//------------------------------// // Chapter 17 // Story: Enter the Spider... or Whatever I Am's Web // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 17 ___________________________________________________________ “So… what kind of festival would this be?” Irma asked as she, Will, Taranee and Cornilia moved several barrels out of the store room into a large olden town looking kitchen. The four were wearing blue robes, hiding their Guardian forms. “Oh, right. You’re new around here,” Alma, the elderly inn keeper said, smiling. She wore her long white hair and a pair of buns and small braids near her ears and was wearing a white robe, as were most patrons of the inn. When the Guardians had arrived in Arkanta, Mel had gotten a headache, as if something was wrong that only she had been able to sense. Worried, and not wanting to draw attention to themselves, the girls had put on the blue robes provided by Hay Lin’s grandmothers to hide their transformed states and wandered around aimlessly in the forest they’d found themselves in, Will supporting Mel on her shoulder the whole time as the younger girl recovered from the strange headache. Mel, along with the robe provided to hide her own transformed state, also had a glamor spell on her face, provided by The Oracle. Until they changed back to their regular forms, to everyone aside from the Guardians, Mel’s face would look as it did whenever she wasn’t transformed, as hiding fangs and red eyes was a lot harder to do than hiding wings under a robe. After an hour, they’d stumbled upon the village they’d seen through the magical window The Oracle had shown them, not that it was hard to tell that with the large citadel not too far off from the village. It loomed over the village in an imposing manner that seemed to not be noticed by the villagers, it being surrounded by massive walls of rock, with several spires of red rising into the sky. It wasn’t evil looking like Phobos had made his castle, back when he was ruling over Meridian, but it was still imposing to the girls, them knowing Ari and whatever power he held was up there. Hungry after wandering around for so long, the girls had found a small inn and, after informing that they had no money, they were offered a few nights at the inn in exchange for some work, which they happily accepted. Mel, still recovering from whatever caused her headache, had sat at a table while the girls did some chores around the inn or helped customers, all the while, asking questions to get what information they could about the goings on in Arkanta and Ari himself. By chance, they’d arrived on the night of a festival the village held every year in his honour. When the girls had a chance to relax a little, Mel informed them of what she’d also learned while sitting, nursing her headache and listening in to the conversations going on around her. She was using the fact she looked so much younger than the others to her advantage. No one was suspicious about why a girl her age would be asking questions about Ari or why she was just sitting around not seeming to be doing anything far more than the other girls, so she’d been able to ask more questions without drawing curious eyes. Granted, Will wasn’t exactly thrilled when she heard the cover story Mel had made up on the fly when someone had asked her where she and the others were from, Mel having been so caught off guard, she’d blurted the first thing that came to her mind. A group of massive bears had attacked their village and the six of them had to flee, Mel getting injured and thus needing recovery time as they’d wandered aimlessly, trying to find somewhere to go, the bears having destroyed their village. It was by sheer dumb luck this hadn’t severely backfired as it would’ve had she said something so ridiculous on Earth as, in Arkanta, most animals were similar to those on Earth, but bears were a wholly different story. They were huge, as big as most skyscrapers back on Earth, so the idea that of group of them could’ve destroyed a small village wasn’t too out of the realm of possibility. Will did have grievance with Mel implying the two were sisters, hence why Will had been so protective of her when they first arrived in the village. It made sense, yes, as it was more believable in the context of the false backstory she’d given, but Will didn’t like lying about their familial connections. Mel could easily have gone with the story they already were using on Earth, them being distant cousins. Of course, Will was able to overlook it, since Mel was in a completely different world and her headache probably wasn’t helping her think as clearly as usual and this was her first real mission as a Guardian. The information she’d gathered, however, was very helpful. According to the villagers she’d spoken to, combine with what small tidbits the girls had gotten, they were able to learn Ari was using the power of a Banshee, which, in the world of Arkanta, worked like genies in story books: if you get one, they’ll grant you three wishes. Though the villagers were unclear how, Ari had apparently found a way to convince the Banshee, Yua, to give him infinite wishes or something akin to it, as he was using her power to protect the land and allow his people to flourish and that’s how the kingdom had been doing so well all these years. However, something felt wrong and all six of them could feel it. Ari having a Banshee’s power and it giving him akin to infinite wishes did explain how The Oracle hadn’t been able to see into the world for decades, but not why those members of the council had attacked The Oracle. After much discussion, it was decided that Mel and Hay Lin would go to The Scarlet Citadel, as the villagers told them Ari’s castle was called, sneak in and try to find what information they could. Will wasn’t too sure she liked it though. She hadn’t said anything, but Will could tell something about learning Ari was using a Banshee’s power was worrying her. She only hoped, whatever Mel and Hay Lin found at the castle, things wouldn’t go badly. ___________________________________________________________ I pear out from the shadows I’m currently concealed in, watching and listening as the guards stand outside the gates into the castle proper. When Hay Lin and I split off from the rest of the group, we learned there was like a second village within the Scarlet Citadel itself, though this was clearly for those higher up in social class or working in the castle itself. Thanks to The Oracle’s help, while I’m still getting used to my new Shadow power, I have been able to figure out how to do something rather interesting. Like how the girls have sub-powers linked to their own in certain ways, Hay Lin being able to turn invisible, Cornelia having essentially telekinesis and so on, my power over Shadow isn’t strictly limited to firing Shadow energy blasts from my hands. I can actually melt into shadows and hide among them as well as move through them, really fast too. Granted, I can only do it for short periods, fifteen minutes at most, before needing to take a break, but, for the short time I’d had to learn it, The Oracle says I’ve done pretty well. This is the only reason Will agreed to let me go with Hay Lin, since her invisibility and my Shadow Walking, as I’ve taken to calling it, make us best at sneaking into the castle. “Mel?” Hay Lin’s voice pulls me from my thoughts and I look to where I can sense she’s standing, even though I can’t actually see her. “What’s up?” I ask, turning my eyes back to the guards. We’re waiting for the next shift change. After observing for a few hours, we picked up that the guards at the gate change every hour, making the shift change the perfect time for us to sneak in through the front doors. It does mean we’ll likely miss out on the festival, but, we didn’t come here for fun. We came here to fix Arkanta’s problems. “Why are you so worried?” I’m taken aback, losing my hold and melting out of the shadows briefly, before returning to them just before a guard lazily glances in our direction. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, trying to think of a way to make this conversation end before it can start. I can somehow feel Hay Lin frowning disapprovingly at me. “Mel, you’ve been on edge ever since Will brought up how that it makes sense infinite power would allow Ari to do practically anything. While that is worrying, it seems like something about it specifically is bothering you. Now, what is it?” I try not answering, hoping she’ll drop it, but, after several minutes of feeling those invisible eyes on me, I sigh, giving in. “Fine. I’m worried because of time.” I can practically see the confusion on her invisible face without actually seeing it. “Time? What do you mean? We sorted all that out already, didn’t we? Our Astral Drops are taking our places and, when we Fold back tonight, we’ll disperse them and then start again in the morning.” Despite her not being able to see it, I shake my head. “No, I mean Arkanta’s time.” To the confused pause, I continue. “Think about it, Hay Lin. The Oracle noticed problems starting in Arkanta back when Nerissa was still leader of The Guardians back in C.H.Y.K.N.’s day. It’s been decades since then on Earth, but, from what information we’ve gathered and what we’ve seen, barely two years seems to have passed here in Arkanta since The Oracle was attacked and The Veil cut off Folding travel.” There’s a long pause, before Hay Lin gives a sharp gasp, which causes the guards to look in our direction, but, after a few moments, return to their posts. “You mean, Ari found a way to slow down time here in Arkanta?” Hay Lin asks shakily. “Possibly,” I say, watching closely as the hour nears its end, knowing we’ll have to be fast. “That or The Oracle somehow sent us back in time, but I’m doubtful of the latter.” Hay Lin says nothing as the doors open and a pair of guards step out to give the ones already there leave. Quickly as possible, Hay Lin flies after the guards heading inside, myself rushing into one of their shadows. Soon as the doors close, I slip out of the guard’s shadow and into one being cast by a pillar. “Hay Lin?” I whisper, glancing around. “Here,” her voice whispers from my right. I move out of the shadow, returning to my physical form, Hay Lin becoming visible again. “Okay, we need to split off and see what we can learn,” I say, pointing down one corridor. “You take that way and I’ll go this way,” I point to a corridor behind me. “Meet back here in two hours.” Hay Lin nods, going invisible again and I hear the faint sound of her wings getting further and further away. On my own, I melt back into the shadows and use them to move down the corridor, occasionally having to leave the shadows while still in shadow form. To an outside observer, they’d have seen a shadow being cast by no one moving quickly along the floors and walls. After an hour and a half, I start wondering if Ari is aware we’re here and just really good at hiding stuff, because most rooms have looked pretty normal to me, reminding me of a fancy hotel and nothing else. I’m just deciding to give up on this area of the castle and head back to try another corridor, when I pass by a pair of guards taking their posts by a seemingly ordinary looking door. I would’ve just passed right by them, thinking nothing of it, had one of them not spoken. “You think the Time Sphere’s alright?” the guard on the right asks. “Oh, for the love of the realm, Malecite, you’ve haven’t been listening to those dumb rumours, have you?” his fellow guard asks. I pause, quickly moving to a shadow being cast by a vase and listen. Time Sphere? That sounds like it could be worth listening in on. The guard named Malecite looks hurt, before glancing to the door behind them. “No, Roman, I’m serious. I think there’s something wrong with the Time Sphere.” Roman just scoffs, looking away. “Lord Ari explained it perfectly two years ago. The Time Sphere keeps our world’s time slowed down so the other worlds can’t hurt us. Keeping our time slow means they’re worlds are all going to reach their ends long before ours, keeping our people safe.” I frown. That explains it. Ari must’ve used the Banshee’s power to make this Time Sphere in order to make sure The Oracle couldn’t do anything to counter him due to the bad timing of it being not long before The Veil would need to be raised in order to isolate Meridian, thus drawing The Oracle’s attention away from Arkanta, giving Ari time to figure out how best to go after The Oracle next. He probably guessed The Oracle might survive and, if not, knew the Council of Kandrakar would have serious problems with him offing The Oracle. Either way, he knew keeping Kandrakar from immediately acting was a good plan, he just hadn’t realized his prefect timing, what with Nerissa stepping out of line and the Veil coming not too long after. “But, I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with the sphere,” Malecite says, glancing at the door again. “When it was first made, it shone with a golden light.” Roman snorts. “It still does.” “I… I don’t think so,” Malecite says, sounding very uncertain. “I think what some of the guards are saying is true. It looks like it could be seen as still golden under the right light, but it’s more a simple yellowish colour now.” Roman looks like he’s really not happy this conversation is still going and turns to glare at Malecite. “Shut. Up! Nothing is wrong with the Time Sphere! Lord Ari is not one to make such a foolish mistake! Just stand there, keep quiet and do your job! If it’s that concerning to you, I’ll speak with the captain and he can reassign you!” Malecite looks to the ground miserably and silence falls. Deciding now’s as good a time as any, I head, back to where Hay Lin and I are supposed to meet. I’m waiting half an hour before she comes back, saying she found nothing. “No problem,” I reassure her. “I found out something juicy. We need to report back to the others before—” Suddenly, what sounds like an explosion rings through the air, making us jump. “What in the world was that?!” Hay Lin cries… which proves to be a bad choice. The explosion sound clearly drew the attention of several guards, as the corridors suddenly are full of them… while we’re still in full view. “Shit!” I whisper as dozens of spears are pointed at us. “Sorry ’bout this, Hay Lin.” “Sorry about wha—AHHH!” she ends up screaming as I grab her in my shadows and lunge us through a stained glass window, the glass shattering. We fall for a bit, before our wings catch us and we rise into the air, only for our eyes to widen in horror. There’s a tornado raging through the skies and it looks like it’s hitting the village the rest of the girls are in. HALF AN HOUR AGO Will and Irma walked through the village back towards the inn. They’d been asked to get some Kolu Root from a small shop run by a friend of Alma, who’d agreed to stay open during the festival so she could get the root for a dish she was preparing to serve during the evening. “How to you think Hay Lin and Mel are doing?” Irma asked as they weaved their way through the growing crowd. “Hay Lin will do fine and I trust Mel. She’s smart enough to know when to back off if she thinks a situation is too risky,” Will replied. “True. As long as they don’t get spotted, thing’s should be just— look out!” Irma started, then yelled, shoving will aside as a tower of barrels fell, smashing to the ground, the red contends within spilling out. On instinct, Irma stopped the red liquid in midair, before seeming to catch her and dove away, allowing what was clearly drink to slosh onto the ground where the two fo them had been. “My deepest apologies!” a woman’s voice called and they turned to see a woman with brown hair walking towards them, holding the reins of a cow. “Belinda got a little out spooked by a mosue and knocked those barrels over. Are you two alright?” “We’re… we’re okay,” Will said, pushing herself out of the mud caused by all the drink soaking into the dirt, the edges of her robe’s sleeves and lower area now stained. “Yeah. It was just drink. Nothing major,” Irma shrugged it off. They reassured the woman they were fine, though she insisted on helping them gather the now scattered Kolu Roots, before saying their goodbyes and heading off, the woman chastising Belinda for what she did. As the trio parted ways, a man in a cloak was watching from the shadows, his eyes wide with fear and fury. He’d only come down in disguise to see how his people were enjoying the festive day… and he found them. “Guardians!” he hissed. Turning, he walked out of the village, before standing still, closing his eyes. “Yua,” he called out softly, his eyes glowing. “Yua, respond.” I hear you, my master, a woman’s voice replied. “Send a tornado to the village just beyond my postion,” he snarled. “The Guardians are here.” As you wish, my master. NOW Hay Lin and I shoot through the sky faster than bullets, our eyes narrowed as we near the village. We can see Will and the others here and there, trying their best to get people to safety as the tornado rampages through the streets without mercy, Cornella and Will doing what they can to destroy or divert any debris that could cause anyone serious harm. Will, we’re back! I yell over the physic link. Will turns, a mixture of relief and worry etch on her face. Good, now, can you two help us? We need to stop this tornado! We’ve tried several times, but we just can’t stop it! Irma yells over the link. This is Yua’s doing. I’ll bet my wings on it! “Right!” Hay Lin flexes her hands. “Let’s see what the power of air can do!” She flies in front of the tornado and creates vortexes that spiral from each of her hands, aiming them at the tornado. It halts for a few moments, before it starts pushing back against her, causing Hay Lin to wince as she tries putting more power into her attack, but it does nothing. It’s as I feared, this tornado is being powered by the Banshee’s magic, meaning Hay Lin can’t do this on her own. We need to lend Hay Lin our power! I look to Will. Maybe, if we all combine our power, we can stop it, just like you all have in the past. Will nods, as do the others and we all fly over to Hay Lin, joining hands until we’re in a circle and concentrate on pooling our powers together. A purple vortex forms within our circle, expanding wider and wider, until it has passed over us and moves towards the tornado. The two clash for a moment, before ours pushes into the other, it exploding outwards several moments later, the air going still. We all descend to the ground, falling to our knees. After I’ve recovered my breath, I look up… only for my heart to sink. The village is almost completely destroyed. At least half the buildings are now rubble, with maybe half of the remaining ones still being badly damaged, with walls missing, large holes in the walls and roofs. “Why… how did this happen?” I look around and see Alma walking out from a place she and several others had been put to hide for safety. Will walks over and says something to her and I can’t hear, though I have a feeling she said Ari caused this, because Alma cries out, “How could you say something like that?” Will than show her something in her hand I can’t see as I turn to help a little girl who sprained her arm, using my webbing to make a makeshift sling and telling her father he’ll need to get it splinted in order for it to heal properly. We spend the next hour of so trying to help the villagers round up their belongings and find places to live for the time being. “I can’t believe Ari could be so cruel,” Hay Lin murmurs as we watch a family leaving the area, their five year old girls waving to us and calling out thanks. “Does he really hate The Oracle and us that much that he’d risk his own people’s lives to get us?” “Goes without saying,” Taranee looks around at all the devastation. “So, what now?” Irma looks to Will, who in turn looks to myself and Hay Lin. I frown. “I’m not really sure what we can do to stop Ari right now,” I say, glancing to Hay Lin and sharing a nod. “But, there is something we need to do before we leave back for Earth.” “What?” Corenila asks, looking both confused and annoyed. “Mel, it’s getting late. We need to return home and relieve our Astral Drops before bed so no one gets suspicious.” “I… I don’t think we can,” I say, gritting my teeth, before explaining what I overheard about the Time Sphere. When I’m done, Will frowns, before snapping her fingers. “Let me test something.” Without any further explanation, she opens and Fold to Earth and goes through. We wait for an hour, wondering what in the world is taking her so long, and are just about to go through ourselves, before she rushes back, her eyes wide. “Times is moving faster here than on Earth!” is all she says as she closes the Fold. “Um, come again?” Irma asks. “Didn’t Mel just say that Time Sphere thing is made to made time here move slower than on Earth, not the other way around?” Cornelia asks. Will nods. “I know, I know. But, when I arrived, I went to the school and saw our Drops are still in class. Barely an hour’s past since we arrived here.” “But… we’ve been here almost a whole day,” Taranee points out. “Then… what that guard said is right,” my eyes widen. “That Time Sphere might’ve started off slowing down this world’s time, but, something’s gone wrong and now it’s doing the opposite. We could spend a year here and probably return to earth only a day or week later.” “Then we need to move, now,” Will says firmly. “We need to destroy this Time Sphere before this world ages to death.” We all nod. This is no longer a reconnaissance mission. It’s a rescue. ___________________________________________________________ Once night falls completely, we sneak into the castle. It isn’t easy, but I manage to pull everyone in my shadows, though it’s incredibly draining. We have to be careful as we sneak through the castle, with the girls taking it in turns to help me along. It takes half an hour, but we find the room where I heard Roman and Malecite talking about the Time Sphere, but we eventually do. Irma uses her mind powers to make the two guards standing there decide to fall asleep right there, slumping to the ground and snoring away. We move up to them and find the key to the door, opening it. On the other side is a room barely big enough for the six of us to fit in at once. In the centre is a glowing yellow orb with intricate patterns that remind me of the symbols from Starlight’s version of Star Swirl’s Time Travel spell. “It feels… broken,” Hay Lin says as she looks at it. “I can’t explain it but it just feels… wrong.” “Right,” Will nods, directing us into a circle around the orb. “Since this was made with Yua’s power, we’ll likely need to combine all ours in order to destroy this thing.” “Uh, Will?” Taranee indicates to me. Will gives me a concerned look. “Mell, do you think you’ve recovered enough to do this?” I take a few deep breaths. “Even if I wasn’t, we don’t really have a choice, do we? Ari knows we’re here and, while we could wait without worrying about time on Earth moving too far into the day, the longer we’re here, the more likely Ari could find us.” “And that’ll just make it worse,” Irma agrees. “We need to get out of this world as soon as possible.” Will gives me another worried look, before sighing and nods, her expression firming as she holds out her hands. “Alright, Guardians. Let’s do this.” We all join hands and, like with the tornado, focus all our power together, only this time I can feel a strong resistance, one I’m sure the others do as well. It takes, at my best guess, over an hour, before I feel the Time Sphere’s resistance wain and suddenly, our power overwhelms it, causing it to shatter, a wave of energy passing over us all and spreading outward. We all fall to our knees, gasping as if we’d just run three marathons back to back. “That… was… crazy…” Irma manages through her gasping breaths. “Okay,” Will says once she’s gathered enough strength. “We need to leave. We’ll get out of the castle, then Fold back to Earth. Hay Lin, can you scout ahead to make sure the coast is clear?” Hay Lin gives a tired thumps up. “Can do.” She turns invisible and opens the door, returning a minute late to let us know we’re good. We sneak through the corridors, retracing our steps until we find one of the corridors being blocked by a contingent of guards, forcing us to back up and go another route. By this time, I’ve gathered enough strength to be able to Shadow Walk again, so Hay Lin and I take turns scouting ahead, sometimes both at once to check two pathways at the same time. It’s one time we’re both coming back, that I notice a sound I hadn’t been expecting, the sound of crayons on paper. Hay Lin seems to notice my pause and comes over to see what caught my attention. It’s a little boy. He’s lying on his stomach in a room that, judging by the toys scatter all over, is his playroom. “Is that Maqi?” Hay Lin asks, leaning a little closer to the door, before sighing. “Poor thing.” She clearly spoke too loudly, as the little boy’s head shoot up suddenly and he looks around, his eyes stopping dead on Hay Lin. At first, I fear he sees her, before remembering she’s invisible, so he couldn’t see her… or, that’s what I am thinking until he suddenly bolts up and runs right past us, his eyes wide with fear. “Can… can he see me?” Hay Lin gasps. “I… maybe?” I say uncertainly, before my eyes widen. “We gotta stop him!” If the guards see Maqi running around with such of look of terror, they’ll definitely know we’re here in the castle, if the magical wave caused by the Time Sphere’s destruction didn’t already alert them. We hurry after Maqi, who is coincidentally heading towards the others. Guys, Maqi can see Hay Lin when she’s invisible! I shout over the link. He got scared and is heading your way. We need to get him and calm him down before he unintentionally alerts the guards that we’re here! By the time we catch up, the girls are chasing after Maqi down a corridor I hadn’t seen before. I don’t think even he knows where he’s going, because we seem to be going further and further down. Maqi reaches a door at the far end of the corridor and pushes it open, running inside. We manage to get in, finding the room looking like some kind of weird water dungeon with a moving path of water running from the ceiling into a pool in the centre of the room and filtering through three small ducts that must lead somewhere outside. And, in the centre of that pool, strange glowing pink, cloth binding around her wrists is a woman with gorgeous blonde hair, wearing some kind of yellow clothing similar to swimwear, but of a different fabric… and with a cruel glint in her eyes as she holds Maqi up in front of her. “Look at you,” she says, looking right into Maqi’s eyes. “You’re so sweet I could gobble you up.” My eyes widen as it clicks. She’s the banshee. We need to get Maqi away from her, now! Irma rushes forward as the banshee drops into the water. We all watch for several minutes, worried, before Irma bursts to the surface, Maqi in her arms, the latter coughing and spitting out water. We quickly move away from the pool to the farthest part of the room, the girls leaving Maqi to Hay Lin and myself. “Wait,” I frown as the boy’s eyes don’t open as Hay Lin leans him against a rock, but his breathing is steady. “If Maqi could see you while you were invisible, do you think he could see through my glamour?” I point to my face, specifically my fangs and red eyes. Hay Lin looks at me for a moment, before laughing sheepishly. “Yeah. It’s quite possible and, if I saw a person with fangs and red eyes at his age without context…” “Now we know why he so quickly ran away from us,” I murmur, putting a finger to one of my fingers. “I must’ve been quite the scary sight for him, not helped by my spider themed form.” I glance back at my wings/spider legs. Yep. That would definitely be scary. Everything somehow only gets worse though, as a loud banging sound makes us all glance up at the door to see a man with short blue hair and piercing blue eyes, wearing green cloth clothing and the fur of some kind of animal around his neck. It’s Ari. “Yua, my son’s not in his room and… and…” He looks around the room, at Will Irma, Taranee and Cornelia facing off against Yua… and myself and Hay Lin standing by an unconscious Maqi. Crap. His face fills with unbridled fury, his gaze specifically on Hay Lin and myself. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SON? I SWEAR YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS!”! “Hey, we just saved your son from drowning, pal!” Irma says, making me inwardly facepalm. “What’s your problem?!” “My problem?” he glowers, thrusting an arm out. “My problem is The Oracle sending his minions to do his dirty work!” “What dirty work?” I find myself snapping despite my better judgement, standing up and glaring at him. “We saved that village after you sent that tornado to get rid of us. How is that The Oracle’s dirty work? Do you realize how many of your own people are now homeless because of your actions, just because you hate us for being the emissaries of The Oracle? It’s a bloody miracle no one was killed because of what you did!” He just glares at me with distain. “The Oracle is isn’t worthy to sit on the highest throne of Kandrakar, which is why I will drag him through the dust! I have the power to do it… and you can rest assured that I will!” Highest throne? Does this guy think The Oracle is like a king or something? Talk about getting your facts deluded. Ari looks at Yua and I worry he’s about to give her orders, before he takes a deep breath and looks to Will, pointing at her, his expression cold. “Now, leave this place…” his expression darkens, “and consider yourselves lucky that you can do so walking.” While none of us trust him, we move to leave, Hay Lin handing him the unconscious Maqi and we walk through the castle, escorted by guards until we’re outside, where we fly off until we feel we’re far enough away to open and Fold and go back through to Earth. The moment we do, we change back and collapse onto the ground, as the adrenaline rush cuts off, leaving us all mentally and physically exhausted. That was beyond insane. “Do we… report to The Oracle about this now?” Irma asks, sounding like she’s close to passing out. “I think… he’ll understand if we wait til morning,” Will glancing around, myself taking notice that it seems around the same time in the evening now as it was on Arkanta, meaning our destroying the Time Sphere worked. Time synced up at some point so, the last couple hours in Arkanta were the same time here on Earth. “Let’s just get everyone home, poof our Astral Drops and get some much needed rest,” Will stays, forcing herself to stand up. Agreed. Though, honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if I sleep or a whole week after this. We were only in Arkanta for a single day and yet it feels like we’ve been there for months. Some sleep and maybe a few days of normalcy wouldn’t be too much to ask for after all that, right?