Genesis Locorum

A few days pass. The Black Box had successfully thwarted two attempts from adventurers. Yet Emily feels concerned about the vanishing dungeons.

“Hey, Lizzie?” her voice echoes to Elizabeth.

“Yes?” the fairy was tending to a flower garden created by Carla and planted with the seeds of the ten plants that Minerva had bought the children during their first trip to Noir.

“Should we be concerned? About what is happening at Cerberus?”

Elizabeth muses on the matter. “It is strange that entire dungeons are disappearing.”

They talk about whether they should investigate the matter.

“The reports also mention strange sightings of Automata in the area, “Elizabeth says. “Those could be the [Cells] of a [dungeon] that is trying to absorb other dungeons. But the issue is how would they make the entire location disappear as well.”

“What do you mean?” Emily asks.

“Take the factory you went to the other day. You absorbed the [Core], but only the parts of the factory that were created by the dungeon vanished. The structure of the abandoned factory itself was still in place, right?”

“Yeah.”

“While entire structures can vanish, they are usually because they were [Divine Dungeons] like you, the structure was created to house your consciousness. [Natural Dungeons] are instead the result of a being’s consciousness merging with and mutating with the surrounding environment.” Elizabeth reminds Emily. “Should the core be absorbed, the environment should only revert to a point before the Dungeon formed.” She grows more worried with each word she utters, to the point that she is convinced that this is a matter worth investigation. “Do you want to ask the others directly or should I ask them in your stead?”

“We should both ask,” Emily says. “It would be faster.”

“Gotcha,” Elizabeth begins by asking Carla and Charlotte as the garden is close to their home.

✦✦✦

“Alright,” Anemone Aria says. “Gravity Magic is rather complicated. You’ll have to consider the approximate weight of the target as well as the position of the gravity well you conjure.

“Okay,” Charlotte says.

“Are you sure you’re able to learn this kind of magic, Lotte?” Euryale says.

“I think so?” Charlotte says. “Emily has an Umbraspehre so it should work right?”

“In theory,” the werewolf girl says. “Now, why do you want to learn these spells anyway?”

Charlotte thinks about the answer. She feels drawn to this family of magic for reasons she could not explain.

Anemone notices the indigo-haired alraune’s silence as an indication of something. “Could it be that you have a natural affinity to this family, Charlotte?”

“Natural Affinity?”

“What’s that?” Nina says as she walks in.

“There are usually eight elements,” Anemone explains. “Everyone is born with a natural affinity to one of the. This is because they are born with an Elementalist’s Sphere.”

“Those things Emily sometimes collects?” Nina says.

“Correct,” Anenome says. “She already has seven right now, including the Umbraspehre. While people are born with one, they can find the sphere of different elements to learn how to wield them instead.”

“I heard there are some exceptions,” Stheno says. “Like how Bardsong circumvents the need and directly appeals to the elements.”

“That is true…to an extent,” Anemone says. “There are books saying that certainly begins like faeries are bound more strictly to the sphere requirements even with Bardsong.”

“So you think I have an affinity towards Darkness?” Charlotte says.

“It’s hard to say,” Anenome says. “But it would explain why you would have a sudden interest in the gravity spells. Let’s see if you can learn them!” Anemone smiles.

Charlotte looks at several items on a table, one of them is a toy block that Anemone had enchanted to float, with the letter “Þ” on opposite sides. Another is a pair of metal tableware and another still is a dumbbell meant for weight training.

“Do you want to start with magnetism?” Anemone asks.

“Sure!” Charlotte says. “The silverware, right?”

Anemone nods. “While experts can cause any two objects to be attracted or repelled to each other, certain metallic ones are more suited for beginners. The principles here would also be in play for weight manipulation.”

Anemone walks to the tableware and places them on another table. “Now then, focus on the two objects.”

Charlotte takes out a small wand and points it at the tableware. She concentrates on the spoon and fork, focusing on binding them together. After a moment, the two items begin to vibrate, a second after, they are clamped together.

“You did it!” Euryale says.

“I did?” Charlotte says.

Anenome picked up the joined tableware and tried to separate them. She first uses simple brute force but finds that the spoon and fork refuse to be parted. Her eyes widen at how strong the magnetic bond is between the two items as she takes out her Lunar Drop-tipped wand and dispels it. “That is a really strong bond. I’m impressed.”

“Really?” Charlotte says.

“You might have a knack for this!” Anemone then places the floating wooden block in the air in front of her. “Now the exercise would be increasing the pull of the ground so that it overwhelms the floating spell I used on it. For reference, the block weighs eight pounds and the floating spell makes it weightless.”

Charlotte looks at the black and takes a deep breath. “Eight pounds,” she thinks. She focuses on the cube. “Eight pounds heavier, eight pounds heavier.” She points her training wand at the cube. “Make the cube eight pounds heavier.”

The “Þ” block descends onto the ground. Charlotte breathes a sigh of relief. Before she knew it, she collapsed onto the ground.

“I can’t move!” Euryale cries from the floor beside Charlotte.

“What is… happening? Stheno says, her body is face down.

“Charlotte,” Anemone cries. “Too… strong!”

Charlotte herself is unable to move her arms. Some of the petals on her waist are crushed by the increased weight on her body. She panicked and tried to think of a counterspell to allow her and her friend to move again. “Eight pounds light, eight pounds lighter!” she thinks, but her arms and legs refuse to budge. “Sixteen pounds? Thirty-two?” she tries counting up.

Everyone’s bodies begin to float. Euryale and Stehtno try to stand, but before they know it, they are touching the high ceiling. Charlotte’s face is flustered as she helplessly floats in the air, trying to find a way to return to normal. “I’m sorry!” she yells, repeatably as she tries to find a method to bring them down. She hyperventilates as her next spell fails to restore their proper weight.

“Charlotte, calm down, deep breaths.” Anenome floats towards Charlotte while trying to calm her down. She calculates the force of the repulsion and casts a spell that lets them gently land on the ground, and slowly changes their weight back to normal.

Charlotte’s breathing slows from its panicky pace as she looks at Anemone. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it!” Anemone says.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how it happened!” Charlotte says.

Anemone laughs. “Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it.”

“I hope she gets the hang of it soon,” Euryale says. “Before we have to hang to our seats!”

“Eury,” Stehno says. “You know that’s a rude thing to say!”

Charlotte sighs.

Anenome looks at Charlotte again. “That spell was wide enough to affect us,” she thinks. “She definitely has an Affinity for gravity spells.” She walks to the barbell. “Okay. Let’s try levitation!”

The Arion sisters immediately grab the nearest fixed object. “Sorry,” Euryale says

Charlotte looks at the dumbbell. She sees the number twenty on it. “Twenty pounds lighter,” she thinks after a deep breath.

The barbell doesn't move. Charlotte is confused, but instead of trying again, she examines the weight first. She lifts it up and effortlessly moves it above her head. “Huh?”

“There is more to anti-gravity than just making objects lighter,” Anemone says. “There are three mothers. One is to make an Apurgy well within the object itself, the other is to lesser the natural pull of gravity, and the testis to create a well above that has a force equal to the natural gravity below us.”

“Apurgy?”

“A counter force to gravity, basically,” Anemone says.

Charlotte decides to try making an Apurgy well. She visualizes the dumbbell floating in the air as she directs her training want at it. After a few moments, the weight begins to lift form the ground and hover a few feet in the air.

Charlotte checks her body to ensure they aren’t side effects. “How about you?” she says to Anemone, Euryale and Stheno.

“We’re fine!” Euryale says. “I think.”

Anemone examines her own body and that of the two Constructs for adverse effects, but find none. “Great job! You’re a real natural.”

Charlotte flashes a joyous smile. She then turns the floating dumbbell and asks Anemone how to dispels it. Anemone walks her through the steps of reverse the effects of gravity spells and Charlotte restores the weight back to its intended weight of twenty pounds.

It was at that point where Elizabeth arrives. “Hello, can I ask Anemone a question.”

“Sure?” Anemone says.

“Are you interested in going to Cerberus?” Elizabeth asks.

✦✦✦

At the same time, an Arachne teacher is teaching a mathematics class in the part of the Black Box set aside for communal childrearing. The teacher, Miss Annette, is one of Lydia’s assistants.

“Alright class,” Miss Annette says, she points at a whiteboard with “x+y=15” written on it. Her blond hair is tied in a ponytail and her glasses allow her to see the students in the back more clearly. Her white attire contrasts with her black abdomen. “Today we will be continuing our sessions on algebra.”

Rose is among the students in the class, and also among the few who are not paying attention. Her mind zones out from boredom.

“Rose!”

Miss Annette’s calling of the lamia’s name uses her to break from her daze. “Y-yes?”

“Now that I have your attention,” she says with a warm smile. “Could you explain what the equation on the whiteboard means?”

Rose looks at the equation. She struggles to think of a way to interpret the letters. “Um, let’s see. Hmm.” The gears in her mind try to whirl thinking of a satisfactory answer. “One plus fourteen?” she guesses.

“Correct,” Miss Annette says. “Simple, but correct.” She uses Rose’s answer as a segue to the lessons on how many combinations lead to the same answer, writing “10+5” and “12+3” as possible combinations alongside Rose’s more simple answer. She then hands out several worksheets. The sheets have on them algebraical problems of various degrees of complexity.

Rose tries to solve the equations on these sheets, but she spaces out again and before she knows it, the class is over.

“Consider the leftover equations as homework for the night, you’re dismissed.” She says with a sweet smile.

Rose looks at her sheet and sees that fifteen problems are unsolved, and some of those she did answer were incorrect. “Rats,” she thinks as she takes the paper with her and slithers outside the classroom. Miss Annette makes note of Rose’s lack of focus today.

✦✦✦

After school, Azalea practices her comedy routine in a forest inside the Black Box. Rose is busy working on her homework.

Azalea swims to Rose. “Hey Rosie, what are you doing?”

Rose sighs. “Math.”

“Really?” the mermaid says. “These equations are no problem for me! Let me take a crack at them.”

The lamia hands the aspiring comedian her homework. Azalea looks at the paper and Rose’s answers. “Well…these answers sure seem variable.” She looks at one that Rose had gotten wrong, “x-7=14” a fourteen was marked beside it. She uses her water powers to create twenty-one spheres of air. “Count them, Rose.”

Rose sighs. “Are you gonna throw them at my face afterward?”

“Of course not, promise,” Azalea says. Rose counts these spheres. “There are fourteen of them, Lea.”

“Correct, and half o—”

“It’s seven, I get it,” Rose says.

“And seven times three is?”

“Twenty-one. Azalea this is one of your jokes.”

“It’s not a joke, Rose.” The mermaid says. “Well not this time. Anyway, if seven multiplied by three is twenty-one and seven twice is fourteen then?”

Rose realizes what Azalea is trying to say. “Then twenty-one minus seven is fourteen.”

“Yep!” Azalea shows Rose the reliant equation. Rose crosses out her incorrect answer and writes the twenty-one in its place. The spheres of water then plop into the ground.

Azalea then points out several other equations and helps tutor Rose with the algebra homework. Over the next hour, Anemone guides rose to discover the right answers.

“These problems are way more bark than bite, much like the trees!” Azalea says.

“Hehe, yeah,” Rose says. “Thanks, Azalea.” Rose then notices something. “You know I think Emily might be the biggest Dungeon we’ve ever seen.”

“Huh?” Azalea says. “You sure?”

Rose observes the plants goring inside this part of the Black Box while pointing out how she managed to be long enough to reach Noir from here.

“That trip left me pretty stiff,” Azalea says referring to the traversal method to the Noirian extension.

Lily gallops towards the two. “Hello, guys!”

“What’s up, Lily?” Rose says.

“Careful there, you nearly disturbed the tatzelwurms,” Azalea says.

“Sorry!” Lily says. “Elizabeth sent to me to find you. Emily wants to know if you want to go to Cerberus tomorrow?”

“The Coloraturas never turn down an adventure!” Rose says. “Or at least I wouldn't.”

“Is it because of the missing Dungeons?” Azalea says.

“Yeah!” the centaur says. “I already asked Raine and Hydrangea about it. They said they will go.”

“And Anemone?” Azalea says.

“I haven’t seen her?” Lily says. “Where is she?”

“Prolly teaching Charlotte gravity spells over at her place,” Azalea says. “You know she is very much unlike a tree.”

“How so?” Lily innocently asks.

“Because her bite is worse than her bark!”

Rose giggles a bit. She knows that out of them all her skill with magic is the most advanced. “She did teach us how to use our spells in tandem for different effects.”

“I still remember the time she managed to defeat a Strega with you, Lily,” Azalea says. “Never thought they would be vulnerable to illusions.”

“It was a shock to me too,” Lily says. “Oh, We need to ask Strelitzia and Clover as well.”

“I think Clover is training with Tim,” Rose says.

“Huh? Why?” Azalea says.

“He says he knew a fair bit about fans like the one Richard and Sarah made her,” Lily says

“Come to think of it,” Rose says. “He and Heathcliff seemed to be well-traveled guys.”

The three girls continued to talk on the way to the Truce’s abode. There they took Anemone about the trip to Cerberus. They learned Clara had learn from Heathcliff about it before hand and already told her daughter and Anemone about it. They also learned that Elizabeth had asked Tim, Clover and Strelitiza about it, and that Emily had told Nina, Esteban and Julia. All agreeing to go to Cerberus tomorrow.

✦✦✦

The next afternoon, after Breakfast and checking in with Pauline about the trip, Emily and her group, consisting of Heathcliff, Tim, Elizabeth, the dwarven siblings, the Truces, Nina, the Coloraturas, and the Hernandezes, arrived in the region of Cerberus. They arrive at a small town named Thornwood. They arrive there in two cars that Emily, Elizabeth, and Sarah created in a short time frame and designed with their demi-human friends in mind.

“We’re here, chers!” Heathcliff says.

The town reminds Emily of Eastshire, but she notices there are some more roads there and more places for greeting travelers as well. A diner, a theater, a supermarket.

The Coloraturas are reminded of Noir more than they are of any rustic village. As the group walks on the sidewalk, a large vehicle drives past them. The smoke from the exhaust gets caught in Azalea’s orb of water and causes her to cough.

The mermaid removes her heart from her orb before the corrupted water can choke her. “Clover,” she says while gasping. “Help.”

The peryton casts an oxygenation spell, to allow Azalea to breathe normal air while Azalea drops the polluted water to the ground. “Thanks,” the clionid mermaid says. She begins to conjure a new orb of water over her head.

Emily approaches Azalea. “Are you okay, Azalea?”

“Hah, don’t worry about it,” Azalea says. She swims around the group, hoping to take her mind off the polluting vehicle. “Just needed some clear water. Wow, this place is cleaner than Noir’s underground. I just know people don’t choke to death here”

Emily is a little disturbed by Azalea’s statement.

“Yeah that is a thing that happens,” Rose says.

“Comes with the territory of being stuck in a sealed space underground,” Julia says.

As disturbed as Emily is, Richard is even more so. “What?”

“You didn’t hear?” Sarah says. “Noir has a higher than average rate of death by suffocation rate. Even some of the Elegere die there.”

“You’d think the car makers would’ve known this,” Azalea says. “They’re not the only thing driving up the pollution, but still.”

“We get it,” Heathcliff says. “Things were cleaner back when it was the horse and buggy.”

Tim ignores the discussion to focus on finding a place to practice his wind shield. Following his realization, he learned to use the ability more consistently by focusing on his feelings towards Emily and channeling them.

The group soon finds a diner on a street corner and gets some lunch there.

“Before we left,” Richard says. “Elizabeth had asked me if she could add a new function to the Cyberworks armors.”

“A function?” Emily says.

“I thought it would come in handy for cases where they are separated from civilization for long,” Elizabeth says. “If the enchantment works, it can eliminate the need for sleeping bags at least.”

“You sure have a knack for weird ideas, cher,” Heathcliff says.

Clara looks around the diner with uncertainty. This is the first since since moving into the Black Box that she had even stepped outside and been seen by strangers. Heathcliff notices the alraune’s expression. “Having the jitters, Clara?”

Charlotte also notices her mother’s expressions. Clara assures them both she is fine.

“Heh, maybe we can bring home a new pet for the Dungeon!” Heathcliff says.

Tim sighs. “You are focused on what to add to Emily, huh?”

“Of course!” Heathcliff says. “We can always use more creatures to help deter ‘guests’ from getting too close, can’t we.”

“Are you sure Clara can handle new beasts right now?” Emily says. “It seems like the Tatzelwurms, Chimeras, and that deer are a handful as it is.”

“Don’t you worry about me, dear,” Clara says. “I’ve…acclimated to those monsters now.”

“How’s the new charm, Emmy?” Anemone says.

“It’s great,” Emily says. “Hopefully it won’t come loose like it did at the factory.” The dungeon avatara is grateful in that it allows her to control her telepathic skill better.

“New charm?” Nina says.

“It’s a long story,” Anemone says.

“So how are we going to approach this?” Tim says.

“An [Avatara], generally has enough mana for ten excisions into dungeons before it cannot sustain itself and is recalled by the dungeon,” Elizabeth says.

“What happens then?” Clover says curiously while Streltizia orders a salad.

“Well, um, under normal circumstances the nearby residents would return with her, especially the [Cells]. But there had been cases where that was not the case.”

“For this,” Heathcliff says. “There is this trinket!” he takes out the D.E.M. “A Denizen Extraction Mechanism, or D.E.M.”

“The [Denizen Extraction Mechanism] is a mysterious device,” Elizabeth says. “But it will return stranded residents of a dungeon to the dungeon of origin. Helpful for those that aren’t Sentinels and even the Sentinels see value in it given their more common means of returning to the Dungeon. It is also called a [Deus Ex Machina] as it is believed [The Pathfinder] created the arcane object for this end.”

“Okay, so we can go back at any time right?” Rose says.

“Not quite,” Elizabeth says.

“This trinket has a limited amount of charges,” Heathcliff says “It’s only meant to be used sparingly. It takes a month for it to have enough mana to function after use.”

“Such as when Emily leaves without us,” Lily guesses.

“Among other things,” Esteban says. “Now then, the matter at hand?”

“I guess we should ask the other patrons if they knew of the missing Dungeons,” Emily says. “We have to start somewhere.”

“That is a good plan, cher,” Heathcliff says. “Allons”

✦✦✦

The group asks the diner’s other patrons and employees for information about the peculiar disappearances of dungeons and their cores, as well as the automata. While also getting some lunch while they are there. Paid for on Heathcliff’s dime. Sarah had three courses worth of sandwiches and fried food. Rose orders a cup of coffee, her favorite beverage after being instructed to not let Nina take a drop. Heathcliff also orders a cup of coffee.

After a half hour, they compiled their information.

“No dice,” Raine says, her arms slumped over in exasperation.

“We got something from the waiter,” Rose says, using her experiences with Jacquelyn to talk to the employees. “There is a dungeon in the nearby meadows.”

“I received word of a [Natural Dungeon] that encompasses some ruins to the east,” Elizabeth says.

“I heard of some sprites living in a forest to the northeast,” Emily says.

“There is a ghost town a few miles off,” Esteban says.

“Great,” Heathcliff says. He takes out a map. Emily, Elizabeth, Rose, and Esteban make their approximate locations with some markers. “We can split into four groups and tackle them all at once!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Emily says. She doesn't know how dangerous these Dungeons are.

“It does seem risky, Heathcliff,” Elizabeth says. “Even if the power of the dungeons is lower compared to near Rosenkreuz, the missing dungeons would mean that the remainder would be able to absorb more mana from the lack of competition.”

“That does remind me,” Clover says as she marks her own location on the map. “I heard that there is a Divine Dungeon in this area.” The area she circled is now the northernmost of all the circled areas. “She said it had leaped in power recently.”

“The Engines?” Elizabeth says, confused at the name.

“Sounds cool!” Nina says. “Does it go ‘vroom, vroom?’”

“We don’t know,” Richard says. “It’s further than we have ever seen.”

“It’s also further than any of these other places,” Julia says. “Let’s save that for last.”

The group looks over the map. “We have Ruins, a ghost town, a sprite forest, and a dungeon in the meadows,” Emily says. “Which one should we do first?”

“The Meadows seem the closest,” Tim says. “Is there anything known about it?”

Everyone turns to Rose.

“Um, I forgot to ask them that, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Elizabeth says. “We’ll find out when we get there.”

“So,” Hydrangea says. “How about the sprite’s ruins?”

“Ooh, sprites,” Nina says. The spiderling eagerly jumps in her seat.

“I wanna go too!” Lily says.

“Okay that is two for the sprites,” Emily says. “Anyone else?”

Hydrangea, Tim, Sarah, Rose, Azalea, and Streltizia raise their hands.

“Okay, that is eight for the ruins,” Elizabeth says.

“I’m interested in the ghost town myself,” Esteban says. Julia, Clara, Richard, and Heathcliff, also express an interest in the location, and Charlotte wants to go with Clara, Anemone, Raine, and Clover want to go with Charlotte.

“Nine for the ghost town,” Emily says. She and Elizabeth haven’t decided yet. The avatara is in a conundrum.

“I got an idea,” Elizabeth says. “We can try splitting into two groups.”

“Lizzie,” Emily says. She is still hesitant about splitting up in general. “Can we handle these with two groups?”

“Of course,” the fairy says with a confident smile. “The mana levels are low enough here. We could easily handle two at a time with two groups of at least eight each. Especially given that we have some more people with experience with us now.”

“Plus we don’t know if these dungeons will goo poof by the time we get to them,” Heathcliff says. “Those being our only leads, we need to make sure we seize the opportunity when it comes.”

“You do have a point,” Emily says. She deliberates on the idea for a few minutes. “Okay, we’ll do two groups. Lizzie and I will lead one to the Sprite forest and you two will lead the other to the ghost town, okay?”

“Noted,” Esteban says.

“Take care of yourselves, chers,” Heathcliff says.

Emily splits the large party into two, herself, Elizabeth, Tim, Sarah, Rose, Hydrangea, Azalea, Lily, Streltizia, and Nina in one, Heathcliff, Esteban, Julia, Richard, Clara, Charlotte, Raine, Anemone, and Clover are in the other.

Elizabeth gets a second map for Heathcliff’s group, making it with the same circles and the same locations. Emily consults the original map, she learns that aside from the Meadows, the Forest is the closest dungeon to Thornwood. Half a day’s hike from here.

“Do you want to wait until tomorrow?” Elizabeth says.

Emily checks the cloak on the diner’s wall, learning that it is now 1:12 PM. “I think we can head there now. We’ll meet up back here when we’re done.”

“That is suitable,” Esteban says before he and Julia meanwhile head to one of the cars.

“Good luck, cher,” Heathcliff says to Emily as the two groups part ways for now. Grabbing enough food for two days before they leave Thornwood.

✦✦✦

Emily, Elizabeth, Tim, Sarah, Rose, Azalea, Hydrangea, Lily, Streltizia, and Nina arrive at the location where the Sprite dungeon is supposed to be. In the Solo Winged Forest. They searched the area until sunset, but could not find any sign of a dungeon here.

“Do you think it vanished?” Rose says.

Emily is disturbed by the possibility. Both out of fear that it meant they were too late and because it meant they walked all this way for nothing.

“Calm down,” Elizabeth says. “[Sprites] are notorious tricksters, prone to hiding their homes in plain sight.”

Stella sets and Tranquialtas rises. Pale moonlight now illuminates the dark forest. It is now 7:00 PM. The group sets a campfire and talks about Sprights and Fairies like Elizabeth.

“So,” Rose says. “What is the difference between sprights and fairies?”

“I’m curious about that as well,” Emily says.

“Well you see,” Elizabeth says. “[Faeries] like myself are begins designed to aid [Dungeons], A fairy and a [Dungeon core] are siblings born from the fires of [the Frogemaster]. A [Sprite] is more free-spirited by comparison and comes in many other forms. From the dream-weaving [Pixie] to the elemental and airy [Sylph]. They are thus not bound to any dungeon, save any they call home, and are somewhat common through [Titania] and …Hey!” Rose had spaced out again.

“Huh, what was that again?” Rose says.

Elizabeth sighs. “The short of it is that [Sprites] are not necessarily bound to [Dungeons]. Fairies are.”

“Got it,” Rose says.

Elizabeth wonders if there is a way to get Rose to focus on things outside of combat. She notices that Rose is not the only one who is distracted as she sees Nina staring at the fire. As if in a trance.

“Nina?” Elizabeth says.

“Yes?” the young spiderling says, her eyes still fixed on the campfire.

“Why are you staring at the campfire?” Elizabeth says.

“It’s pretty,” Nina says with a giggle.

Elizabeth feels something about her skin, a telling that it’s almost time for her enchantment on the armor to take hold.

Hydrangea whispers something to Anemone, and her face brightens up at hearing that. “Ooh, good idea Hydra.”

A few minutes later, the embers of the campfire shrink as the firewood is burned out. Hydrangea approaches Nina and pokes her with a hand that she had chilled to feel clammy.

Nina suddenly shivers and she feels what seems like a ghostly tap. “G-g-g-ghost!” the spiderling says as she jumps up and runs away from the mischievous bespectacled girl. Rose, Streltizia, and Lily giggle at Nina’s expense as she turns around and realizes the “ghost” is just Hydrnagea.

Flustered, Nina doesn’t know how to respond to the prank. Azalea giggles a bit.

“You scared me!” Nina says, puffing her cheeks. “Meanies.”

“Sorry,” Hydrangea says. “But you seem as easily distracted as Rose.”I’m not easily distracted!” Nina lies. “And I wasn’t scared either!”

Rose looks at Hydrangea. “Never thought you were the type for pranks, Hydrangea,” Rose says.

“There’s a first time for everything,” Hydrangea smirks.

While the children talk about practical jokes, Emily, Sarah, and Elizabeth look out for creatures. Tim practices his baijiquan movements. He assumes a horse stance, followed by a dual palm strike, a knee attack, an elbow attack, and a single palm strike. He repeats these motions in a mirrored form and then returns to his horse stance. All the while he is wondering about the fate of the man who taught him these moves, as well as his former fellow students. He flashes back to the time he received the Qiang, where he was told to take the weapon and run. “It will be your new teacher,” he thinks. He wonders what exactly was meant by these words.

The time is now 9:55 PM. Elizabeth gathers the group here to make an announcement.

“I already told Heathcliff’s group this before they drove from Thornwood, but…” she eagerly begins to explain the nature of the enchantment. “I’ve enchanted the armors to help protect us while sleeping. If we are far from civilization or the Black Box, they were activated and become portable beds for us!”

“Portable…beds?” Sarah says. “You mean sleeping bags?”

“Not quite,” Elizabeth says. “This enchantment will also ensure our bodies will not be harmed by fang or claw until the sun rises. I’m so excited to have the chance to field test this so soon!” Elizabeth says with the glee of a giddy schoolgirl. “Now everyone spread apart. I don’t know what is going to happen if you get too close.”

The time is now 9:58 PM. Everyone sits a certain distance apart from each other, everyone except Rose hugs their legs, or forelegs in Lily’s case. Rose instead coils her tail. It is not 9:59 PM.

“Okay,” Emily says with a sense of dread. “When will this enchantment—”

The time is now 10:00 PM. Through runes implanted onto them, keyed to work when they’re too far from a Dungeon or a font of civilization such as a town or city, The Cyberworks suits begin a Bardsong tune. The enchanted lullaby immediately places them in a sleeplike trance, but the enchanted suits are far from done. With everyone unconscious, They begin to hum a different spell and the outermost plates on the greaves and gauntlets begin to extrude from their original placement and expand to cover their wielders in a spherical shell each. The two spells keep everyone asleep and protected from predators, but also unable to move in this state.

An hour later, several small creatures notices ten strange spheres surrounding a pile of burnt wood. They curiously look at these spheres.

“What are they?” one of these creatures asks. They resembles humans, but smaller in scale and adorned with insectoid wings.

Another of the creatures touches one of the spheres, but gets no response. “Seems harmless.”

“Think they belong to someone?” another one asks.

“If they did, it’s their loss,” the first sprite says. “Finders’ keepers!”

“Let’s take them with us!” the second sprite says.

“Yeah!” the others says.

Weaving their magic, they cause the metal spheres to float in the in air and take it back with them.

“I’m sure Mister Puck will love these!” one of the sprites says.

They scurry off into the night. With the metal objects in tow.

✦✦✦

The fairies bring the spheres deeper into the forest, passing a perimeter lined with toadstools. They pass by lakes reflecting daylit clouds and springs where the water flows upward. They fly over checkered roads and gardens that slightly float over the ground. Until they arrive at a majestic palace…tipped upside down. They bring the metal spheres into the tallest tower of the palace.

“Mister Pick! Mister Puck!” one of the sprights cheerfully exclaims. “Look what we found!”

A tall elegant man descends from the “ceiling”. His butterfly-like wings allow him to float above the “floor”. He sees his subjects carry several spheres of various sizes and colors. One purple, two orange, two magenta, two white, one cyan, one blue, and one an unusually blonde shade of gold. “Oh my what’s this?” the larger sprite asks.

The other sprites explain to Puck that they found these spheres on the outskirts of their forests. In the mortal plain.

Puck examines these metal spheres, he senses mana emitting from them, but these do not seem to be Elementalists’ Spheres. These instead seemed to be to him that of living beings.

“Hmm,” the man whimsically says. One of the sprites lands on his lead, using his short auburn locks and tresses to keep herself warm. “Are these people?” the regal fairy thinks.

“What do we do with these things?” one of the sprites says.

“I think we might be expecting guests soon,” Puck says. “These might make great lures for them.”

“Yay! Guests!” the sprites cheer.

At Puck’s request, the sprites roll the metal spheres in various rooms. The purple sphere and the larger of the orange and pink ones are the first to go, being moved outside the palace to a nearby cliff. A different sprite then lines up the two silver spheres with the orange one and rolls them down to a different part of the palace. The blue and gold ones and placed in the banquet hall and finally the cyan and smaller pink spheres are rolled up to the “bottom” floor of the upside-down palace.

Puck then manifests four wands, and instructs a pixie to place them near the spheres, for their “guests.” The whimsical sprites take these wands and do as told. Leaving with a cheerful exuberance and a desire to please their caretaker.

As the smaller sprites leave, Puck looks out the window. He sees a mechanical giant in the distance. Sealed in an illusion. The robot is not a flat image made of the colors of the trees. The smoke that comes from its pipes is instead the steam from a geyser that was in the area. Puck looks at the metallic menace.

“Could these too, be from the wasteland to the north?” Puck muses. He notices there were differences in how these spheres looked compared to the steampunk trappings of what is now a mirage. “Or perhaps, are they from another challenger.”

Puck looks over at the newspapers, given to him by his sprite subjects. The front pages tell of disappearing dungeons and one suddenly growing exponentially in power. The sprites are too naive and innocent to realize the ramifications of this, but Puck is not, for he is the core of the palace and the surrounding feywood.

He flies outside the pace and towards the tip of the power. At the bottom lies a familiar glowing shape. Two cones, connected by a ring.

“Perhaps the time for me to fade is nigh,” the fair man says as he looks at the dungeon’s core. His core. “I hope they would prevail against the steel tyrant.”

✦✦✦

In the Feywood, dawn rises. On a steep cliff, Emily, Tim, and Elizabeth’s shells unfold and return to their normal state as their Bardsong-induced sleep fades and the three wake up.

Emily’s avarata yawns, her expression is drowsy as she covers her eyes from Stella’s rays. “That was a ..nap!”

Elizabeth flies towards Emily. “So how was the Sleepshell enchantment?”

“It was…tiring,” Tim says. He looks around and notices the surroundings are different than he previously recalled. “Now where are we?”

Emily looks around and sees that Sarah and the children are missing. Worry washes over everyone’s face. “Where are they?” Emily says.

Elizabeth’s face bears a confused expression. “I was certain we were in a forest,” the fairy says.

“Lizzie!” Emily says.

Elizabeth realizes that Sarah and the five girls with them are not with them. “…oh.” She flies around the area, trying to see any trace of Sarah, Nina, Rose, Lily, Hydrangea, or Azalea, but all she can see are illusions and mirages.

A gleam catches Tim’s eyes. He walks towards its source. It is a staff, attached to it is a piece of parchment. He reads it. “Welcome to the Mirage Feywood.” He notices the staff in front of him is tipped with butterfly wings. As he picks the staff up the parchment changes. “This is a Mirage Staff, whether you wish to escape or otherwise, this tool will help you navigate the twists and turns of this landscape.” Is now inscribed below the greeting.

Tim hands the staff and parchment to Emily. Emily reads through it and wonders if it can help them find the others.

Elizabeth looks towards the upside-down structure. “Emily look!” Emily looks out the cliff and towards the structure, majestic as it is uncanny. Its towers point down, decorated by spiral molds. Several parts of it are covered in vines and leaves.

“Do you think they could be there?” Emily says

“I’m not sure, this place could be a mirage as well,” Elizabeth says. “May I see that staff?”

Emily hands the Mirage staff to Elizabeth, she observes the sprightly tool and tests it out by pointing it at the palace. Nothing happens. “It’s real,” the fairy says. “The [Mirage Staves] are used in dispelling and manipulating illusions.” With that, the trio have a destination.

Elizabeth hands Emily back the Mirage Staff. “Should we look for a way down?” Emily says.

Elizabeth sakes her head. “Nothing is as it seems here, Emily. This place is populated by sprites and cover in illusions and mirages. We’ll need to find a more indirect route if we are to reach this palace.”

Emily takes the mirage staff and points it away from the palace’s direction. A road of yellow brick emerges from the ground. Laced with signs pointing every which way but the direction of the path.

“Let’s go,” Tim says.

The three walk along the path.

✦✦✦

Rose and Hydrangea wake up on the “ceiling” of a large throne room. Rose rubs her head. “Why do I feel so dizzy?” the Lamia says.

Hydrangea sees a Mirage Staff and the parchment attached to it. She reads the note and learns they are a dungeon called the Mirage Feywood. “Rose, I think the Sprite dungeon found us.”

“Well, that’s good news!” Rose says. “Maybe we can ask them where everyone else is!”

“I don’t think it would be that easy,” Hydrangea says. She looks around the room and sees a strange image of a cube painted on the wall. Hydrangea points the staff at the painted cube and it suddenly materializes as a three-dimensional object and falls on the ceiling with them.

Rose is shocked to see the image just turn into an object like that. “What in the— Hydra how did you do that?”

“Sprights are master illusionists,” Hydrangea says. “I’ve read that much. We need to find the others.”

Rose slithers after Hydrangea as she approaches the materialized cube. The cyan-haired girl sees a doorway on one of the cube’s sides, just big enough for the two of them. She opens it and the two enter it to find a room filled with bioluminescent mushrooms, trees, and grass. Also giant insects.

Rose sees one large grasshopper and tries to zap it, but her lightning magic doesn't faze the insect. They’re too tiny.

The lamia and the bespectacled girl wander the tall grass looking for a way out.

✦✦✦

Emily, Elizabeth, and Tim walk through a bio-luminescent forest. The trees are covered in glowing patterns that change as they approach it. They soon come across a large room filled with giant chess pieces.

Elizabeth flies to the ceiling and sees a doorway on a small floating lily pad. She heads back down to the floor. “I found a door at the top, but it is on something too small for the three of us.

“Can you fly us up there?” Emily says.

Elizabeth tries to fly Emily up, but it turns out they are too large to enter the doorway. The wind up back on the floor.

“No good huh?” Tim asks.

“Nope,” Emily says with a distraught expression.

A sprite arrives from the high doorway. “Guest! Guests!” she calls as she flutters towards them.

“Hello?” Emily says to the cheerful critter.

“Hello, friends. How are you enjoying the Feywood?” the sprite says.

“It’s, um, eh,” Elizabeth tries to answer her smaller counterpart.

“We’re looking for some people,” Tim says “Have you seen any children or dwarves around here.”

The sprite tilts her head quizzically. Tim’s brow furrowed upon learning this meant that asking her was futile.

“Nope, I haven't seen anyone here, sorry,” the sprite says.

“Is there a way you can get us to that door?” Emily says.

“Of course,” the sprite says. “But you have to solve a riddle first.”

“A riddle?” Emily says.

“[Sprites] are rather obtuse like that,” Elizabeth says.

The young sprite innocently flutters around the party. “A horse without legs, yet A can make great leaps, what am I?”

Emily looks around the room and sees several chess pieces, her eyes gaze at the giant horse-shaped knight piece. “A knight?” she guesses.

“Correct!” the sprite says as she flutters close to Emily’s eyes. “I’m Flowena! Nice to meet you!”

“Nice you meet you, Flowena,” Emily says.

“The Mirage Staff you have there has effects you might not be aware of try it on me and see!” Flowena says while close to Emily’s face.

“Okay?” Emily uses the staff on the helpful sprite.

Flowena laughs as the magic of the staff veils her. “That tickles!” she says. She points towards the entrance to the room. Emily moves towards there, the mirage staff brings Flowena with her. She turns around and perceives Flowena to be the same size. “Is this good?”

Flowena doubles over in laughter. “Now release the staff.” Emily moves the staff away. Tim and Elizabeth are shocked to see the sprite grow five times in size. Yet to Emily it only looks like she had suddenly moved a few feet away.

“But..how…what?” Elizabeth says.

“It’s all a matter of perspective, my fairy friend!” Flowena says.

Tim understands what happened. “I see. The nature of this place means that perspective itself can be distorted.” He looks at the giant rook piece, the tallest of them all. “Emily, hand me the staff.”

Emily gives Tim the Mirage Staff and Tim immediately points it towards the rook piece. He moves back severely feeling like lifting the piece with the staff. After moving a certain distance, he releases the piece next to the lily pad and it shrinks from Emily and Elizabeth’s perspective. Flowena flutters to the top of the rook piece. “You get it!” she says.

With the mirage Staff, Tim rescales the other chess pieces and places them to use as steps that they can ascend to the door. The group of four enter the door.

✦✦✦

Rose and Hydrangea get lost in the tall grass, unable to return to the throne room. Their diminutive sixes make them vulnerable to the insects within the grass.

Rose points the Mirage Staff in random directions. “Stupid thing, why won’t you work!” she says with frustration.

“It’s supposed to manipulate illusions,” Hydrangea says.

“I know that!” Rose grumbles.

As she slithers around she bumps into something. “Ow,” a sprite on the ground says.

“Sorry,” Rose says before realizing that someone else is here with him. “Wait, what?” she turns towards the sprite. His striking features are framed with blue hair and wings.

“You here to marvel at the majestic creatures of the grass too?” the sprite says.

“Majestic?” Rose says. “They’re bugs! Never mind, can you help us find our friends?”

“Sure,” the male sprite says. “Follow me!”

The two follow the sprite around the grasslands until they reach a door. Through it, they find a room with walls painted with strange shapes and colors, as well as stairs and pillars scattered all around.

“Well at least there are no insects here,” Rose says.

“If you want to find your friends, then solve the riddle,” the blue-haired sprite says. “I have a bed but do not sleep. Always running, never walking. I have a mouth but do not eat. Always whispering, never talking. What am I?

“Riddles, of course,” Rose says.

“The answer is all around us,” the sprite says. “Name’s Ulric, by the way.” Rose sighs.

“Not much we can do about it now,” Hydrangea says. The two try to think up possible guesses.

“A car maybe?” Rose says.

“Nope,” Ulric says.

“That’s more of a roar than a whisper, “Hydrangea says. “Maybe it’s a cavern?”

“Since when does a cavern move?” Rose says.

Ulric giggles. “Try again.”

The two girls try various guesses, to no avail. After a few minutes, Ulric offers a hint. “Maybe you guys should consider finding a new angle?”

Hydrangea sees several staircases on the walls, as well as one on the floor and ceiling. She and Rose climb to the top of one stairwell but find nothing there that can help. Them. The climb was the second, but it was to no avail. On the third stairwell. Rose notices something about the view that seems strangely coherent. She slithers around the top of the squares and notices that an image of a river is formed on the walls. Hydrangea comes to Rose’s position and sees the same image of the river.

Ulrich walks up to them and sees Rose’s face of realization. You found the answer huh?”

Rose takes the Mirage Staff and points it at the illusory River, the room transforms into that of a riverside.

Hydrangea looks at Ulrich with a confused expression.

“What?”

Hydrangea says nothing. The two go down the river, eventually finding Emily, Elizabeth, and Tim. Along with a pink-haired sprite.

“Rose! Hydrangea!” Emily says, “Thank goodness you two are okay.”

The lamia slithers to Emily’s party, she sees that the only ones with her are Elizabeth and Tim, and a mysterious pink-haired sprite.

“Hello there,” the female sprite says. “I’m Flowena!”

“I’m Ulric!” the blue haired sprite says to Emily and her group. The two sprites exchange mischievous chuckles.

Hydrangea looks at Emily and notices she also has a Mirage Staff. “You too huh?” she says.

Emily sees Rose holding a butterfly-tipped staff. “Looks like.”

The group discuss what had happened to them and then set off to find the others.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Sarah wakes up in a strange room. Her silver armor changes from its spherical Sleepshell form and the dwarf walks around the room. She picks up the Mirage Staff and reads the inscription.

“Darn it, Lizzie,” Sarah says, rubbing her confused head. “I get that it was to protect us, but—” Sarah sees the room light up and notices images of two metallic ovals. superimposed on the walls and ceiling. A sprite flutters up to the dwarf and says. “Puck had a hunch guest would be coming for these spheres,” before fluttering away.

Sarah is confused by the sprite’s statement. She sees the images of the ovals on the walls, one is silver and the other is bronze. Both are encased in an image of a third-dimensional grid. She then looks up at the butterfly-tipped staff.

“A tool for navigating the illusions huh,” Sarah says. She has a hunch that she should sue it on something here.

She looks around, but she does not see any other objects to use it on. She points it towards the locked door, but it doesn't unlock. She accidentally lifts the door out and moves forward, but another door appears in its place. She tires it on the sign and learns the staff could be used to move and resize objects, but it doesn't seem to be of any use. She notices the ovals are the only images on the walls.

“I wonder…” Sarah moves back and points the Mirage Staff at the image of the circles. She points it at the staff, but nothing happens.

“Hmm,” she looks at the wall and ceiling. She sees the sign has changed. “Perspective matters,” it not reads.

She looks back at the ovals and realizes that they are stretched into the ceiling. She walks closer to the walls until she sees the true shapes. She points the staff directly around her and the magic clicks.

The “overs” materializes into perfectly round spheres…that are made up of twenty-six smaller cubes each. The fifty-two cubes land on the floor and scatter. To Sarah’s confusion. On a hunch that this isn’t the end of the puzzle, she picks up and assembles the small cubes into their original configuration and then uses the mirage staff on them. Freeing the spheres from the cubic prisons.

Sarah approaches them and hears the spheres hum a faint tune. The Sleepshells, now exposed to bright light, return to their normal forms of Strelitzia and Nina. The minotaur and spiderling wake up with groggy expressions. And the door finally unlocks.

“Good mourning!” Sarah says.

Nina yawns. “Where are we?”

“Wonderland it looks like,” Sarah says. She gives the two girls the parchment that came with the mirage staff.

“Of course, the sprites would abduct us!” Strelitzia says with a look of annoyance.

“You met them before?” Nina says.

“Once,” the horned girl says. As the three go outside Streltizia tells Nina about the Coloratura’s previous sprightly encounter. The three soon find another puzzle room. Eight candles are superimposed on the walls, lighting up the rooms. The nearby sign says, “The more of me you see, the less you will see.”

Sarah looks at the candles and sees they are somehow relevant to this. “Nina, can you make a web?” Sarah says.

Nina abolishes Sarah’s request and extrudes a silken thread from her spinneret. Sarah takes the sticky string and weaves it into a small haphazard sheet.

“What are you doing?” Streltizia says.

“Turning off the lights,” Sarah says, as she plasters the webbing sheet over one of the superimposed candles. The light dims and the skeet does not burn from the heat.

“Can you bet some more—” Sarah turns to see Nina lying facedown on the floor. Breathing heavily. “So…hungry.” Sarah realizes she can’t make more webs in that state. She remembers their group brought enough food for two days each and reached into her bag. She takes out one of the snacks they bought and hands it to Nina. Nina takes the breakfast sandwich from Sarah and scarfs it down. “Thanks!”

“Don’t mention it,” Sarah says. “Plenty more where this came from.” She says as she takes out another and gives it to Stretlizia. She then takes out a throat to eat.

Nina tries to make more threads but learns that she is still unable to. “Sorry, Sarah,”

“It’s okay,” Sarah says. She has another idea. She takes the patch she had made off the wall and uses the mirage staff on it. “Stay back.”

She walks backward while keeping the staff fixed on the patch. She soon lets go and the makeshift web patch grows enough to cover an entire wall. “Strelitzia can you cut this into eight patches?”

“On it,” Streltizia says. She cuts the enbiggened sheet into eight squares. The dwarf, minotaur, and spiderling then plaster them over the images of the candles. The room dims with each sheet until it reaches total darkness.

The riddle is solved and an open doorway suddenly appears. The trio enters through it.

Strelitzia takes the opportunity to ask the silver-haired girls about Heathcliff. “So, that knight. What do you think about him?”

“Kinda sounds like a boor,” Sarah says. “But he seems like an okay guy.”

“He helped save us from kidnappers!” Nina says.

“Though Emily did most of the work, according to Brother,” Sarah says.

Stretlizia is still unconvinced. “But surely he has something up his sleeve!” she says. “He seems way too suspicious!”

Sarah is confused by Streltizia’s comment. “Come to think of it, how did you lose your parents, Streltizia?”

“I, um I. T-that is not relevant to the topic!” The minotaur says.

Sarah notices something with the minotaur’s response seems off. “Alright, far be from em to probe,” the dwarf says. “Still, it seems like you have trust issues.”

“No, I don’t!” Strelitizia says, despite insulating a few minutes ago her distrust of Heathcliff.

“You can trust Mommy!,” Nina says, “and you can trust Sarah too!”

“Yeah,” Sarah says. “And right now you can trust that Sir Says-cher-a-lot is on the up and up.”

Streltizia sighs.

Nina giggles. “So how did you meet your other friends, Stre?” Nina says curiously.

“Wanted to escape a place, met them on the way, simple as that.” Strelitizia omits certain details.

“What kind of place?” Nina says

“Just…forget it. We don’t have time for this.”

“She’s hiding something,” Sarah thinks. “Perhaps it’s related to her parents?”

The trio continue on their path.

✦✦✦

Sarah, Streltizia, and Nina wind up in another puzzle room. This time are strange shapes superimposed on the walls. The shapes were also metallic, and colored gold or cobalt blue. The sign at the other edge of the door tells of a riddle.

“I cross a gap without moving. I am the foundation upon which safe passage sits. What am I?”

Sarah notices there is a large impassable gap. Behind it are several light places. Nina and Streltizia think about possible answers.

“Maybe it’s a car?” Nina says.

“That can’t be right, it moves,” Strelitiza says.

Sarah already had an idea, and to prove it, she lit the sign and placed it on the precipice, lying flat. She then walks outside the room, keeping the sign in view, and then aims the staff at it. “You better get out of here!” she shouts.

The younger girls exit the room while Sarah walks backward, keeping the staff locked onto the signpost. She walks further away until she finds the staff cannot let her move further. She lets go and runs back to the room and sees the signpost take up the entirety of the entrance.

“Too big?” Sarah.

“Okay Sarah, spill it,” Stretlizia says petulantly. “What’s the answer to the riddle?”

“It’s a bridge of course,” Sarah says while leaving the enlarged signpost. “By connecting two points it crosses them and its purpose is to enable safe passage for these gaps. She moves closer to the room and then lets go. The signpost is small enoughs for them to enter the room, but large enoughs for them to cross the gap. “See?”

Nina and Streltizia are amazed by Sarah’s deduction. The trio cross the signpost and make it tot he other side, there Sarah notices some of the metallic shapes resembled the “ovals” from the first room, ovals that turned out to be Strelitzia and Sarah.

“Perspective matters,” she thinks. Recalling the advice form the sign of the selfsame room. She turns to the younger girls. “I think we can find Azalea and Lily here, can you help me look for two circles?”

“But I don’t see any circles here,” Nina says.

“If my hunch is correct you will,” Sarah says.

Streltizia nods. “Hand me the staff. I think I hand handle it.”

The dwarf hands Stretlizia the staff as well as two breakfast sandwiches. Strelitzia looks around the room, looking for the right point to connect she shapes. She soon finds the pieces of the blue circle connecting from a high corner. She points the wand at it and Azalea falls. Her Sleepshell enchantment is dispelled in mid-air and she floats towards Stretlizia.

“That was a good nap,” the mermaid says. “I feel quite well rounded.”

“Don’t tell me…” Streltizia says before handing Azalea a sandwich. The mermaid eats it and then swims towards Nina and Lily. While Azalea plays peek-a-boo with the spiderling, Streltizia focuses on finding a point where the golden superimposed images connect. She eventually find it, by walking onto the walls and seeing the golden painted images connect. She points the staff at the combined image and Lily rolls from the materialization point. At larger than usual size.

The centaur child wakes up and see Azalea, Sarah and Nina next to her and that they are now the size of her thumb. “Is this a dream?” Lily says.

“Yes, it is,” Azalea curtly, but humorously says.

“How do I wake up?”

“Hang on,” Stretlizia says. “I’ll get you back to normal. She points the staff at Lily and lifts her up.

“Hey, that tickles!” Lily giggles as she is being levitated. She observed form Sarah’s feat with the signpost that she could change the size, but she isn’t sure how that is possible, until shifts Lily a few feet away and learns that her size relative to her vision of her didn’t change an inch. With this quick realization, she brings Lily closer to her, close enough that she is about the same size as usual, as far as Streltizia’s concerned, Releasing the staff’s hold on her, Lily plots to the ground at normal size.

“Ow!” Lily says.

“Sorry,” the minotaur says. Offering her a sandwich. The centaur takes the breakfast item.

With Azalea and Lily retrieved and fed, they exist the door and find the location had changed into a river bed. In the distance they find Emily’s group and reconvenes with them.

✦✦✦

Emily’s group reunites on one of the banks of the river. Ulric and Flwoena introduce themselves to Sarah’s group as Elizabeth does a headcount.

“Let’s see, Emily, Tim, Rose, Hydrangea, Sarah, Nina, Streltizia, Azalea, Lily. That’s everyone!”

“Great,” Stretlizia says. “Now can we get out of here?” She turns to the sprites.

“Of course, just follow us,” Flowena says with a mischievous smile.

Emily sighs, expecting more riddles. Azalea meanwhile strikes up a rapport with the sprites as they exchange jokes and ideas.

As they walk alongside the river, Nina asks Streltizia about something. “Hey,” Nina says “You seemed very ex-spe-ri-enced.”

“I am,” Streltizia says, Her labrys in full view. She already knows Nina is infatuated with adventures and becoming one yourself.

“Can you teach me how to fight?” Nina says eagerly.

Strelitzia is taken aback by the question. “Are you sure? You seem like…”

“I want to know how to fight to the best of my A-bull-e-ty,” the younger spiderling says. “Please?” Her eyes quiver as she asks the question.

Strelitzia doesn't know how to answer the question. She averts her eyes from her, just in case. “Wouldn't your mommy be mad at you?” she says. “Wait, why do I care what her mom thinks?” She thinks.

“I can ask her when we head home!” Nina says. She continues to insist that Streltizia trains her.

“I’ll think about it,” Stretlizia says.

Meanwhile, Lily notices something amiss and asks a pertinent question. “Excuse me, um, where are the cells?”

The group stops, as they realize that aside from the sprites, they haven’t encountered anyone else. Not even a single Sentinel.

“Oh right, Dungeons usually have those, right?” Flowena says.

“They do, yes?” Elizabeth says.

“Guess Mister Puck hadn’t bothered with them,” Ulric says.

“Mister Puck?” Emily says.

“Our caretaker!” Flowena says exuberantly. “He shelters us from bad guys!”

Emily deduces this Puck might be the core of the Mirage Feywood, but she is more curious about the mention of bad guys.

“Haven’t you heard?” Ulric says. “Bag guys prowl the land. Liars, thieves, crooks!”

“Cruel kidnappers, too,” Flowena says. “The vile fiends!”

Rose smirks. “Fiends like them are no match for the Coloraturas!” she says forgetting that half of that band is not with her at the moment.

“If you’ll kindly let us out,” Elizabeth says. “I’m sure we can handle these barbarians.”

“Technically,” Tim says with a mischievous smile. “Barbarians are outsiders, a category that could easily include us depending on the context.”

“You know what I mean, Tim!” Elizabeth says.

Azalea giggles.

Ulric realizes we forgot something. “Hang on, I’ll go on ahead!” the blue sprite leaves the group.

“Hey wait up!” Emily says. Everyone rushes after Ulric, but they lose him in the fog. Instead, they find a door.

“We’re here!” Flowena says. “Ulric is likely through here.”

The group enters the door, trusting Flowena. They find themselves on the floor of the throne room.

“Huh?” Rose says, noting a sense of familiarity. “Haven't we been here before?”

The rest of the group, save Hydrangea, are confused.

“Haven’t seen anything like it,” Sarah says.

“This must be the palace!” Elizabeth says.

“What’s a palace?” Nina says.

“It’s a place where kings live!” Lily says

Ulric returns to the group and directs them to the ceiling. “Distorted images of two chests are painted onto the ceiling where Rose and Hydrangea woke up.

Emily understands the point of the images and positions herself so that she can sue the Mirage Staff. After finding a spot where the images line up, she uses the staff and two chests fall onto the ground. She then wonders if this means the two sprites are Sentinels.

Elizabeth opens the two chests and finds they both contain herbs and spices.

“Consider it a gift from us!” Flowena says “For solving out riddles.”

Emily looks at the spices and herbs. Tim makes a note of them as well.

“Starlit Phantom Grass, Woven Mirage Root, Cerulean Dragon Petals,” Tim says.” Emily it might be wise to accept these gifts.

“O-okay, but why?” Emily says

“My old master was an alchemist of sorts,” Tim says. “He valued the use of herbs in medicines for bettering harnessing mana. These herbs would be used to make potions for that end.”

“That’s right,” Elizabeth says. “[Potions] could be used to better one’s mana, in proper dosages of course.”

“And the spices?” Emily says. Notices include ginseng, saffron, and nutmeg

“Maybe Heathcliff will appreciate them?” Sarah says.

“They can certainly spice you up a little,” Azalea says. “Be a little careful, your mouth might regret it if you absorb them all at once.”

“There is also the issue of absorbing or ingesting sprite-made food. Many an [Adventurer] has been trapped inside for confusion of the food within these halls.”

“Us, trap you?” Ulric says.

“Perish the thought!” Flowena says

On Azalea’s warning, she avoids the spices and just places them in her bag. She does absorb the three herbs.

“This should allow us to create the plants they came from,” Elizabeth says.

The group then explores the throne room. Rose looks outside and sees the landscape is upside down, or rather the place is.

Lily gallops to the throne and notices something odd. “Lookie!” she cries out, the others see a door on the back of the throne. They open it and enter.

✦✦✦

The group is now on one of the walls of one of the spires. It is now a floor to them. Adorned with several paintings. Out of all of them, Nina is the most used to clinging to walls like that.

“So this will lead us outside?” Elizabeth says.

“Maybe,” Flowena says.

They find several doors within the paintings on the walls. Azalea swims through one of the frames, but it is another illusion and the frame instead leads to a dead end. Another frame depicts the door that they can go through, but beyond it is a simple room with a projection of a blue sky. More like a movie theater than a way out.

“Now that is a showstopper,” Azalea quips.

They return to the spire’s walls. Emily notices a painting behind the paintings, unframed and spanning the wall above them. Sarah already sees it and uses the Mirage Staff to move the painting away. The frames of fall paths drop to the “ceiling” of the tower to their left as Sarah, Emily, and Rose reveal an image of a crooked door. After finding the right angle, Rose uses the staff to materialize it.

They enter through the door and wind up back in the throne room, this time on its walls. They avoid the windows, now wanting to test how gravity works in this state. They soon find another door, leading to a hallway.

Entering the door, they find themselves in a seemingly endless corridor. They look up and see a black ceiling over their heads. They wander through it for a few minutes before realizing they are going around in circles.

Strelitzia grows frustrated with the endless hallway. “Hey!” She shoots a glower at the two fairies. “This isn’t funny!”

“Do you want a hint?” Ulrich says with a chuckle. “In the night, I come with no call. In the day, I leave with no fall. What am I?”

Tim looks up and notices specks of light in the ceiling. They look like paint but…

He uses his wind spell to make a great leap and finds his luscious confirms, the riddle’s answers are stars, and the “ceilings” are their sky. From on high, he sees the hallways surrounding resemble a movie lot more than it does a fairy-enchanted forest, he also sees a door in the distance.

Through Tim’s leap, the others learn that the ceiling is another illusion. Azalea and Elizabeth swim and fly above the hallways repeatedly, Nina scales the wall and realizes she can thread again. She uses her ability to make a silken rope for the others to climb up on. Emily uses her wind magic to propel herself up in the same manner as Tim. They climb to the top of the hallway loop and descend down its outer shell. Ulric and Flowena are impressed by Tim’s deduction.

The group heads towards the door and walks through it.

✦✦✦

The group finds themselves in an upside-down library, where they find an elegant tall man surrounded by several sprites. The man is reading them a fairy tale as he looks at the guests. “So you made it this far, it’s nice to meet you,” the man says. “My name is Puck.”

“Are you the core of these Feywoods?” Emily asks. She mentally chastises herself for asking such a question.

Puck chuckles. “And if I say yes to the claim, what would you do?”

Elizabeth approaches the fairy monarch. “Mister Puck was it? We came here not to slay you, but to ask for your help?”

“It’s about the vanishing dungeons?”

“Yes,” Emily says. “So you know anything about those?”

“Of course,” Puck dismissive the smaller sprites and places the storybook on his lap onto a shelf. “Come,” he leads the group through another door.

They arrive inside Puck’s room, surrounded by large glass windows. They walk on the floor of the upside-down room. Rose looks outside and is not amused by the upside-down ceiling.

Puck sits down on another table, several local newspapers from the communities in Cerberus are on it. “The Jasmine Gardens, the Rosenwald Mines, The Twilit Observatory. All gone without a trace. I’m not surprised news these disappearances have made it as far as Noir.”

“Do you have any idea what is the cause?” Tim says.

“I have a theory.” The Sprite king gestures to their right. Outside of the window, they can see several people superimposed on the landscape. “This is where more belligerent fools lie,” Puck says. Beyond even those lies an image of a giant mechanical being. “That is less foolish but more hostile.”

Elizabeth looks at the image of the robot. “It looks like a [Sentinel], but from where?”

“My subjects brought whispers of a dungeon further north that had suddenly spiked in power. Around the same time, the dungeons begin vanishing. I’m certain you notice the correlation.”

Emily takes out her map. She recalls the forest they searched was to the northwest of Thronwood. Of the five locations marked, it is the second most northward location here. “The Engines are the cause?”

“It seems you are already aware of their presence,” Puck says. “I sense great power in you, but it is not enough to contest them in your current state. I must advise you to return from once you came before they find you.”

“Hang on,” Tim says. “There is one other factor here. Some of the reports involve the places physically disappointing as well.”

“That’s right,” Emily says. “If a dungeon is absorbed the surrounding land should revert to a previous state, not be wiped from the face of Titania.”

“That much is true,” Puck says. “Alas, I know not the cause of that phenomena. Even the mirages here are not enough to create such a ghastly effect.”

“Do you know of the phrase ‘Project Stronghold’?” Tim asks

“That is not a combination of words I heard before,” Puck says

“We found out about something like that over at Joyfuller Island,” Rose says as she begins to explain about the factory.

“A Mythril factory had suddenly emerged there under the control of the Vanishers,” Hydrangea says.

“The palookas don’t know what hit them,” Rose says.

“I see,” Puck says. “The Rosenwald Mines were renowned for being a local source of Mythril, and their disappearances entailed the mountain they resided in also vanishing.” He looks towards Emily and notices a similar mana to that of the mines. “I take if you had taken care of that matter?”

Emily nods.

“Perhaps there is a link between the Engines or Project Strongholds, or perhaps there are two roots here. Regardless,” Puck says. “As it stands you are not ready, if you wish to solve these mysteries you need more Mana. I can grant you some of my power, but only some if you want more then you must—”

“I know,” Emily says. “Thank you, Mister Puck. She presents him with the Mirage Staff, as does Rose and Sarah. Puck imbues the staff with some of his Mana.

“With this, you are at least able to survive an encounter with the Engines,” Puck says. “Right now a fight here would only hinder both of us.”

“You’re not a rouge dungeon, “Rose says. “Are you?”

“Maybe I am, Maybe I’m not,” Puck says. He conjures a door. Through the doorway, they see Thronwood’s diner. “This shall lead to from the town you last visited. Whether or not you want to confront the Engines. I wish you luck, travelers.”

“Thank you, Mister Puck,” Emily says. She and her group walk through the door, leaving Flowena and Ulric alone with Mister Puck.

“Go with them,” Puck says to the two sprites. “I’m sure they will take good care of you.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Flowena says.

“The end of the Feywood is nigh, for even if they do not seek to absorb me, the Engines surely will. They are certainly awaiting others back in the town, this grants you enough time to gather those who need to escape and flee the woods. Should the worse come to happen.”

“Understood,” Ulrich says. “It was getting pretty boring here anyway.”

“Ulric!” Flowena says.

Puck chuckles. “I understand, throughout my years sheltering you, I’ve come to understand your nature, your desire for change. I’m afraid that I cannot provide shelter anymore, for the Engines will surely come for me.”

“We’ll miss you, you know,” Flowena says.

“I know,” Puck says. “But you must be as free as the wind if you are to survive the coming storm, and I think Emily and her Dungeon are able to grant you both shelter and freedom.”

Flowena and Ulric leave to gather several sprite communities together and begin their exodus. While Puck gathers the remainder and prepares for the inevitable confrontation. The pink and blue sprites meet up with Puck once more. Puck creates another door, using his observation of Emily’s mana to link it to the Black Box. The exodus moves there while Flowena and Ulric move through the door to Thornwood to join Emily’s group.