The two friends stared at the mysterious things in Rei’s hands. 

“What are those?” Ken asked in confusion.

“Little toys?” was Mimi’s best guess.

“How’s that going to prove anything?” Ken asked, sincerely.

“You’ll see,” Rei replied, confidently. “All you have to do is pick up the device, hold your hands together, and say… ‘I call upon the ancient power of Maka.”

“Uh, come again?” Mimi asked, dumbfounded. “Did I hear that right?”

“We,” Ken got bashful and fiddled his fingers, “have to hold hands?”

“It’s just to ensure that the two of you teleport to the same location,” Rei explained.

“Teleport?” Mimi repeated. She turned her surprised face to Ken.

“Hmm…” Ken stared back in thought.

“I’m curious,” Mimi said, as she gave in and reached for the mysterious device. 

“Are you sure?” Ken asked in a nervous sweat. “It could be a scam!”

“Don’t worry,” Mimi said confidently. “If anything happens,” she reached out her free hand to her friend, “I got your back, Ken!”

Ken nodded determinedly and took her hand.

“Now press the power button on the device,” Rei instructed, with eyes closed and hands clasped together as though praying.

They did so, and they exclaimed in surprise as pixel animations of themselves sleeping appeared on the little screens. Below Mimi’s avatar were three hearts, while Ken’s screen had three stars.

“Repeat after me,” Mimi instructed, “I call upon the ancient powers of Maka…”

The two repeated her words, slightly out of harmony.

“Now, Mimi,” Rei said, “you say ‘by the power of love’…”

“By the power of love?” Mimi repeated with uncertainty, feeling a little silly.

“And Ken, you say ‘by the power of the stars,”

“By the power of the stars,” Ken repeated, with a level of confidence that surprised even himself.

“Now you both say ‘guide us to our destination’!”

They repeated her words in unison with gusto.

Suddenly, wind and light emanated from their joined hands, whipping their hair around and causing them to close their eyes to avoid being blinded. The flash lasted a few seconds.

“Whoa, that’s bright!” Mimi exclaimed. Her hand was still covering her eyes, and her fingers were clasped tightly between Ken’s. When she opened her eyes slowly. “Where are we?”

In front of them was a horrifying sight. The sky was full of black smoke as flames loomed on the horizon. Buildings were reduced to piles of scrap. The bodies of fallen soldiers lay strewn about the ashen battlefield. There was one building left standing in the distance: a gorgeous ornate castle of stone, with spherical rooms floating atop tall towers and twirled trim decorating its walls. They didn’t have to see it clearly through the smog to recognize it. Both Mimi and Ken knew that castle well.

“No way,” Mimi exclaimed, her voice shaking. “That’s the castle!”

“The one from our dreams!” Ken added.

The two had tears in their eyes, partly from finally seeing something that, for the longest time, they believed to be a figment of their imagination, and partly due to the tragedy of what had become of it.

“So you do remember,” Rei observed, as she spoke to them from Earth through their devices. “Yes, this is Maka castle. Our kingdom was such a lively, verdant place,” her voice shook as she spoke, “until it was taken over by Lord Rhelzhar and turned into a warzone! Now smoke fills the sky and blood soaks the ground.” Mimi and Ken could hear her crying through the speaker.

“It was real all along,” Ken said as he stared at the castle in bewilderment. “Those dreams we’ve been having… They weren’t dreams! They were memories!”

“That dream where we were playing in a field of flowers,” Mimi reminisced, “it was all real! And this…” she fell to her knees and took a handful of the barren ash-laden soil. “This was that field,” she said, her voice choking up with tears, as the dirt fell despairingly through her fingers. “How could anyone do this?”

“With your help,” Rei said, after composing herself, “we may be able to get things back to the way they were.”

“We’ll do whatever it takes,” Mimi proclaimed. She wanted a chance to be able to see this world that she longed for in her dreams restored to its proper glory.

“Excuse me, Miss Rei?” Ken addressed her politely.

“Yes?”

“You’re still on Earth, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“How is it that we’re able to communicate with you?”

“That’s because our Maka-Nets act not only as teleporters, but also as communicators,” she explained, “telephones, if you will. Phones that can connect between dimensions. Maka-Nets connect to the inter-dimensional ‘network’ between Earth and Maka.”

“That’s amazing,” Ken exclaimed, gawking at his little device. “To think any of this stuff could be real!” It gave him hope that so much more might be possible than he previously thought. He poked and prodded the device, attempting to find a power source. Ken loved gadgets. He was a bit of an inventor himself. This discovery made him excited to try new things, but…

He looked up at the castle surrounded by flames. He knew this wasn’t the time for playing. “What is it that we have to do?” He asked Rei in a serious tone.

“I’ll explain that when you get back,” Rei replied. “You shouldn’t stay there much longer. If Rhelzhar spots you, we could be in serious trouble.”

“How do we get back?” Mimi asked.

“The same way that you arrived,” Rei informed her. “Picture the park in your mind and repeat the chant.”

“Got it,” the two said in unison. They took each other’s hand and said the chant once more. A light flashed, and before they knew it, they were back in the park.

“So, what’s the deal with this Rhelzhar guy?” Mimi asked, from her previous seat on the park bench. “He sounds scary.”

“Some time ago, an alien army invaded our land. Our soldiers stayed to defend our home. Many Makans fled to safety on Earth, like yourselves. The Makan soldiers were all killed or severely injured by Rhelzhar’s men,” Rei clasped her hands on her lap and sobbed, “and the queen was captured!”

Mimi and Ken looked at her sympathetically.

“I can’t save my queen or country all on my own,” Rei exclaimed through her tears. “Please! I need your help!” She took a moment to calm herself down and then continued. “The queen was locked in a cage sealed with magic. The only way to free her… is by finding five key fragments, which are scattered throughout Maka! I feel terrible asking you children to do something so dangerous for my sake,” Rei said, as she covered her face in her hands in anguish, “but I got injured when trying to protect Queen Crystal from Rhelzhar, and I’ve no doubt that he has a tracker on my Maka-Net now and would be able to find me the minute I step foot back home! He’s never seen you two before and has no way of tracking your Maka-Nets! I wanted to gather the other Makans who were sent to Earth as refuge from the war, but…” her face was pained as she spoke, “while I was hiding from the enemy soldiers, they stole the other Maka-Nets! Without those, I can’t get in touch with the others! You are the only two I could find! Please,” she begged, as she kowtowed on the wood chips at the feet of the swing set, “you must save my queen! She means everything to me!”

Ken and Mimi got off of their swings and both put a hand on Rei’s shoulders. The young woman’s tear-stained eyes looked up at the children.

“Miss Rei,” they said in unison, “we’ll do it! We’ll save the queen!”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!”