"Once Upon a Time there lived three siblings who loved each other very deeply, they were content with the way things were, until one day they felt urge to create some beautiful, something that was shining beacon, and then they filled this world with wondrous creatures known as digimon, and humans."

A figure sitting cloaked in the shadows of the room closed a book, and began to weep, taking the hand of the person in the bed, "please wake up my beautiful sister" she said, taking her other hand and stroking the hand of the person in the bed. The stars in the sky twinkled above them, and the moon was in the distance lighting up the other half of the room. The girl sitting beside the figure opened up the book again, and began to read out loud once again, "A mistake was made to haunt them all as the oldest sibling had made his own creation of life but that of chaos, it threatened to destroy every wondrous thing they created" she read before closing like she had expected a reaction but there was no stirring from the person in the bed, which made the girl that had been reading sigh, and then open the book again. "They fought off the dark being and smote its corpse into the ground, and they made their older sibling for not listening to them"

The closed the book once more stood, and looked up at the sky "Will my sister sleep for an eternity and never wake up again, I feel like fate has forsaken us?" she called out to the sky, at that moment snow began to paint the glass ceiling, the light was being blotted out by pure white snow, the room when completely black, a fresh tears streaked down the girl that had been reading's face, and she draped herself over the person in the bed, placing her ear directly over their chest.

Digimon Sync Episode 33 "Journey of Kindness"

The creatures were back as she had feared, forcing her and the Sages to take shelter in an old rundown house, Hikaru peered out of the cellar, she saw one of the Sentinels passed by causing her to shut the hatch door, hoping that it didn't see her, "What are we going to do?" she said with a quiver in her voice, knowing that they might be stuck, or trapped till one of those things found them.

"We need to get out of here, and reach the tower, we have to reach there by a certain time or we won't be able to get into the tower itself" Reichs said panicking "This pilgrimage would be pointless if we didn't get to see the tower

"Calm down Reichs, we will see the tower, even if I have to sacrifice myself to do so" Damien said looking around like he was trying to think "I think there is a path around here" he pulled out a map of the tainted land "if I remember things correctly we are here, and the tunnel is over there" he ran his finger across the map, "There is a sewage tunnel over here not too far from us"

"Gross Sewers, but if it gets us to where we need to go, it has to do" Lila said shrugging her shoulders in passive submission to the idea of traveling through a smelly sewer, that could have festered since the city was overtaken by the taint of Lilithmon, or whatever or whomever had corrupted this place, and these people turning them into the unofficial watch dogs of the area.

Risso stood up and looked rather put off for once "I am not going into a sewer; I have been traveling with you since the beginning I have never complained, as a thief I use to live in sewer to get away from the guards of the Suzubuya Kingdom, I became a sage so I wouldn't have to do that again" he said having spoken up for the first time since Hikaru had arrived, he now had one of those blade weapons across Lila's throat, he was panicked and wasn't thinking correctly "I am making a run for the tunneling without going into the sewer and you are not going to stop me"

Damien made a placating gesture towards Risso, "please think about this, those things will turn you to stone, and we have no other choice"

"Yes we do I will be the distraction, you guys make a run for it I'll make them chase me, my digimon partner is fast, we will meet you at the tunnel" Hikaru said without knowing what she was thinking, if she thought this through she would have thought she had lost it for sure.

"That could be a suicide mission, I am sure if I want to risk the life of a Digidestined since the fate of the world lies in your hands as long as you hold that digivice and Digi chip you are too precious to die for even us, when the lives of so many rely on you" Damien said cupping Hikaru's hands between his hands as he tried to talk her out of it.

"I made up my mind, I will be the distraction" said Hikaru shoving Damien away and pushing open the hatch door "Digi synchronization, kindness chip activation" she called and both Lunamon and her were encased in spheres of light, once the sphere disappeared, she was hoisted onto the shoulder of her digimon partner, they ran for it and a hoard of Sentinels followed them.

The Sage left the cellar, and took a different path through side alleyways, but keeping an eye on Hikaru as they did so, the tunnel was now in sight, it was five meters away but it was blocked by Sentinels, but they hadn't spotted, then Hikaru arrived. She and Crescemon plowed into the mass of sentinel clearing the way to the tunnel, while the Sages made their way into the tunnel, Hikaru and Crescemon were launched backwards by a sentinel, they were now surrounded, was this her final stand, would she die here turned to stone by these things, even if it was dying to save these sages, they had been her friends, and she would protect all of her friends with her final breath. That's when her digivice began to glow with the intensity that the Sentinels backed away from it, the symbol of Kindness filled the sky, its glowing presence ripping through the taint of the land, it created an untainted pathway for her to the tunnel, and it was closing quickly. She ran toward the tunnel entrance, and she made just as a wall of light came up behind her, the Sentinels bounced off it.

The monument in the tunnel was right close to the mouth of the entrance, it glowed in the darkness, the Sages were already there waiting for her before they activated it. Hikaru made her way to them; she now stood beside Damien and Lila. They began to sing the same song they sang to the monuments before this one, it started to glow exactly like the ones before it.

The same sweet voice echoed around them, and the same vision of the three beings of light, but this time they were circling, and something was forming, a pulsating light that formed into an egg "After arguing over what to create, they compromised, putting a bit of each of them into it and seeing what came of these, Life from Lilithia, Light from Lumina, and Chaos from Chaotus. It formed into what seemed like an egg, Lilithia decided that she would hatch the egg with her essence being creations mother, the egg got bigger the more of herself she put into it, and finally it hatched, it now looked like a globe of rock and dirt, there was no life on its surface, Lumina decided she would name it, and she called it Earth, The newly formed Earth floated in the ether, it was nothing to look at this point, now the great old ones had to figure out what to do with their creation.

The monuments light faded leaving in darkness with the only light being the symbols underneath the monument, Hikaru walked over to them to examine; they were the symbols that were on all the Digi chips, even her symbol the one of Kindness was there, she ran her finger across its surface, it hummed when she touched it.

"It has been said that the Digi chips were the virtues of Lilithia, they were her gifts so humanity could protect itself, Lilithmon needs their power to unmake everything created by Lilithia, no one knows why she wants to do that" said Lila walking up to stand beside Hikaru, and then turned to Damien for what they were going to do now. And without saying anything they all set up camp.

-Thania and Takajin-

The search continued, for the missing digimon partners, Takajin followed the mysteriously bizarre Thania, as she made him follow without any sign that they were getting any closer to finding them, Takajin was getting use to the girls randomness by now, and it was more off putting than annoying now, she was a free spirit and he was following hoping that she was leading him in the right direction the feathers are now losing their impact on his optimism every time another was found. She now had a backpack full of them to make a new Biyomon, and she had crafted a necklace for him of some of these feathers. Takajin sighed as Thania came back with a new feather after dashing away for a few seconds, She handed him the feather, and he looked down to see it wasn't a feather, it was an eyeball, he looked up and it wasn't Thania in front of him, it was Juniko, and they were not in the field of grass, they were both standing on a cliff, and Juniko had just shoved him off it.

Takajin woke up with a start, he had fallen asleep standing up, and Thania was watching him curiously like a scientist looking at a specimen she was studying, she was the most curious person he had ever met, why did he have to be with the one person that Digi chip defines their personality but he knew another Digidestined that was like that named Mikuni, she held the chip of courage, and she had a Hero complex, he wondered if he had about that already and fatigue made him forget, his mind wasn't as sharp because of lack of sleep.

He turned to see the figure, in the distance, he ran to catch them, but when he almost managed to catch they were gone again, and they were again the distance, and ran into them again, and they were gone, this person was facing, he turned to see if they were behind him, a voiced called out, and he turned back in the direction he had been chasing them in, and he ran in that direction. He wanted so badly to catch up with this person, and for some reason he couldn't, his longing grew every time they vanished, he turned to come face to face with Thania, she grabbed hold of his right arm, and dragged him behind.

"What are you doing I think I found one of my friends, they might be caught in some kind of anomaly, which makes them disappear" said Takajin pulling his arm away from Thania frustration taking over.

"You nearly walked off a cliff, whoever you are following isn't your friend, why would they make you try to kill yourself" Thania pointing behind Takajin, to the cliff edge over a pit of spiked rocks, one of the spikes had a skull on it.

"I am sorry I didn't know" Takajin said looking over at the pit of spikes, he didn't see it there, and Thania had just saved his life, and he had been a jerk to her, when all she was trying to do is help him, he took a deep breath composing himself, he wouldn't follow that figure that had just tried to kill him.

"No need for apologies, it was my fault for not warning you about those spike pits earlier, in which I am sorry" Thania said wiping the sweat from her brow, the first sign of stress she had shown since they had met.

They continued on their search, like nothing had happened, she was fully composed and he was fatigued, something was messing with his brain, and it was wearing him down, who was doing this to him, and why?

-Hikaru and the Sages-

So far the monuments haven't given her a lot of information that she hadn't heard before, except of third great old one called Chaotus, she had never heard of him before, hopefully the next one will clear things up, they were nearing the next one, it wasn't that far from the one before it, it was another abandoned town, this time underground, they walked down its empty streets, it was rather haunting more so than the one those sentinels lived in, which had more of a wrongness feel to it like it's life had been sucked out of it, this felt more eerie.

"What is wrong?" Lila asked as she gave Hikaru a concerned expression, as she around her so they were facing each other, the old woman was worried about her, she had been that way since she had freaked out earlier.

"I am fine" Hikaru said hesitating before continuing to talk "I don't this place gives me the creeps but not like the tainted land above, this place feels lonely, like abandonment had hurt its feelings. There is also a deep rage that's making my skin crawl I just don't know what this feeling is exactly it's all over the place like it can't make up its mind"

"This place was the battlefield for madman thirsty for revenge, which in turn tainted the lands above ground, the name of the person involved in this was long since forgotten. Along with the name of this place" Damien said interrupting Lila who was going to say something similar in nature.

"This is a tomb and what you are feeling are the echoes of the past, since you are a Digidestined you are more sensitive to these echoes" Lila said making a wide gesture to their surroundings, and then pointed directly at Hikaru. "One of the truest tests in life is looking into the face of death and realizing it's a part of living. You can't do anything about it. You should not let it rule you, and your actions"

Hikaru hugged the older woman, and began to sob into Lila shoulder, she had been holding that in since the beginning when had left her home Digitopia, she had been homesick since then, she had faced her fears but not the one about dying and never seeing her home ever again before it happened.

"No hug from the lovely lady to me too" said Reichs as he spread his arms like he was going to receive a hug himself, but then he backed off when he saw the look Lila was giving him, if looks could kill that one would have made him explode. "Oh come on I wasn't hitting on her this time!"

"It's kind of creepy how you don't notice that you are, or you don't care that you are way too old for her isn't she 15 years old, And how old are you exactly?" said Lila scoffing in annoyance, as she scolded Reichs.

"Only as old as I feel you old winkled hag" Reichs said while flexing his biceps in a show of confidence "and I feel very young" he grinned and winked at both Lila and Hikaru.

Hours later night was dawning once again on the land, each sage was setting up their beds. Except Risso, who stood at the edge of their campgrounds, he resolutely stood staring out into nothing, Hikaru watched him from her bed, then out of nowhere he walked into the city, when he thought everyone was asleep. But Hikaru decided was going to follow, she followed him as he weaved deserted alleyways, and decaying tunnels, till Risso reached an old shack, and went inside, Hikaru peaked in through a window, there was a stone statue, it was that of a female in her late twenties, her expression on her face was that of sadness, Risso kissed the statue on the lips. At that moment Hikaru stepped on a twig, and Risso turned to see Hikaru looking in the window, he gestured for her to come in.

Hikaru entered the shack, and looked at the statue "Who was she?" Hikaru asked pointing at it

"She was my wife, She and I were Bounty hunters, we hunted digimon Criminals that cause problems and collect a reward for, we were searching the area for a rogue and his digimon partner, they were killing merchants, we chased them all the way to the land we were, that's when the Sentinels attacked, the rogue wasn't lucky he was the first. While we were running one of them got her too" Risso said answering her question "I am sorry I freaked seeing the Sentinels again brought the worst out of me" Tears now flowed down his cheek, as he placed flowers, that he produced from his backpack at the feet of the statue that had been his wife.

"What was her name?" Hikaru asked Risso, as she still looked at the face of the statue that had once been a person, trying to imagine what she would have looked like if she had still been alive.

"Her name was Lianna' Risso said cupping the face of the statue between both of his hands "Someday I'll see her again. When I pass from this world into the next"

After a few moments of silence they returned to the campgrounds together. Risso set up his bed, while Hikaru got back into hers; she closed her eyes and fell fast asleep. Even if it made her skin crawl to be there she was so tired from all the traveling, unseen to the naked eye, something made footprints toward the campground, it was making its way toward Lila, it walked passed Lunamon, the sound woke, she opened her eyes, since she was a digimon, she backed away from it. As it walked past Hikaru's bed making it slow and steady course. Luna yanked on Blanket, only to be pushed away, she breathed before shouting in Hikaru's ear "IT'S A SENTINEL!" Just as it as the thing mounted Lila. Everyone freaked and jumped out of their beds, just as the sentinel nearly got Lila, she rolled out of its grasp. More of them appeared at the edge of the camp like before in various shapes and sizes, they were trying to surround them, leaving a disgusting trace as they did so.

"What is going on they never came near this city before" Reichs said confused as he got back to his feet and got ready to bolt.

"I don't know but we need to get out of here now" Damien replied gesturing for them to run now and ask questions later, and they did as they were told, and the Sentinels made pursuit as they did so.

Hikaru was startled, and was panicking; the same fear that took her last time these things showed up was taking her again. She didn't want to be turned to stone like Risso's dead wife, she didn't want to die. That's when she saw the figure from the mirror; she still couldn't see her face, she was gesturing to her, Hikaru nodded, and went in the direction, that the figure gestured "Follow me!" Hikaru shouted, as she turned she saw the monument in the distance, she stopped letting the sage run past her, she stared at the incoming hoard of Sentinels.

Even with how scared she was she had to protect the sages even if it cost her life, fear of that ran through to her very core. She didn't want to die but didn't know what to do. That's when the same light as before burst forth from her Digivice, this time punched away through the obstructing ceiling of dirt till it knocked it's to the surface and painted the moon once again with the chips symbol of kindness. Hikaru suddenly felt her digimon partner's pulse, and hers was perfect rhythm as her own, they were both carried to a state of euphoria as spheres in case the pair of them. When the spheres dissipated, both were gone.

The hole framed the moon perfectly, its glowing orb in the night sky, something appeared and slowly descended from the sky, it looked like a metallic rabbit, it carried a double bladed weapon, on its shoulder was Hikaru, "Dianamon The Huntress of Kindness" it said hovering in mid air

The Sentinels were knocked back by the light Dianamon emitted, but this time the light didn't they all looked hungrily at her. She began to spin the double bladed weapon, with shards of light shaped like crescent moons lancing out at the Sentinels, they were sliced in half but regenerated quickly, they began to pile up on each other as they now were trying to reach Dianamon who was still hovering in the sky, Dianamon responded by sending a volley of sparkling arrows of ice into amassing pile, with no effect.

Hikaru suddenly heard a voice on the breeze; it was the voice of the mysterious girl that had helped her, it was guiding, and speaking through her "Crescent Harken" and Dianamon nodded in reply, and began to sing, with the moon seemingly glowing brighter behind her. The Sentinels halted their advance; they turned to face each other, they growled and started ripping into each other. Hikaru to meet up with the sages, Dianamon flew towards, the sages were, and they were rapidly gesturing for her to hurry up, since some of the Sentinels had broken free and were heading towards, the monument, Dianamon reached and put Hikaru down, and prepared to go fight the incoming horde. Damien stepped forward, and placed his hand on the monument, an enormous dome of light encapsulated them, the Sentinels slammed head first into, they were repulsed by it, and they screamed with agony by its ver6y presence. They turned and ran for it like leaving the Sage and Hikaru alone.

"What the hell was that?" Hikaru said admiring the dome that now protected them; it seems very similar to the one that had guarded Digitopia.

"The Blessing of the great old ones, that means we are close to the final monument, that sits in the shadow of the tower itself" Damien said "We are on the final leg of our journey"

The monument began to glow; enveloping them all in light, just touching this one activated it, the voice from same as from the previous monuments spoke.

The Great old ones together created trees, water, and various other life forms, all three admired all they had created together, but something remained missing, and the arguing started up again between the two sisters frustrating their younger brother. He suggested if you can't agree on something he would do it himself, the two sisters stared at him horrified, they say no you don't whatever you create on your own would bring disaster, you need us to make it stable, Chaotus angrily stormed off not wanting to hear such a ridiculous notion, he was older than them they should show him some respect.

The Monument stopped glowing, and left them sitting on the protective dome, at that moment a creature of light appeared, it hovered there chirping happily, and shot out in an easterly direction.

"Digignome, we need to follow, it will lead us to the last monument" Damien shouted, and chased after it, with the other sages in tow, with Hikaru, and Lunamon following closely behind.

-Takajin and Thania-

It had been hours since they found the last feather, and Takajin's patience was once again fraying this weird girl was driving him insane, the lack of sleep wasn't helping either, and the possibility that someone was messing with him, pretending to be someone he knew and trying to lead him to his untimely death, whoever it is isn't going to get away with it. That's when something caught his eye, another person, as soon as they were spotted they stepped out from behind a tree, and ran, it wasn't Juniko this time, it was his sister Hikaru. Takajin gave chase not thinking that this was another figment that was trying to kill a possible manifestation of his mind created by guilt, but this time a shouting Thania followed closely behind. Weaving through trees, and Thania making sure that Takajin didn't end up in a pitfall, they finally reached some kind of clearing, and a river. In front of them stood was Kitsumon, the Fox guardian of the wild woods.

"Kitsumon, why were you trying to kill me?" Takajin asked looking confusedly at the fox girl that he hadn't seen since before the voyage to the Guardian Sanctum.

"I wasn't trying to kill you, you were doing that yourself by not watching where you were going" Kitsumon answered "I heard what happened at the Tower and came looking for you, and found your missing partner and new friend of his" she let out a little laugh "I felt like I had to mess with you a little" she stepped aside and there they were Sunmon, and a bird digimon that looked rather annoyed that was obviously Thania's Biyomon.

Biyomon ran over to Thania, but promptly struck out at her foot with her beak "next time you let me wander off like that, you will lose a foot" she said angrily "You are my destined, and you should never ever let me get lost, and that thing kept trying to ignite me. You owe me a warm bath*

"Sorry" Thania said sheepishly trying to defuse her digimon partner's anger towards, and failing completely.

Sunmon ran over towards Takajin, and jumped into his arms, Takajin hugged his digimon partner, even with how annoying his partner was after searching for a couple days with someone more annoying made him miss Sunmon and his habit of setting things on fire. Something dawns on Takajin, he looked up at Kitsumon "Um I hate to ask but do you know if my other friends are ok?"

"For most parts yes, they are safe at the moment, one is on a journey with the Sages on a journey, one is with the Guardians, and one is in your home kingdom, And they are protecting it, and final one is shrouded in the void they might not be able to be saved" said Kitsumon being as vague as ever on whom and which person she was talking about, then she vanished like she was slipping into the ether.

"I have decided to head home" Takajin said looking around "if I can find my way" he ran off in a random direction, followed closely by Thania and her digimon partner Biyomon.

-Hikaru and the Sages-

The Digignome lead them finally out of the underground city, and to the final monument, it stood on a cliff edge, and behind it was the tower, the one the Sages were seeking to reach it, this tower was in the middle of a pit exactly like the tower the Kurokami Brigade made their home in. This gave Hikaru the creeps, the tower looked identical to it, except it was purpler than that one and not as tarnished with black tar. She took a deep breath and suddenly turned to face Lila and Reichs "why is this important to you guys, and why did you start?" she said curiously.

"I joined because I wanted to see the world, my parents kept me on a tight leash since I was a princess" said Lila blushing a little bit "Don't call me your highness I beat the crap out of Reichs till he stopped doing that"

"I joined for the ladies, what else is there to journey the world for" Reichs said before taking Hikaru by the hand and kissing it, ignoring the look Lila of disgust was giving.

"I seek to learn the meaning of life, death, and rebirth, I seek only the truth itself" Damien said as he looked at the tower in the distance "which lies within the tower"

"I am doing this so I could keep running away from my pain" Risso said gesturing back at the forest behind them in the distance, the one with the Sentinels.

"It's obviously I was meant to join this Pilgrimage to find myself, and that's what I did but in the process I have made friends with all of you, I will cherish these memories forever" Hikaru said making her way towards the Final monument "I hope we meet again someday" as she stepped in front of the monument, encasing her and the sages one more time in the same light as previous times.

Chaotus deciding he wanted to help his sisters, ignoring their insistence that anything he created was wrong without them to balance out his creations, he used his power to create a creature akin to himself in his own image, but it too simple minded and started destroying everything around it because of its chaotic nature, Lilithia and Lumina startled by the destruction now taking place, teamed up and fought against the chaotic creature. It took the two of them days to finally defeat it, and cast its ruins into the ground, creating a tower out of its lifeless carcass. They were angry with their brother, they faced him, no matter how much he pleaded they would never forgive, they bound him into the planet putting him in a prison of shadow and illusion. After that they finally decided what would live on their creations, which would be creatures of flesh, and creatures of same matter they were made of, Digimon and humans, Lilithia then decided to bind them together as the two would create harmony as a pair.

The Final monument didn't stop glowing like the previous ones, the glow formed into more digignomes, which flew into the sky; they formed up into a zigzag line up towards the tower. It was a beautiful sight to behold, Damien Stepped forward, and turned to face the sages and Hikaru and nodded, he then jumped into the light, and was carried upwards by it, and the other sages did the same, Hikaru hesitated before doing so too, Upwards they were carried, the glow all around, Hikaru felt sense of Euphoria like being wrapped in a warm blanket, this was probably what the sages were feeling as well. It was a sense of being home being held in your mother's embrace, they floated happily to the top of the tower, and deposited in room with a beautiful skylight, and two doors, one just an ordinary steel door, the other was ceramic and looked rather ancient in design.

Damien walked over to the ancient door, pulled something out of his pocket, he placed it on a pad beside the, there were 9 other pads just like it beside the one he placed that object on. The door opened flooding the room with an eerie light, the other Sages walked through and became younger, Hikaru went to follow, but was stopped by Damien.

"This isn't your time, we came here to die, this was our final journey" said Damien gesturing towards the door, where the Sages where waving for him to join them, he went to join but was grabbed by Hikaru.

"Please don't leave make them all come back" Hikaru said shouting trying to pull Damien back "Why didn't you tell me about this" She was crying now, tears streaming down her face.

"Life is fleeting, our time has passed, I need you to let go please, and we will see each other someday I promise you" Damien said gently pulling away from Hikaru, and walking through the door, he became young again too, but Hikaru recognized him. That's when the digimon partners of the sages arrived, being led by a Veemon, it was clear now that Damien was one of the legendary Digidestined, and the thing he put on the pad was the Digi chip of reliability. Damien came back out the door, he was still young but a ghost, "don't let Lilithmon line up the stones of annulment, and then stand in them while this door is open, it would undo life itself. I have one last thing I need to do before I pass from this world but I need you all together first, all of the digidestined together"

"They look happy, are they happy in the afterlife" Hikaru said trying to wipe away the tears "I'll miss them all"

"You have given them the ultimate kindness; if they had been killed by the Sentinels, their spirits would have become one of them cursed roam this land looking for more victims to bring into that lack of existence, A fate worse than death" Damien's ghost looking gratefully at Hikaru "I thank you with all my heart. I am sorry I didn't tell you I was digidestined but I saved the last of my powers so I wouldn't just pass into the afterlife. Soon as I pass this chip will go to another, and they will help you in the final battle I was too old for fighting"

"I am not upset, I understand fully, and I am glad I got to help a living legend and his friends" Hikaru said as she managed to stop crying, with the possibility of her starting again, but not because of sadness, it would be tears of joy knowing that the Sages were now in a better place.

"We have to go now, life is not the only thing that is fleeting, so is time" Damien said before turning into a ball of light; he flew towards Hikaru and enveloped her, and flew out of the tower, and flew over the landscape like it was retracing the journey they all took to reach the tower.

-To be Continued-

Will the Digidestined reunite in time to save the world, and what are these stones of annulment Damien mentioned?, to answer this question please tune into the next Digimon digital monsters.