There are seven distinct realms in the world. 6 of them have different qualities that set them apart from the other, and Earthrealm exists in the middle. There also exists Outworld, a realm that exists parallel to Earthrealm, where only a few people in Earthrealm know of its existence.

However, unknown to many who live in both realms, a world exists between them, a world known as Loka. It is an island continent with six distinct regions, and at the center of it lies Mount Sumeru.

And it was once in grave danger of being destroyed. 16 Years ago, an all-powerful entity threatened Loka's existence. In defiance of this entity, Four Heroes assembled. Indr, Bhadra, Angwu, and Eurynomos. These 4 battled fiercely to protect their home, but the entity was strong itself. Despite their best attacks, the entity overpowered them, so Indr resorted to a powerful weapon mounted on his back, the Brahmastra. Just as he prepared to fire, the entity caught him off guard and prepared to finish him off, only for Bhadra to intercept the attack, allowing Indr to use the Brahmastra, charging it up beyond it and his body's limit, and firing a powerful beam at the entity, sealing it away. In the process, using the weapon beyond its capacity caused Indr's hair to turn white, and despite his and Bhadra's wounds, the four heroes were victorious. But it wouldn't be long until history would repeat itself 16 years later.

Acmetropolis, Advancerealm…

Chase Ryder was stretching in the middle of City Hall plaza, having fully recovered from the incident with the comet. Having spent a week with the Loonatics and observing their heroics, even fighting alongside them, Chase had made a decision himself. Knowing there were other realms beyond his, Chase had decided to go on a journey of self-discovery. Having met several individuals, both good and evil, who each had their motivations and paths to take to realize their goals, Chase wanted to meet even more people like that. So he could discover more about the realms beyond and eventually himself, to find out what the word "Hero" means to him.

Of course, to do this, he'd have to leave Advancerealm, but he had no idea how to do that. That is until his AI companion implanted in his brain, Beat, revealed to Chase that she could allow him instantaneous travel between the 7 Realms by opening portals between each one. Once the shock wore off, Chase decided to give it a test.

"...And you want to begin by returning to Earthrealm?" Beat questioned.

"I've been gone for a week, and I bet people are worried sick about me. My family, friends…" Chase said. "I have to go home first to clear the air. Can't go traveling without doing that. Besides, porting back home is the best option. Easy and safe."

"There is logic in that. Generating transport to Earthrealm is a good start." beat agreed. "Are you ready to begin?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. I'm still getting used to everything you can do, so don't blame me if I mess up a little." Chase said.

After a bit more stretching, Chase then put his hands in front of him and focused, red energy expanding before a portal started swirling in front of him.

"It worked!" Chase said. "Now to see if it's usable."

"Chase, I advise against-"

But Beat wasn't able to heed her warning in time as Chase headed in, not knowing where he ended up. As he surged through the portal, he wouldn't end up back home… but rather somewhere else….

"Who are you…? What an interesting mortal."

Chase did not find himself back in New York City, but rather somewhere else entirely. Instead of being back in the bustling burg he knew all his life, he found himself at the clearing of a large forest. And traveling through the portal was a little dizzying.

"Ugh, oh man… really should've looked before I leaped…" Chase said.

"Affirmative. And in the process, you made quite a few mistakes." Beat noted. "For one, you didn't specify where you wanted to go, and just jumped in blindly."

"So, I'm not back in Earthrealm?" Chase asked.

"Not back on Earthrealm per se, but somewhere in between it," Beat answered. "Give me a moment to pinpoint our location…"

Chase looked around while Beat triangulated their location in their new setting before the young man's eyes suddenly caught the sight of a fire in the distance lighting up the sky with how massive it was..

"Hold that thought," Chase said as he instinctively ran to the source. If there was one thing the Loonatics taught him in the span of his week in Acmetropolis, running toward danger means you know something is wrong.

And Chase was right, as he found that the source of the fire was a humble village being set ablaze. He had no idea why this was happening, but he was about to find out who was the one responsible.

"Beat, any survivors in all this?" Chase asked as Beat scanned the area.

"I detect two. One is losing life signs, quickly." Beat reported.

Chase ran to the source of Beats detection and saw an elderly man in a toga with a white beard and sandals lying on the ground with the fire surrounding him. Right around the same time he arrived to find him, someone else also came.

"Dad! Are you- Oh no, this looks bad. It looks really bad." said a girl who ran up immediately to check on the elderly man, who could only be her father. She was young, Chase had to say two years behind him, and she had brown hair in a lengthy short cut with a red bead necklace wrapped around her head. Her clothing consisted of a tan blouse with a brown border around the collar with a blue dress and a red sash held by a mandala-shaped buckle behind her back. She wears brown sandals, gold bracelets and wrappings around her ankles. "You! What have you done?" she asked as she looked up to a man who had his back turned.

As it turned out, there was someone else with the girl and an elderly man. It was a younger man with dark skin and white hair, dressed in purple armor with a sword in his right hand. A red scarf was around his neck and he had a silver shoulder pauldron on his right shoulder.

"So, the old man had a child. I'll allow you to say your goodbyes, but your life is forfeit, heretic." the soldier said.

"That must be the guy who burned this place to the ground…." Chase surmised.

"Ajna…" the elderly man said to the young girl. "Ajna… you're strong. You're the best student I could have asked for, and the best daughter. I know I have been hard on you. I haven't been the kindest father. But things are only going to get harder. You have to - "

"Don't worry about all that right now, I just need you to be okay." the girl known as Ajna said.

"I'm sorry. You were right. There's so much I need to tell you." the man said.

"Dad, save your strength! I'll beat this guy and we'll get you fixed up!" Ajna said.

"I want to tell you everything. I know I should have from the start…but don't worry, Ajna. Death isn't the end." the elderly man assured. "Gather friends around you. Become stronger. I'm sure you can… you can…" he groaned before finally passing away.

"DAD! Dad…come back!" Ajna cried.

"Save your tears for someone who cares, girl. Your life ends now, for the glory of Lord Ravannavar!" the soldier said, turning towards Ajna and swinging his sword.

Just as the soldier attacked, he suddenly heard the clanging of metal, indicating someone had blocked his strike. He looked and saw Chase had gotten in between him and Ajna, and he was blocking with his gauntlet arm.

"What?! Who are-?!" the soldier asked.

"Someone who cares, as you put it!" Chase replied, pushing the soldier back. "I haven't been here for five minutes, and yet I already know whose side I'm supposed to be on."

"You killed my father! You burned our village!" Ajna said as she stood up.

"As I should have. A village that interferes with Lord Ravannavar's vision does not deserve to stand." the soldier said.

"Well, all this that you did won't last." Chase said.

"He's right. The people of Ashwat are strong. We'll rebuild, and your violence will have been for nothing." Ajna declared.

"There will be no one left to rebuild it." the soldier said.

"There's me. I've trained every day, ever since I could crawl. And if you want a fight… I'm bringing it to you!" Ajna said.

"Mind if I join you?" Chase asked. "I just met this guy and already I wanna kick his ass."

"Sounds good." Ajna said. "Come and get it."

The two then faced down the soldier as he summoned a small rock that floated beside him once he stuck his sword in the ground. Chase made the first move as he went for a punch with his gauntlet, but the soldier blocked as he swung his sword afterward, a wave of earth pushing him back following that attack. Ajna then leaped over Chase and then struck the soldier with a kick.

"Give up while you can, children. All who oppose Lord Ravannavar's perfect world will perish by my hand. I so swear it!" the soldier said.

"Burning innocent people's homes? That's your idea of a perfect world?" Ajna asked.

"A village girl like you couldn't possibly understand…this is part of a larger plan." the soldier said.

"Well, your plan is evil! And we're stopping it right now!" Ajna said.

The soldier summoned two small rocks this time and attacked Ajna with repeated powered-up sword slashes, as he was actually rending the earth with each one.

"He appears to have the power of Geokinesis at his disposal." Beat noted.

"Yeah, I got that!" Chase replied as he parried one of the soldier's strikes and struck back with his energy sword. "It's just like Dr. Dare, only he fights personally."

"Who are you talking to?" Ajna asked as she kicked the soldier away.

"Long story. You'd find it weird even if I told you." Chase said.

"Is now really the time to talk amongst yourselves?!" the soldier called as he went in for another attack, but Chase parried his attack to allow Ajna to strike him. Back and forth the two went, trading blow after blow, until both of them were visibly exhausted.

"…Not so big now that you're fighting me one on one, are you?" Ajna asked while catching her breath.

"You haven't bested me yet, girl." the soldier said before the two charged at each other as the soldier glowed brightly before the light soon died down. The young girl gasped as the soldier was nowhere in sight.

"Wh…what?" Ajna asked in confusion.

"Huh? Where'd he go?" Chase asked.

"Witch! With what magic have you imprisoned me?!" the soldier called out, and Ajna was the only one to hear him.

"Imprisoned? Come out and show yourself, coward!" Ajna demanded.

"You're the coward, spiriting me away with your village magic!" the soldier argued.

"Shut up! That makes no sense!" Ajna replied. "And you're so loud! It's like you're screaming directly into my mind!"

"Well, now you know how I feel," Chase said.

"Huh? How you feel? It's not like you've got a voice inside your head, right?" Ajna asked.

"Yeah, about that…" Chase nervously said as he tapped his forehead.

"You do?! So you were talking to someone else earlier." Ajna said.

"Yeah, and it's' a long story how I've got a voice in my head too. But it looks like my situation's different from yours." Chase said.

"Huh?"

"Well, for starters, the voice in my head's not even human," Chase said.

"Don't reveal too much, Chase. Likely, this girl hasn't even heard of technology like Artificial intelligence." Beat said.

"(Oh, right. Any ideas about a cover story?)" Chase thought.

"Just refer to me as a Spirit, and I'm able to possess you since you're a Medium." Beat suggested.

Chase nodded. "I'm a… Spirit Medium. And the voice in my head is sorta like my guardian." Chase explained it as a cover story.

"Oh. that is pretty different," Ajna said.

"So, that guy who attacked your village. He couldn't have just vanished into thin air." Chase said. "I'm thinking he went somewhere. But where?"

"I'll find him. I've just gotta concentrate…" Ajna said as she closed her eyes.

Gathering her focus, she suddenly found herself inside a vast space, and she and the soldier were on some kind of large island. This was Ajna's Inner Realm, a mental manifestation of her thoughts, feelings, and reactions to the outside world.

"What is this place? I'm…inside myself?" Ajna asked upon seeing this space for the first time.

"I-" the soldier started to say.

"Shut up! But how? And why are you here?" Ajna asked.

"That's what I'd like to know." the soldier sweatdropped.

"Well, this doesn't change anything. I'm STILL gonna destroy you." Ajna said.

"Try it." the soldier smirked as Ajna approached and tried to punch him to no effect.

"What? My fists won't connect!" Ajna said as the soldier also tried to attack with no effect. "Wherever this is, if I can't kill you. I'm leaving you here. Goodbye." she said.

"But I-" the soldier tried to say.

"I told you to SHUT! UP!" Ajna said as the soldier was silenced. With that, Ajna focused once more as she returned to the real world.

"So, you found him? Where is he?" Chase asked.

"Inside me." Ajna answered.

"...What?" Chase asked, thinking about the implications.

Ajna realized Chase's confusion and got a bit flustered. "Ah-No! I mean he's inside my head."

"Huh. I don't get it all that much, but it looks like you've got something pretty unique compared to everyone I've met so far." Chase said, before looking around at the burning village. "...Sorry about your town. And about your dad. What're you gonna do now?"

"I guess… I guess I have to bury Dad." Ajna said. She took her time doing so, burying her father outside the village. "Father… I'm so sorry I wasn't with you. Maybe I could've helped. Maybe you wouldn't have had to die. Please know that no matter how tough things were between us, I loved you anyway. I'm going to make you proud. I'll get stronger. I'll find out what it is you wanted me to become. Believe that."

"Your father fought bravely. As a warrior I recognize-" the soldier started saying from inside Ajna's head.

"You do not get to talk about him, ever. We're going to find this 'Ravannavar' of yours now. He'll answer for what he's done here. And you can either help me get to him or you can rot in there. Rebuilding the village will have to wait." Ajna said.

"Oh, I'll bring you to him. As a trophy." the soldier smirked.

"We'll see who makes a trophy of who. We're following your army's trail 'til we find him." Ajna said.

"(This girl's got a reckless streak a mile wide. I'd better stick with her so she doesn't make anything worse.)" Chase thought.

"Agreed. Returning home will have to wait." Beat agreed.

"I'm coming with you," Chase spoke to Ajna. "I know I don't have a stake in this as much as you do, but you're one girl going up against a guy who likely has an army at his disposal. You need all the help you can get."

"You'd really help me? Even though we just met like a couple of minutes ago?" Ajna said.

"Yeah. I've… kinda gotten used to helping out people I haven't known for a while yet." Chase said. "Maybe that's all part of being a hero. So, ready to get going, or do you still need some more time to-"

"The sooner we get going, the faster we can get to Ravannavar. Let's go!" Ajna said as she took off running.

"Hey! Dang, she makes up her mind fast…" Chase said as she chased after her.

Chase soon followed Ajna away from the borders of the village and into Ashwat Forest as they were soon intercepted by a strange creature. It was a blob of unknown mass with a mouth, including large teeth and thick lips, inhabiting a bowl.

(Cue- Power of the Third Eye- Indivisible)

"Is that blob thing…inside a bowl?" Chase asked, not sure what to make of it.

"Don't worry about it, they're easy to beat up. Monsters like these roam around all the time." Ajna said.

"If you say so," Chase said as he and Ajna assumed their fighting stances.

Ajna made the first move and attacked the monster with a roundhouse kick, and that set Chase up to punch it in the face. The spirit retaliated on Chase by biting his arm as he blocked.

"Get off!" Chase said in irritation as he shook the spirit away. As it recovered, the soldier suddenly reappeared from a purple orb out of Ajna's head. "Huh?"

"Oh, so you can come out after all," Ajna said.

"Under certain conditions, it seems. I'd rather not die stuck in your head, so I propose a truce until I can return to Lord Ravannavar." the soldier suggested.

"Argh! This is so frustrating! I can't get rid of you, I can't kill you, and now you can come and go out of my brain as you please." Ajna said.

"Trust me, if I could leave, I would." the soldier sweatdropped.

"Not that Ajna's gonna want to address you by it, but as long as we're on the same team for now, you got a name?" Chase asked.

"It's Dhar," Dhar said.

The murderous General

DHAR

insists on 'helping' you.

Ajna soon reengaged the blob monster with another kick while Dhar summoned another Earthen Fury. Chase then attacked the blob with another punch, but then the blob attacked again. This time, Chase was ready for it as he materialized his gauntlet to protect his arm, the blob hurting its teeth chomping down on nothing but metal, stunning it.

"Whenever you're ready…!" Chase said to Dhar as he dashed forward to capitalize.

"I'll cut you down!" Dhar called, slashing at the creature as parts of the earth erupted in sync with his attacks. This defeated the creature and Dhar was sent back inside Ajna's head.

(end song)

"There. Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Chase asked Ajna.

"He's still inside my head, so you tell me," Ajna remarked as they continued. They cut through some ruins inside the forest, taking on a few more monsters along the way, but eventually, as they descended down the ruins, Ajna soon had no idea where to go. "Great, we lost their trail. Which way did you troops go, murderer?"

"If you're asking Dhar for directions, I don't think following his forces is the best idea," Chase said.

"The boy speaks the truth, I know my troops. They'll stick to the main paths, and the both of you are no match for them on your own." Dhar said. "If you mean to get to Lord Ravannavar, you should cut a path through the jungle."

"I'd rather not let you group up with your buddies again anyway, so jungle it is." Ajna said as she and Chase went east into the deep jungle. No sooner did they enter that they saw a house smoking several feet ahead of them. As they approached, they saw a pale-skinned woman with bags under her eyes, and a tiger skin on her head as she held a lantern.

"Whoa, someone was actually living all the way out here? Might as well introduce ourselves." Chase said, approaching the woman. "Hey there. You uh…doing alright for yourself out here?"

"Feh. Look at my stupid house." the woman said.

"Did soldiers do this?" Ajna asked.

"They might've. All I know, I move all the way out here to the middle of nowhere to get away from all the noise, and then here come these idiots. Carrying on and taking my stuff…" the woman explained. "So I had to quiet them down. Make them crispy. Crisp 'em up reeeal good. Heh heh. Heh heh heh heh heh…" she laughed with a creepy grin.

"Okay, that's not creepy at all…" Chase said, trying not to get too weirded out before clearing his throat. "So, does that mean you took care of your homewreckers all by yourself? Where are they?"

"They're inside what's left of my house." the woman said deadpanned. "Do you wanna see?"

"Uh.. I'll pass." Chase said, not wanting to see the scene.

"Same here. We've been dealing with those guys all day too." Ajna said.

"You poor things. Well, I guess that's it for me. Now my house is gone. So I'm just gonna wait here to get eaten by a Vetala or whatever." the woman said.

"Whoa, hold on. We can't just leave you out here to die." Chase said.

"He's right, why not come with us? Chase and I are trying to find my dad's murderer's boss." Ajna said.

"Just the two of you?" the woman asked.

"Actually…it's technically four. I've got something like a guardian spirit in my head." Chase said.

"And the guy who murdered my father is living in my head right now. It's kind of a complicated situation." Ajna said.

"You two are definitely gonna get eaten by a Vetala." the woman said.

"What the heck's a Vetala?" Chase asked in curiosity.

"Keep hanging around here and you'll find out. You know, maybe we should get going after all. My house leaked anyway." the woman said.

"So you're coming with us? Great! My name is Ajna, and the guy in black is Chase. Maybe if you help us, we can-" Ajna was suddenly cut off when the woman suddenly turned into an orange orb and zipped straight into Ajna, which hit her like a slap to her face. "AHH! Again?!"

"Where'd I go? Where'd YOU two go?" the woman asked inside Ajna's Inner realm. "There's a man in here who looks extremely annoying."

"Yeah, that's my dad's murderer. I don't know what his name is." Ajna said.

"You could try to remember like that boy did, he at least had the decency to inquire about it. My name is Dhar. I am the newly appointed liutenant of the Navar army, unifier of the -" Dhar tried to introduce.

"Ajna, I hate him." the woman said before she was silent for a moment. "Can't even get a good fire going in here."

"Were you trying to set him on fire?" Ajna asked.

"...maybe a little?" the woman said.

"Well, thanks for trying." Ajna said.

"So, do I just live in your head now?" the woman asked.

"I guess? I don't really know how this all works yet." Ajna said.

"Answer: It's more than likely Ajna is absorbing those she meets into her inner realm based on an unknown connection." Beat inferred.

"That kinda makes sense." Chase said.

"What makes sense?" Ajna asked.

"Beat thinks you're absorbing people into your head based around some kind of mysterious connection." Chase said. "What that is, we don't know."

"Hmm. That's gross." the woman said, having heard Chase from inside Ajna's Inner Realm. "My name is Razmi. And my tiger friend here Bom. He used to have bones but now he doesn't. I keep his soul in my lantern and he makes things…crispy."

"Nice to meet you, Razmi! It's good to have some more company." Ajna said.

"I object to-" Dhar started.

"SHUT UP." Ajna and Razmi said as Dhar sweatdropped.

The curmudgeonly shaman

RAZMI

deigns to associate with you!

"Jeez. Glad I'm not like that with you, Beat." Chase said.

"Agreed. Our symbiotic relationship would only be hampered by constant discord." beat said. "Also, I have scanned the area ahead of the one called Razmi's former home. It appears the way forward maneuvers through some underground ruins."

"Got it." Chase said.

Now with the addition of Razmi, Ajna and Chase continued onwards. They entered a hole in the ground past Razmi's house, and just like Beat had mapped out, there were underground ruins where they appeared. While they were exploring the ruins, Razmi turned out to be pretty handy in a fight. Like she explained, the soul of her tiger companion Bom could be used to attack enemies, and she could also heal everyone along with slowing down enemies with a glare.

After a bit of traversing, they ended up in an open space where they found a dead soldier lying near a statue, and beside him was a single-bladed axe, which Ajna immediately recognized.

"What? My mother's axe! I wanted this my entire life…what a terrible way to get it." Ajna said.

"More importantly, what happened to this soldier? What was he doing this far from the village?" Dhar asked.

"Looting and pillaging, obviously." Ajna replied.

"But my soldiers wouldn't do that, we had a mission." Dhar said.

"Don't be so dense. He stole my mother's axe and then he got killed, It's as simple as that." Ajna said. "And whatever killed him is probably still out there, so we'd better make tracks." Ajna then grabbed the axe off the ground to use it for herself.

Oh! It's…

THE AXE

You've always wanted to use this!

With her mother's axe in hand, Ajna could now chop her way through certain obstacles in her way, which allowed access to unreachable areas, and use it to give her an extra boost up to higher ledges. With the use of these skills, they were able to find their way out of the ruins and up into the forest again, fighting a few more monsters along the way.

When they got topside again, they encountered two new faces, a pink-skinned woman and a blue Frankenstein-esque man. Introduced as Ratna and Mani respectively, the pair explained they were studying mysterious stones called Ringsels, and they seemed to be reacting to Ajna. Collecting them would strengthen Ajna further, so Ratna offered hers and Mani's services to Ajna in a sort of deal. As Ajna continued to collect Ringsels, the two of them would provide their services in making Ajna stronger as she collected certain amounts. Ratna would enhance Ajnas physical strength, while Mani would increase her defense. To continuously have this service, they would also be absorbed into Ajnas inner realm. But they wouldn't be the only ones.

After a bit more trekking, they came to an open patch of leaves and found someone closely inspecting a pink patch of leaves with a magnifying glass. It looked to be a young child dressed up in Asian-like clothing with large glasses, black sandals, and a huge backpack slung over their back. Nestled on top of the child's bamboo hat was a mandragora-like creature with eyes, and a mouth.

"Is this…I can't quite tell…hmmm…" the child spoke in a feminine voice, though appearances suggested them to be a boy.

"Hey, kid-" Chase spoke up.

"GYAAH!" the child screamed as they and the mandragora creature had surprised expressions. After jumping back a few feet, the child coughed before getting her bearings. "Don't surprise us like that!"

"Whoops. Sorry about that, I've just never seen someone so focused on an ordinary patch of grass so hard." Chase said.

"It's not grass! It's the Kaempferia Galanga, a famous medicinal herb from the Ashwat region. Or…it might be. Trouble is, it could just as easily be the foliage of a Kabandha monster. Their leaves look almost the same, even to a trained botanist like myself." the child said.

"Oh, Kaempferia Galanga!" Ajna played along as if she knew what the child was talking about.

"Like either of you know what that means." Razmi said.

"You might know it by its colloquial name, the Resurrection Lily." the child said.

"Ohh, the resurrection Lily!" Ajna seemed to have more recognition of the herb now, though not as much as she'd like to admit. "Anyway, why don't you just yank it up and find out?"

"Umm, the problem is, me and Honey are healers, not fighters. That's why I've just been stuck in place here staring at this thing!" the child said.

"Oh, if it's just monster trouble, you can leave it to me and Chase." Ajna said.

"You're…sure you both can protect us?" the child asked.

"I've fought Rock Golems, Cloud Creatures, Giant Monster pets, and Viking robots. Pretty sure i can handle one monster." Chase said.

"And I may not know about different kinds of grass, but I know all about pounding on Kabandha. Pull that sucker on up!" Ajna assured.

"Well…okay! Let's give it a go." the child said as she pulled out the pink patch of leaves. "Thank goodness! It's the Resurrection Lily! This is too much excitement for me." she said as the mandragora creature known as Honey threw it into the child's backpack.

"Wait, that things alive?! I thought that kid was using "us" as a reference to themselves!" Chase thought in shock.

"Negative. Biometric scans of the child's DNA classify them as female." Beat said.

"(...Well, I've met talking animals, living vegetables shouldn't surprise me like that.)" Chase thought. "Glad you found what you were looking for. Even more so that we didn't have to fight anything for once."

"Pfft. I got all pumped up, too. Well, nice to meet you anyway, whoever you are." Ajna said.

"Oh, my name is Ginseng!" the child finally introduces herself. "And wait, where are you two headed?"

"Here and there, wherever the wind takes a host of world travelers like us." Ajna said.

"She means east." Chase corrected.

"Say, before you go, could you help me out? There's a nice reward in it for you!" Ginseng requested.

"Help you out? With what? Finding more of those Lillies?" Chase guessed.

"That's right. If you can help me find three more batches, I'll give you something really nice!" Ginseng offered.

"Ajna, we should really move-" Razmi started.

"Okay, we'll do it! Get that reward good and ready!" Ajna accepted without a second thought.

This wasn't a mere coincidence. First, a soldier of an enemy army has now turned into an unsteady ally, then paths were crossed with a wandering shaman and monk researchers, and now, a young botanist has crossed their path, promising a very interesting reward. It wasn't clear to either Anja or Chase at the time, but these people would be the first of many individuals who would play a key in the former's destiny. A destiny that wouldn't be fulfilled divided.