand and prepared to lunge. "Well, so am I!"

Hot Head chuckled as his flames puffed and burst, then the sounds of acid burning away rang in the room as his eyes went wide! Hot Head screamed in pain as green flames burned away at his heels, then he rolled right off the Defender and blew them out, all while frantically wiping away the gooey green slobber that fueled the flames as it seeped into his lava veins. He panted as the flames atop his head flickered in and out and patted them a few more times, before finally he breathed a sigh of relief—for the flames extinguished at last, though his foot was now a bit tattered in appearance.

Just as he started to catch his breath, however, more green flames burst from his hand and he screamed! He frantically blew away at the fires, and in that moment the Defender completely bodied him into the wall! The flames coated Hot Head's body then quickly burst as he collapsed on the ground.

And with him incapacitated, the Defender turned its gaze on Eye and Brawl. It heaved up its broadsword and wrapped its fingers against the handle as it charged forward, sword raised high as it swung. Its blade slashed just barely against Brawl's chest, and in turn Eye popped off of Brawl and zapped the Defender in the face!

The Defender reeled back just a bit, stumbling backwards while its sword nearly slipped from its hand, but it quickly reclaimed its grip and changed direction, swinging the blade for Eye instead! Eye grunted and hopped up just before the blade could slice him, but the Defender just twisted it and sliced for him again!

Eye panted and flew off just as the blade missed him again, retreating to a corner of the room as he zapped the Defender's head once more! The Defender charged forward, and Eye flew back into the open gap in the wall as he zapped again—but the Defender just stabbed its sword into the gap!

Eye grunted again as he bounced around the confined space within, panting shallow breaths while he ducked and flew into every corner he could. Like a bouncing ball he sprung from one corner to the bottom, then finally his balance slipped and he tumbled right out of the corridor, landing right below the Defender's foot! He groaned and rolled himself back upright as the Defender turned around and hovered its foot right over Eye. But, just as the foot landed, a purple shield formed right around him and caught the foot in midair!

Eye rolled backwards as the Defender lifted its foot, and Brawl yanked him right from the floor and popped Eye back on his head as he slid forward and punched the Defender right in the chest!

The joints holding its shoulders and legs in place started to spark, and a tiny gasp left not just Brawl and Eye, but those below them as well. The Defender creaked as it raised its fist and swung a punch, and Brawl in turn blocked it with his fists before jumping backwards. And as they both punched away, the rest of their team watched in silent awe, eyes trained on the sparking joints.

"Those have to be its weak points!" Ninjini shouted as she summoned a new pair of wishblades. "Come on—once we slice them off, it'll be down for the—"

"Hold it right there!"

A volley of arrows rained down and formed a barrier between where Brawl warred with the Defender and the rest of his group, and at the other end of the barrier, a cyclops stood and sneered. The bow they wielded changed to an ax so large they could barely hold it, and the cyclops blew all the arrows away with a single strike before charging in! It leaped in the air, and underneath it Luz, Dej and Eruptor split right before it could cleave them!

"You're not scrapping our fancy new robot just yet! We still haven't had enough time to play with him!" the cyclops proclaimed, his eye turning to where his fellow cyclopes chimed in agreement.

He sneered as the cyclopes' cheers echoed around, then heaved up his ax as he dashed for Vaayu—but Vaayu just chuckled and swept out of the way!

"Oh, whoops! Looks like you missed me that time!" Vaayu remarked as he clasped his hands while wisps of fog curled around his fingers. "And you're not going to see me any more, I'm afraid!"

With one more clap of his hands, a thick coat of fog billowed over the cavern floor, coating everything underneath Brawl and the Defender's waists in solid mist! And even those above it could barely see a thing underneath the tightly-packed clouds, obscuring their footing below them. The thick coat of fog chilled the air a little, leaving the once-warm cavern cold as a rainy day, but even with its thick exterior, the sounds of shouting from those below still pierced through!

"Hey, what happened?!" demanded the ax-wielding cyclops as he yanked up his ax. "Who turned out the lights!?"

"Forget that, where's the robot?! I can't see a thing in all this fog!" shouted another cyclops.

A few lights blinked in the distance, bright enough that they burned like stars even through such a thick fog, and the third cyclops gasped and pointed back to them.

"Over there!"

The cyclopes fumbled with their weapons as they drew closer and closer to the ever-blinking lights, while around them the fog started to clear! Their smiles grew wider the closer they got… But as the fog cleared, those smiles faded and they screamed and leaped back, for what faced them was Luz's group!

"Can't believe you fell for the fog-lights trick!" Luz chuckled as he lowered a still-glowing palm, smiling for maybe one of the first times since he began that mission. "That's one of the oldest tricks in the book!"

The cyclopes growled, and the one leading their group glanced back to where Eye-Brawl and the Defender traded blows still. Brawl and the Defender's feet twitched, and they lifted them up before they stomped down...

And as they did, a thick wall of ice surrounded the cyclopes' battling grounds! Its shiny, solid exterior completely blocked the outside world save for an open gap in the back, and the world inside had been turned to a proper arena within—much to the cyclopes' irritation as they raised their weapons and charged!

The two cyclopes riding on muttici came in first, and Eruptor clapped his hands and cast spewing pools of lava from his hands! The seething heat of the lava was unlike any other, so hot that it crackled and formed bubbles that popped with large, booming noises, ones loud enough that the muttici shook their riders off and ran up the walls, scaling them like ice climbers!

The cyclopes both shouted out as they flew through the air, then Terrafin leaped up and joined them, punching the cyclopes in the face and knocking them into the wall! A shattering noise came as they slammed into the ice wall and cracked it, then popped off and planted on the floor… But, the damage they did was apparent enough, for the wall had cracked further, the cracks spreading around the wall and glistening in the light!

Dej grimaced, then froze over the ground underneath him and brushed his hand against the walls, his eyes slowly turning around them as the cracks slowly started to fill. The sound of footsteps came from behind, and he formed a pair of chuí out of ice before turning forward and striking a third cyclops as it swung its ax for him! He grunted as the ax flew back, its handle nearly slipping from the cyclops's grip before the cyclops grabbed it back and swung for him once more, and Dej jumped out of the way. Instead, the ax hit the cracks Dej had just sealed, bursting open their wounds and leaving them deeper than before!

Dej gasped, but raised his chuí and blocked the next blow that came from the cyclops! He glanced from the cyclops as it swung its ax towards him, then the growing cracks at the wall around and grimaced, and in that moment the cyclops sneered and swung for Dej with his ax—then yanked it back as a group of fluffy gray clouds rushed past them both!

The clouds spread in a circle around the wall's edges and blew cold air and snow into the cracks, slowly sealing them until they were tightly-packed with crystalline icy snow! Though the walls themselves were now a bit off-color, they stood firm as ever.

And as their light glistened, the clouds nodded to each other and zipped back to their creator—none other than Whirlwind, of course!

She grinned and pet a few of the clouds as they disappeared, then nodded as their wisps faded away. With a flick of her ear, Whirlwind flew off and left Gill Grunt in her steed, straggling over to the side and smiling as he raised his cannon and spewed out a torrent of steaming water that washed away the cyclops fighting Dej!

Gill Grunt drew back as the cyclops slid towards the other two unconscious cyclopes, while the torrent poured in soon after, leaving them all soaked.

Whirlwind flew ahead of him in turn as lowered her horn, lightning crackling at its tip, but it wasn't electricity that burst from it. Instead, a stream of stormclouds flew out and hovered above the cyclopes as lightning struck from the clouds' undersides! The cyclopes screamed as the sudden shock jolted them back to life, the lightning conducting through their wet bodies, then they jittered and collapsed once more.

"Hey, what's all this racket about?!" exclaimed a bulkier cyclops as he rushed into the arena's open mouth with a whole fleet of cyclopes at his heels. "You grunts disturbed my afternoon—"

The bulky cyclops screamed as a massive wind current blew up from the ground below, tossing him and his underlings in the air and juggling them like they were little more than toy balls! They screamed and shouted as they spun around in midair, unable to do anything more than flail their arms ad legs in some faint attempt of breaking free, but it was of no use—the wind was too strong for them to break free! The bulky cyclops growled as Vaayu strode up to him with the smuggest look on his face, and the bulky cyclops went to shout, to scream and curse.

But, with a flick of Vaayu's hand, the wind roared stronger and blocked out his voice.

"Luz, how about you finish them off?" Vaayu asked as he turned his attention down to Luz below him.

Luz nodded, then with a click he yanked his shield from his arm and flung it like a disc! The wind currents dropped a bit as the shield passed through and slammed the bulky cyclops in the gut, knocking him back into one grunt and then the next as they all flew off the side and smashed into the ice wall before falling over each other in a pile. The bulky cyclops groaned as one of his grunts fell over and knocked him in the head, but quickly shook off the pain as Luz ran off beside him!

"Hey!" the bulky cyclops cried as he shuffled through the pile and patted their his around, reaching for Luz's foot. "Get back here!"

"Luz, what're you doing?" Vaayu shouted from behind.

But, Luz only spared them a passing glance as he spun his shield, heating it up while hot light charged in its core. He held his shield towards the crack that had formed in the wall from the cyclopes' collision, and shot a single beam of light that burned right through the cracks and formed a hole just big enough for him to crawl through!

Around the hole, the cracks spread across the whole wall and shattered it completely.

Luz just drew his shield back and spun it further, its whole body glowing in warm shades as he lifted his eyes towards the Defender as it wrestled with Eye-Brawl. That thing, the only thing standing between him and his brother… If he could just snipe out its weak points, he could get to Finster!

Luz grunted, then slid past them and flung out his shield, before popping it twice as he rushed right past the Defender! Two hot beams of light smashed into the Defender's leg joints, and shattering pierced the air as the lights and sparks in them dimmed. Luz slid around and pushed himself up as the Defender stumbled back for a moment, enough that Eye-Brawl stepped back in alarm, but it quickly regained its balance and turned its attention to Luz instead.

"Damn, looks like that wasn't enough," Luz panted. "Maybe if I take out the knees next…"

The sound of rattling, speeding chains caught Luz's ear, and he lifted his head up right as a mechanical arm shot forward and yanked Luz's shield right off of his arm!

"Hey!" Luz cried as he leaped up and clutched his shield by its spikes. "I didn't say you could have that! Give it back!"

But with a single flick, the arm tossed Luz off and knocked him on the ground! A sharp pain hit his back as he landed, and his whole body ached with dull, sore pains as he staggered up, positioning himself just upright enough that he caught the arm feed into the Defender's back and dangle his shield right above the Defender's face.

The Defender turned its glance at Luz as its eyes flashed red, and Luz just raised his hand, ready to fire—but the arm flicked his shield right back at him instead, shooting it so fast that it smashed right into his chest! Luz hacked as the shield fell and rattled right by his side, while he himself rolled backwards and into something cold!

Luz let out another cough as something sat him against a particularly large rock, and he found himself staring right in Vaayu and Dej's faces next, Vaayu's gaze stern and Dej's a little more concerned… But soon, the two of them were joined by Swarm, who smiled and ruffled Luz's hair.

"Just let us handle the big guys, okay?" Swarm chirped as he flew off before Luz could give him an answer.

Ninjini flew forward and joined Swarm right as he charged forward, eyes set on the Defender as it turned around.

The Defender's eyes flashed red again, and that back arm of its hid away in its back while it reached for its sword. Just before it could grab the sword, however, shining purple blades swung forward and hacked off its right arm, leaving it to fall as smoke and sparking electricity burst from its open end! The Defender turned around and glanced at the missing spot where its right arm once was for a moment before something hacked off its left arm, and its eyes flashed before it pushed forward.

Sharp stingers skewed through its front like swords, and it stumbled forward and unveiled Swarm at its back!

"Yo, Eye-Brawl, your turn!" Swarm shouted as he saluted.

Eye popped off of Brawl and nodded, then turned his attention down to the shadow the Defender cast as it fell and zapped the ground below! It glowed silver while bony brambles burst forward from the earth and stabbed the Defender's front, leaving the Defender propped up and leaking out dull, bluish-silver oil as low, droning noises ruminated from its inside. Eye popped onto Brawl's head once more in that moment, and the two of them slid forward as Brawl slammed through with a punch, shattering the brambles and knocking the Defender on its back! A sound like sharp, shattering glass came as fragments of shiny bronze glass poured from its limbs, and with a stomp from Brawl, the Defender's chest caved in and its eyes' lights faded.

Brawl lifted his foot up for a moment as he stomped on the Defender's chest a few more times, then scoffed as he turned to where Ninjini helped up a dizzy Hot Head… But Eye didn't join him, instead fixing his attention towards the empty space in the cave's wall.

"Is something wrong, Eye?" Brawl signed.

Eye hummed for a bit, his wings flaring as he hummed. "Eye think eye see something coming out of there!"

And with that single line spoken, everyone's eyes latched onto the wall—well, save for Hot Head who cried out as Ninjini dropped him to the floor before hastily picking him up. Their eyes narrowed as clapping echoed from the open space, paired with soft, barely-there footsteps as something stepped out from the wall.

The hairs of a blue mohawk poked out first, then a light chartreuse face with a single large eye closed in pleasure… And out at last stepped a cyclops, one muscular in a lean way who was dressed in spiked leather armor with a cloth bag attached at their hip!

"Gotta admit, that was some fine fighting you did there," the cyclops said. They whistled a bit, then they gulped and jumped back as all weapons pointed right for their throat. "Wait, wait, hold on! I'm not here to fight!"

The cyclops raised their hands in the air, their mouth held in a tight, cringing frown, then they poked their eye open, revealing it to be a skylike blue as the weapons all lowered. They gulped for a moment as they glanced back, unsure if they were going to be attacked once more. But when the last of the weapons were sheathed, they smiled and lowered their hands.

"So if you aren't here for a fight, then what exactly areyou here for?" Gill Grunt asked as he crossed his arms.

The cyclops chuckled and scratched their head. "Well, you see, the boss told me to guard his hideout from intruders and stuff… But Ancients, it's so boring!" The cyclops groaned and drew their head back. "All we do is sit around and stare at rocks! That's the most excitement I've gotten since we arrived here!" The cyclops chuckled and jostled the bag on their hip. "And you know, I've been itching for a good game of Skystones. So, I have a proposal!"

The cyclops disappeared back into the dark depths of the wall's open space for a moment, then huffed as they ran back out with… A folded table? With another few short breaths the cyclops set it up into a full-functional Skystones table, then pushed a nearby rock forward and sat on it like a chair.

"If you beat me at Skystones," the cyclops said as they gestured towards the table, "then I'll tell you where the boss is hiding!"

Gill Grunt, Eruptor and Terrafin all exchanged wary glances with each other, and behind them Vaayu and Dej crossed their arms.

"I'm not so sure about this," Vaayu whispered. "For all we know, that cyclops has a trick up his sleeve…"

"Oh, I'm being perfectly honest here, sir!" the cyclops said as they raised a hand. "All I want is a good, clean game of Skystones!"

Vaayu winced, clenching his teeth tight. "They could hear me?…"

A few other whispers echoed around, then a few grunts as Luz shuffled through and stood at the helms of the group. Taking a breath, Luz planted a hand on the table. It was true, this could be a trap—but, if it would give them a shortcut to where Fintster was, he wasn't going to pass up that chance!

"Alright, I'll do it!" Luz proclaimed.

The cyclops beamed and nodded as they pulled out their bag and rifled through, but Luz only gave them a stern glance. That is, until he faintly felt something tapping on his shoulder and turned around, just to be met with a worried Gill Grunt.

"Luz, do you even know how to play this game?" Gill Grunt asked as he raised a brow.

"'Course I do! When I was still stuck in that wheel, I overhead those pirates talking about how to play!" Luz replied before turning back and summoning a crystal chair as his seat. "I know the game inside and out."

Luz clenched his brows as the cyclops pushed some Skystones towards him, and reluctantly took them in hand. The cyclops sat before him, smiling as they scanned over the Skystones in their hand… Just what were they planning? Luz wasn't sure, but he held his own stones close, just to be safe.

"I play my enfuego chompy!" the cyclops proclaimed.

Luz nodded, then gulped and pulled a skystone bearing a spear-wielding drow from the deck and spiked it up.

"And I play my drow lance master!" Luz proclaimed as he dropped the drow skystone underneath the chompy. As an illusion of a drow popped up and stabbed the skystone above, flipping it to Luz's blue, Luz gulped and turned up to the still-smiling cyclops. "Your move."

The cyclops chuckled and spiked up another stone, then dropped it at the top of the board's leftmost column. "I play my Blaster Troll, special move—cannonhead!"

Out from the stone popped a troll wielding a gun of some kind… But instead of shooting, it pocketed the gun and whipped out a giant cannon instead! With a flick of its fuse, the cannon shot a cannonball that ripped through the row below, flipping all the stones below to red! The troll chuckled as it disappeared, but its laughter lived on as the cyclops sneered.

Luz winced, but not from the jeers of his opponents—no, it was the whispers of everyone else as they crowded around him and talked! He glared up and shooed them away for a moment, then turned down and glanced at his deck. He had to have had something here that could have helped… His eyes glanced over a stone bearing an Arkeyan Bomber, then he grinned and spiked it up. He just barely recalled that this one had a special move, one some pirate used to con an unsuspecting gillman… Or was it a mabu? He couldn't tell by the voice alone, but either way the poor guy definitely got tricked by this.

"I play my Arkeyan Bomber!" Luz proclaimed as he slammed it in the heart of the board. "Special move, bomb shower!"

An illusion of an Arkeyan Bomber burst forward from the stone's surface and tossed a rain of bombs down on the board, smashing into the stones and flipping them back to his blue! He smirked for a bit, but his confidence faded as a soft click came from the board. This time, a tall, green… Person? Zombie? Luz couldn't quite tell what it was, but it was dressed in armor with spikes on its knuckles and looked kinda grizzly.

"I play my jawbreaker! Special move, underground pound!"

The jawbreaker slammed its fists and quaked the board, sending three diagonal fissures across and flipping two of the stones over to red! Three to two, huh… Luz winced, then quickly dropped another troll wielding a gun at the bottom of the center row.

"I play my D. Riveter, special move—burning bullets!"

The troll leaped from the stone and shot its bullets across the board. But it only flipped over one stone before disappearing! Well, at least Luz had the advantage now! He glanced down at the board again, then shook his head as another gun-wielding troll snatched his troll and flipped it over! He lifted his head to find the cyclops sneering at him, but Luz just frowned and glanced over his stones. All he had left was an enfuego chompy… Hopefully, this special move would work.

"So, what're you gonna do next?" the cyclops smirked.

Luz breathed in and out, then spiked up his chompy and planted it in the board's middle-right section.

"I play my enfuego chompy! Special move, festival of fire!" Luz cried!

The enfuego chompy leaped from the board and danced around, fire shooting and spiraling from its footsteps and across the board as the red stones trembled! One by one they flipped over, turning to a bright blue that shimmered like the sky on a warm day! The chompy flopped over and disappeared, but its stone was still in the grip of the cyclops's attention!

"Wow, pulling it off with just that…" the cyclops whispered, before shaking their head and planting down their last stone. "Anyways, I play my D. Riveter!"

The D Riveter shot off a few round, turning parts of the board red once more. But even so, the cyclops was outnumbered six to three! Luz had won, and there was no denying it! And as it disappeared, the cyclops just chuckled.

"Well, you beat me fair and square," the cyclops said as they leaned over and shook Luz's hand, "and I have to admit, that was the most fun I've had playing Skystones in a while!"

The cyclops chuckled and drew back as they swept the stones into their bag once more, then dug in forward and pulled out a shiny orange key.

"There's a tech element gate just around the corner where our boss is hanging out, but since most of us aren't tech elementals, we use keys like these to get it open!" the cyclops dropped the key in Luz's palm. "Just slot this in the mechanism beside it, and you'll be good to go!"

The cyclops chuckled and saluted Luz, then packed up the table and drew into the shadows.

"But you didn't hear it from me…"

Luz only nodded as he drew back from his prism chair, then squeezed the key and bolted off. He still wasn't entirely sure if the cyclops was tricking him or not, but…

Still, he had to try! Fintster probably couldn't wait any longer on him! Stowing away his worries with a bite of his lip, Luz rounded the corner and a bright orange light brushed against his face! The bright sight was enough that it slowed his run to just a walk, then stopped completely as the light glowed its brightest.

He turned to his left and found a tall gate with sides made of gears and a large, orange disc with a Tech Element symbol in the center, blocking off the place ahead so well that the only notion he got of its identity was the sounds of working machinery behind it, and to his right, there laid a round device with a keyhole inside. As Luz plugged the key in and twisted it, the gate shimmered and unfolded to unveil a mechanical factory of some kind, one with cranking gears and steaming machinery at every angle… And more importantly, pictures of cyclopes plastered everywhere!

"This is?" Dej asked as he walked up behind Luz, the others in tow behind him.

Luz nodded, then gripped his hand tight. Surely, Fintster had to be somewhere in here, still in that cyclops's possession… Was he hurt? Strained? Whatever it was, it didn't matter! Luz was going to find him and bring him back home! He was gonna get his brother back, no matter what!

And with that silent vow, Luz rushed into the hideout.