The group stepped forth from the portal as they arrived in the wilderness. Maxxine pulled out the map once more, scanning the woods, then the map once more to figure out which way to go. It was hard to tell, but he pointed in the direction he was certain about.

“Alright, this way to the temple.” He commanded, turning his attention to Xenos, who stepped closer to him. Xenos grabbed the map from him and flipped it. Maxxine’s face beamed bright red in embarrassment, realizing he was holding it upside down.

“Want to change the direction there, prince?” Xenos teased, and Maxxine shot back a sharp glare. He rolled his eyes and nodded.

“Whatever.” He then gestured in the right direction to go. Vania giggled and began walking the correct way along with Mari. Maxxine crossed his arms and followed with Xenos, who had maintained a pace that allowed him to walk alongside Maxxine. He looked away from Xenos. “Didn’t I tell you to not call me a prince?”

“Actually, you told me I didn’t need to. You never said I couldn’t.” Xenos shot a friendly smile at Maxxine as they walked underneath the shade of the trees.

“Is it your goal to press all my buttons?”

“You could always lighten up!” Xenos nudged Maxxine in the shoulder playfully. Xenos was rather tall in comparison to him, something Maxxine noticed pretty quickly. He took a glance at Xenos before looking forward once more and adjusting his bag on his back. Xenos then also redirected his attention ahead. He seemed mildly hurt. 

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. Just stressed, and I guess I’ve always acted like this.” Maxxine sighed. “I just feel a bit awkward that you are tagging along. Well, not you specifically, just anyone else really.”

Xenos shrugged. “People want to help you, we all want to help our home, and you know more than the rest of us.”

“What if it’s pointless?” Maxxine asked, still faced ahead. His brows angled down in thought. He felt like this was a suicide mission; he didn’t want people dying for something he wasn’t certain of.

“We won’t know until we try!” Xenos then got distracted as he saw a large structure begin to come into view. Distant voices were heard talking from afar as they approached. Maxxine spotted Vania and Mari crouched behind the thick leaves of the short trees and bushes, waving Maxxine and Xenos over. Maxxine stayed low as he headed over, careful not to step on anything that would draw attention to him as he dove down with the group, joined by Xenos quickly after. He peeked through the gaps in the bushes and saw the two familiar figures near the entrance of this run-down structure. Maxxine glanced at the map, realizing this had to be the temple. Though the map depicted this place as grand and glorious, in reality, it seemed like it should be crumbling at any moment. Cracks ran up the arches that made up the places where glass windows once were and the entrance of this temple. Maxxine focused back on the people here, whom he identified as Esmeray and Zayn.

“What was so important that you had to drag us out to travel here throughout the night? Do you even realize how dangerous that is to draw attention to us?” Though Zayn’s voice was hardly louder than a whisper, Maxxine was able to tell what they were saying. His ears were angled to be in the direction of Esmeray and Zayn to try to gather more information.

“Oh, calm down, dear; I found something written in another language. You have all that research and studies you’ve done over the years.”

“If you had told me what to prepare for, I would have taken my research here to be able to translate it perfectly.”

“You don’t have this language memorized? Haven’t you used it for a million things?” Esmeray challenge, which evidently irritated Zayn immensely as they clenched their fists.

“I haven’t needed to use it consistently since probably much earlier than I can remember. And you haven’t even shown me what this language is. Bring me to it, and I’ll see what I can do.” Zayn suddenly grabbed the collar of Esmeray’s starry cloak, yanking down and forcing Esmeray to look them in the eyes. “Next time, you better tell me what we are doing when you drag me out at night. And maybe add on the next time you randomly introduce new people. No matter how high and mighty you act, I could make sure no one remembers you or your name.”

Once Zayn let go, Esmeray hardly even took a step back. Her expression showed no fear, anger, or anything indicating a negative reaction to Zayn’s hostility, but rather she was pleased with the outcome. The soft grin on her face hardened to a smirk, chuckling under her breath as if she knew she was in control. It was haunting to Maxxine, even though he wasn’t the target of this behavior. “Fine then, follow me and do what you can.” Esmeray headed into the temple, with Zayn following beside her. Maxxine narrowed his eyes, only breaking contact with them when Vania began to move from her spot.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Maxxine snapped.

“What do you think? We need to figure out what they’re doing!” Vania hopped around the group and began to walk to the entrance of the temple.

“Vania-! You idiot!” Mari scowled and headed after her. Maxxine pressed his head against his palms with a groan, dragging his hands down his face.

“I guess we are going after them!” Xenos got up and followed. Maxxine watched as the group began to vanish into the temple and begrudgingly rushed after them.

Inside was a large library, overgrown and looked like no one had tended to it in a very long time. Cobwebs littered the shelves that remained filled with books, and a thin layer of dust coated the beaten wood floors and the bookshelves. Maxxine saw the rest of the group staying hidden behind shelves, and Xenos was behind the wall near the archway leading down a hallway. Maxxine silently approached and stayed behind the wall opposite to Xenos, he pressed his ear against the wall to try to hear the Singing Woods people. Their voices felt somewhat drowned out, not just from being farther away, but he was sensing something—someone else. Someone seemed to be nearby, watching, and he could clearly tell this wasn’t anyone in the room he was already aware of. The disturbing feeling slowly slipped away, allowing him to refocus on the conversation happening between the two he was trying to eavesdrop on. Maxxine was able to catch a glimpse at the writing on the wall. There was a bold heading with a passage underneath in a smaller size. The language looked unrecognizable.

“I believe this is all explaining portals, or traveling? I’m unsure, but some words on here direct that the heading of this must be the name of something. Most of this is from before the corruption.” Zayn explained as they turned away from the text to face Esmeray. Maxxine’s eyes widened with curiosity at the mention of portals and travel. People here knew hardly anything about the past of Drifted Keys, especially before the corruption. Drifted Keys has suffered from this odd corruption for over a thousand years, and so much about the world has changed or been forgotten. He quickly noticed as Esmeray turned to look down towards the library, and Maxxine instantly hid back fully behind the wall. He looked forward into the library himself as he watched where he knew Vania and Mari were hiding, then refocused on the conversation.

“Interesting. And you previously said that you could translate it with your research?” Esmeray directed her attention back to Zayn.

“Potentially. With how long the journey is out here, I’d appreciate it if we headed back to Singing Woods before making the journey to the camp. I’d rather not leave the care of the colony to several incompetent people.”

Esmeray scoffed. “Fine, let’s go then.” 

Maxxine shuffled away behind the bookshelves and watched Xenos do the same as he heard footsteps approaching. The two Singing Woods people walked out, although Maxxine felt the presence of being watched once more. He shook it off, waiting for them to leave before stepping out of hiding. But the feeling didn’t fade; it only grew stronger.

“You look on edge.” Xenos approached Maxxine with worry. He went to place a hand on Maxxine’s shoulder before Maxxine brushed it away.

“I have a strange feeling we’re being watched.” Maxxine faced a blank wall in the library. A strong, magical aura came from that direction. For a split second, he swore he saw three glowing, white eyes watching him. “I believe I’m right." He stopped talking just as he heard a low growl. The group faced the hallway where Esmeray and Zayn were moments ago. A dark silhouette of a creature appeared. A nightmare creature. 

“Go go go!” Mari grabbed Vania’s wrist and began running with her out of the temple. Maxxine and Xenos fled immediately after. Once outside, the creature vanished. Maxxine crouched down, panting, watching the entrance intently. Something didn’t want them in there, and it was set on making that as evident as possible. Maxxine straightened back up, facing the group.

“I know those two are up to something, and I don’t trust them to find whatever this is before us.” Maxxine declared, seeing Xenos nod in agreement.

“We should find an abandoned portal hub.” Xenos suggested. “We can camp there and figure out what to do next. By the time we reach another portal, it will be closer to night again.”

“OOO! The mystery! The drama! This is amazing!” Vania exclaimed and spun around on her heels for a moment. Mari chuckled and grabbed Vania’s hand to stop her.

"Yes, dear, but we must be careful. And I agree with Xenos.” She backed up his suggestion, holding Vania’s hand tightly and protectively.

Maxxine nodded, then glanced at the temple once more. Something strange was happening there, and he knew they’d need to go back for more answers.

Inside the temple, past the blank wall, a divine being stood there and faced the library. The God of Light remained in astrals mysterious form. The vision of the nightmare creature vanished, beans of light tearing it apart until nothing of it remained. They turned to the opposite end of the room where astral was and walked down the hallway to another room. A glowing, pulsing orb was bound down by bright chains. They felt their stomach turn with fear, but strangely enough, a sense of hope couldn't be ruled out. The group of people here at this temple had no clue what they were walking into. Even they didn’t entirely know. But someone else had inside information. 

They raised astrals open hands, and the orb rose up to eye level. The god glared sharply at the orb before they clenched astrals fist, watching the chains shatter. The magic restricting the orb broke and set free the soul contained inside. They stepped closer to the soul and reached out a hand, allowing astrals own magic to help give life to this long, deceased being. They stepped back once the body began to generate. It was time to bring them back for a second chance.