“My name is Ekoh. Ekoh Marpesia. I was a merchant originally from the Starlit Caves. I was brought here when I was young after being attacked by corrupteds. The previous leader here helped me get back on my feet, and I ended up staying here for a long time.” 

Maxxine watched Ekoh cautiously, instantly recognizing the name from stories he had heard from the kingdom.  He thought back to old tales from his family and the inconsistencies. No one knew for certain, but Ekoh was suspected to be a killer who hunted down those of higher status in mostly the Starlit Caves, but it didn’t exclude the other two colonies. Zayn apparently had been the one to expose them to the past queen of the Oasis at the time, being Maxxine’s grandmother, Carwyn. But with the current suspicion that Maxxine had about the Singing Woods and Zayn, he couldn’t be so certain about the stories he once thought he knew so much about. “My mom knew you. She said that you were accused of past crimes that occurred throughout the colonies. You knew Zayn.”

“Zayn was the leader of the Light Seekers Camp. I was their apprentice, as one may say.” Ekoh shuffled uncomfortably, then switched to an expression of deeply rooted rage. “They’re still alive, aren’t they? They are still spreading their lies like wildfire.”

Maxxine crossed his arms in front of him, his ears pinned back slightly. “They are. Zayn’s working with the Singing Woods Colony currently. People are beginning to find them, and the queen suspicious. Zayn’s held a form that hasn’t aged for as long as people have known them, and Esmeray too. And I thought you were killed!”

“I’m not dead now! I was brought back a bit ago; I’m supposed to help, as I said before. Zayn’s an immortal and has been around for nearly a thousand years, as far as I’m aware. And, Esmeray, I had no clue. That’s a newer thing then.” Maxxine remained distrustful, and he could tell that Ekoh noticed. “I want to help, I promise. I may be the only person around now who knows about this place and wants to take down the people who’ve ruled it. We were also trying to find a way to save this world. Isn’t that what you want too?”

“I’ve never asked for this; I never asked for help! So whatever divine magic or whatnot brought you back to this crumbling world made a mistake!" Maxxine lashed out, only to feel Xenos’ hand on his shoulder. He entirely forgot that Xenos was still here, now feeling embarrassed, but he still remained just as hostile.

“Maxxine, maybe you should give them a chance.” Xenos looked at Ekoh and Maxxine, then moved his hand off of Maxxine’s shoulder. Maxxine watched Xenos closely as he spoke. “We both want to save our home, and Ekoh doesn’t seem to want to oppose our way of going about it. They seem to want to help- Wait, what are your pronouns again?”

“They/He/She! Thank you!” Ekoh smiled at Xenos, who returned the smile. Maxxine still felt irritated. 

“Oh, so we should just trust the stranger that worked on the same side as someone we don’t trust, but so conveniently isn’t on their side anymore-?” He shut himself up when his hearing grew distorted and was interrupted by the same voice in his visions.

“Trust each other.” The voice boomed, and Maxxine flattened his ears with embarrassment at being told he was wrong by two people. He glanced at Ekoh, who evidently heard the same thing, and Maxxine lowered his head and looked away.

“Fine.” 

“Perfect! And we can all get along now, right?” Xenos turned his head back and forth at Ekoh and Maxxine. Maxxine refused to look up at him, and Ekoh seemed irritated now at being questioned so much by him. Maxxine looked to the door and past Ekoh as they were interrupted by the footsteps of people heading towards the cabin. Vania and Mari returned, now accompanied by someone else, whom Maxxine assumed was Everly from the name addressed on the note and who looked just like the other person in the photo—well, similar. They were also older and seemed more worn down. They had a strange aura around astral that Maxxine thought seemed similar to the temple, but he didn’t mention it.

“I see you’ve found a new friend!” Xenos cheerfully exclaimed, smiling at Vania and Mari.

“Yes!” And same to you two!” Vania referred to Ekoh, waving excitedly. Ekoh walked over and stood beside their friend.

“Oh yeah! May I introduce my... uh-” Ekoh looked over to the new person; her eyes shone with uncertainty. Maxxine watched the uncomfortable exchange Ekoh had with them, but it was quickly covered up.

“Everly, call me Everly. I’m Ekoh’s friend.” Maxxine waited for a reaction, seeing Ekoh quickly recover from the awkward silence and now had a beaming smile across his face.

“I’m Vania! Did I mention that before?” Vania faced Everly with wide eyes.

“Yes, yes, you did.”

“My name is Xenos, and this is Maxxine.” Xenos introduced both of them.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you both. I’m Marigold, but call me Mari.” Mari smiled, then redirected back to the reason they were here. “We need to figure out what our next move is. Everly explained a bit to us about this Zayn person. They seem to be dangerous and much more powerful than any of us.”

“Everly would be right.” Ekoh nodded in agreement. “Light Seekers and the Singing Woods have been allies for years. Having just both Zayn and Esmeray teamed up will be a challenge to fight against if need be, and with the supposed news of Esmeray being immortal too. Who knows what other troubles we may have with the colony.”

Maxxine felt relieved that his distrust of Esmeray seemed justified. At least he was right about one person. “Esmeray and Zayn tried to gain allyship with the Oasis. We turned it down for the time being, but I don’t know what they’re planning. Whatever it is, even if it is to help Drifted Keys, I don’t trust their methods.”

“I don’t either. Zayn is ruthless and a killer. They are loyal to the queen, from what I was aware of previously, and it sounds like nothing has changed with that. Either way, I see you’ve found some supplies.” Ekoh looked at Maxxine and Xenos.

“Some journals and such. They match up with a language in the temple we saw both Zayn and Esmeray at yesterday. There was writing on the wall that both of them were trying to translate. I believe it could be a clue to what we should be finding out more about to save home.” Maxxine explained.

“Sounds like a good place to start. This is all Zayn’s supplies, and I’m guessing that if it is in decent condition, they still visit here. They’ll notice that it’s missing.”

“They were going to go back to translate it.” Maxxine realized that even just touching this stuff may have placed a target on his back. “So now, they’ll know that people are onto them?”

“Ekoh and I could be a distraction. We’ll go see what is happening within the Singing Woods Colony and find any information that may come of use later on.” Everly spoke up.

“Right, yeah! We can go there, and you four can go to the temple again and find more information there too!” Ekoh agreed with Everly, holding their own hands close to her chest as he looked around with hope at the group.

“Well, we should leave this place if we’ve searched it. If they arrive here while we are still here, it may lead to an unnecessary fight.” Mari grabbed Vania’s hand and walked off. Maxxine waited until Xenos, Ekoh, and Everly walked out, then followed behind. 

They left the camp area and walked in the woods to the portal again. As Maxxine trailed behind quite a bit, he noticed Everly slowing down to walk alongside him.

“Maxxine, was it?” Everly asked as they kept the same pace as him.

“Uh, yes. Is something up?” Maxxine watched Everly with caution, only to immediately trip on a lifted-up root from the ground, about to faceplant into the dirt, just before Everly grabbed the back of his shirt and hoisted him back to his feet.

“Watch where you are walking.”

“Thanks.” Maxxine muttered but shook it off, still waiting for an answer. Everly stared forward as they walked toward the group ahead.

“You told people. You weren’t supposed to.”

Maxxine’s eyes widened, glancing at Everly again, but he paid attention to where he was walking still. “You know exactly what occurs in my visions, how?”

“Of course I would know.” Maxxine felt as astrals hand was firmly wrapped around his arm, stopping him from moving forward. He faced ahead at the group that was walking into the portal hub, while Maxxine was stopped here by this strange person. He then turned his head to look at Everly, whose eyes were glowing brightly, and their form twisted oddly but not fully changing. 

“What are you?” Maxxine whispered, narrowing his eyes and furrowing his brows with confusion.

“You’re so silly! I have been watching each vision!” The form finally changed, revealing a divine being similar to Everly's normal appearance, but with unnatural purple skin, glowing features such as eyes, nose, mouth, even horns, and extra butterfly features. He gasped quietly, pulling his arm away from the creature that stood beside him.

“You’ve been making them?!”

“No no! I’m not in charge of those BORING visions! That’s Death’s job!” The creature laughed.

“And so, uh- Everly-”

“Oh no, astral is just my host! I’m Light! God of Light, to be specific! I’m much more fun than that other boring god. But just warning you: Death is going to be really angry with you if it finds out that you told people. Death has its reasons.” Light explained, their tone growing more concerned as they spoke.

“No kidding, I didn’t realize she’d tell the whole world.” Maxxine sighed. “I just hope I don’t regret my decisions, because I’m already starting to.”

“You can’t dwell on the mistakes of the past; it keeps you from the future, as I’ve seen with just this one here. Your future is to save your home!”

“You’re insane to think someone like me can do this. I’m just an ordinary person. Royalty gives me no higher power than any regular citizen.”

“I’m being truthful! Now, do you want your home to die?” Light grew demanding and hovered up, leaning close to Maxxine’s face as he flinched and backed up.

“No! I don’t!”

“Are you sure? You keep whining about it, and the others are off without you right now!”

"YES, I AM SURE! Wait, you’ve been keeping me here! That’s not my fault!”

“THEN GO!” Light boomed loudly, then shrank to the ground again. “Thank you!” 

Maxxine jumped back, watching as their form warped back to Everly.

“Sorry about that; I don't know either.” Everly muttered and started to walk swiftly to the portal. Once both Maxxine and Everly were over, they saw that Ekoh had waited for them.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes, all good.” Maxxine mumbled. “So I presume you two will go to Singing Woods?”

“You bet!” Ekoh grinned and faced Everly with worry.

“I’m fine, Ekoh. We can go now.” Everly waved at Maxxine, then turned to walk farther into the woods. Ekoh hesitated, then faced Maxxine.

“The others will be on the other side; I told them I’d wait for you both. Be safe.” Ekoh then turned off and ran over to Everly to catch up with them. Maxxine watched them wander off, then turned to the portal and finally stepped through.

He was greeted by his companions on the other side, who watched him expectantly. He hated this power, but Light was right. He couldn’t dwell on the past, and Vania was right about acting on his visions. He walked up to the group. “Let’s go, everyone. We have a mission to complete.”

“That’s the spirit!” Xenos smiled happily at Maxxine, nudging him slightly with his elbow. Vania cheered briefly and ran up to Maxxine, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

“Look at you being a leader! You’ll be a great king one day!”

“ONE THING AT A TIME, VANIA! ONE. THING.” The group laughed at Maxxine’s outburst; even Maxxine found himself chuckling at his own fears. They all calmed down and began walking towards the temple once more.