A brief, messy recap: Cadmiel and Sean's fight ended in a draw, Shateiel, Donovan and the rest disappeared through a tear they found in the park, and Claris and the others found a strange fountain in the forest near her home, which Sean kicked because he is insane.  They also found a strange pendant outside Wendy's, which Claris has been wearing around her neck.  It was discovered that Sean's job is gravedigging (and scaring off Goths and vandals!) at a local morgue/cemetery.  As the others were embarrassing him at his job, they found a tear on one of the graves and proceeded to fall right into it.  We rejoin the story with the fate of Donovan and Leliel.

Donovan's claw dug so deeply into the tree branch that sap was oozing out around the metal.  He hung precariously, about fifty feet in the air, surrounded to the point of suffocation by fat leaves that shone with dew, and more branches, each with an impossible number of twigs protruding from every side.  The wood was slick with rainwater, causing Donovan considerable difficulty in his effort to gain a foothold on the branch directly below him.  Ordinarily he would have simply let go and flown, but he did not even have enough space to spread his wings.  Some ways below him, Leliel was in a similar situation.  Unfortunately, she lacked the advantage of having a metal claw attached to one hand, and so was clinging desperately to the mossy, mushroomed trunk.

After their initial re-appearance, she had slipped from Donovan's grasp and fallen down through the tree, managing just barely to grasp a branch long enough to secure herself against the trunk.

They had been trapped in the tree for what seemed like hours, judging by the light fading around them.  Donovan guessed that it was early evening on this world, and it had been mid-afternoon when they first arrived.

Every idea he thought of for escape seemed too risky, but at last he decided that breaking every bone in his body was preferable to staying in the tree for the rest of eternity.

"Leliel!" he called. "I have an idea!"

"Do you really?!" she answered.  "May I ask what it is?!"

He ignored her cheek and said,

"Make your way towards the edge of the branches and jump!  Use your wings to break the fall!"

"You know, Ireul," Leliel said, "at first I thought your questionable mental stability was just a front, but now I realize you really are insane!  What if I get caught in all those twigs?  Or fall before I can jump?!"

"We don't have a lot of choices here," he said. "Come on, even if we fall, we won't die!"

"We'll just be grotesquely disfigured!" she said. "Sounds good!"

He growled in his throat.

"Look, I'll go first and then I'll come help you."

"Help me?!" Leliel cried. "How are you going to help me?!  Ireul!"

He dislodged his claw from the branch and grasped it with his hand, scooting over the slippery wood until he reached its edge.

"Can't ask God for help, that's for sure..." he thought.  He tried to keep his fingers from trembling as he inched closer to a jumping point.  At last he pushed off from the branch, diving out of the tree and into the warm, misty air.  He spread his wings as he fell, beating them furiously until he was able to hold himself aloft.  He hovered by where Leliel still clung to the tree.

"C'mon," he said, slashing at the leaves with his claw, causing the branches in Leliel's immediate vicinity to shudder violently.  She swore at him.

"Damn it, Ireul!  Stop it!"

He poked his head through the leaves, frowning at her.

"We don't have time for this."

"Don't you think I know that?" she snapped. "Upsetting the tree is not the way to fix the situation!"

"Alright, I'll make it easy for you," he said.  Donovan's eyes hardened and chilled, and suddenly the world as Leliel perceived it shifted.  She saw not the twigs and branches and dew-drenched leaves, but instead a field, calm and peaceful and open.  Donovan was holding his hand out to her, waiting.  She moved carefully towards him, as some part of her still knew that this was merely Donovan's elaborate illusion, but it soothed her nerves nonetheless.  The illusion dissipated when she felt his hand in hers and he pulled, extricating her from the tree.  He managed to hold her long enough for her to open her wings, and then she flew alongside him.

A light mist enveloped them, moistening their skin and dusting their wings and hair with tiny droplets of water.  They flew until they reached the base of the tree.

"Any idea where we are?" Donovan said.

"Not in the slightest," Leliel replied. "You?"

"I'd have to say no," he grumbled.

"I wonder if the boss realizes how unstable that machine is," Leliel mused. "We could be anywhere, you know... We could be on a planet populated entirely by gigantic, flesh-eating monsters.  Or rabid lobsters."

"He doesn't like being called that..." Donovan said. "Besides, I like gigantic, flesh-eating monsters."

"But he's not here, is he?"

"You've obviously never had to deal with him when he's pissed off," Donovan said.

"I've never done anything that would incite him to become pissed off," Leliel said. "Not to his face, anyway."

Donovan had no answer for that, so he turned to another problem. "Where do you suppose Shateiel and Lucius got off to?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "That's actually what I'm worried about.. given the chaotic tendencies of the machine, they could both be on entirely different worlds."

"Fuck," Donovan said.

"Basically."

"Well, let's get out of here first," he sighed.

"Which way do you think 'out' is?" Leliel spread her arms wide, gesturing to either side of her body.  The forest stretched out in both directions, seemingly endless.  Donovan oscillated from right to left, irritated at having to shoulder the responsibility for the decision.  Thinking that staying uselessly by the tree trunk was almost as bad as being trapped in its branches, he finally chose a random direction and started walking.  Leliel shrugged and followed.

“Sean?” I said, on dumb reflex. I knew perfectly well the identity of the person leaning over me, and it was not Sean.

“No, try again,” he said.  He propped me up with one hand and set the other against my forehead.  “I do hope you’re not delirious.”

“N-Necavi,” I said.

“Very good,” he said, with just the barest trace of sarcasm.

“Where’s Sean?” I asked.

“Right here,” he answered. He was sitting, cross-legged, about five feet from Necavi and me, his expression thoroughly irritated.  Behind him was a tent, propped up by four tall stakes, and beside him smoked the remains of a campfire.  Alistair’s head peeped out from the tent’s entrance.

“Hey, guys!” he waved.  He was tying his bandana around his forehead, securing his abundant blue spikes into place.

“We were preparing to set out when the both of you simply appeared by our tent,” Necavi explained.

“Oh.. what about the a-angels?” I said.

“It was only the two of you,” he shrugged.

“We have to find those smug bastards,” Sean growled. “Otherwise we’ll be stuck on wherever the hell this is.”

“Septerra,” Alistair supplied.

“Wherever the hell this is,” Sean repeated, giving Alistair a mild glare of death.

“S-so, what are you guys doing out here?” I said quickly, as Necavi’s eyes narrowed.

“People—and things—have been mysteriously disappearing lately,” Necavi said.

“We’re investigating,” Alistair said.  His giant bastard sword was resting across his lap, as he polished the blade with a piece of cloth he'd smeared with lacquer.  I noticed that both the cloth and the blade were stained with blood.

“Out of the goodness of your hearts?” Sean said, one eyebrow raised.

“Well, we are being paid…” Alistair spoke slowly, a frown tugging on his lips, “But I would have been glad to help for free.”

“I wouldn’t've,” Necavi muttered.

“Sounds great,” Sean said, already on his feet. “But we really should start looking for the aforementioned bastards.”

He offered his hand to me.  “Alright, Claris?”

“Hang on,” Alistair said. “You’ve never been here before.  This world is dangerous, especially for strangers like you… Why don’t you travel with us for a while?”

Necavi nodded in agreement, surprisingly.  He must have seen my reaction because he said, nonchalantly,
“You helped us when we were stuck with you.  Returning the favor would be the honorable thing.”

“Helping people for free is honorable too, but you don’t seem too keen on that…” Sean pointed out.  Necavi shrugged again. “Besides, we don’t have time to wait for you.”

“You don’t honestly think you’ll find these people faster on your own?” Necavi said.

We both knew Necavi was right, but Sean was not the sort to quietly admit that.

“We’ll be fine,” he said stubbornly.

I mumbled weakly. “M-maybe you’ll be fine…”

“You don’t think I can protect you?” his tone was hurt.

“I-it’s not that,” I said, “It’s just, we don’t know w-where we are or anything…”

I paused, suddenly struck by a thought. “Wait… what’s the nearest town to here?  And what direction?”

“Mecca,” Alistair said. “It’s about thirty passi south of where we are.”

“Then I know where we are,” I said, remembering from the game.  “But the only thing over this way is Sancta Forest…”

“Right,” Alistair said. “We’re going to ask the Elementals if they know anything about what’s happening.”

“B-but even though I know w-where we are,” I said, before Sean could open his mouth, “I don’t know the exact direction to take… I mean… in the game it only took about half a minute, with random battles, to get from Mecca to Sancta.  I guess that translates into several days of actual traveling.”

“It’s a five day walk, yes,” Necavi said. “Ordinarily we’d just use the airship, but it also disappeared recently…”

I suspected that this was another reason why Necavi had agreed to investigate.  I exchanged a look with Sean, which confirmed that our lines of thought were similar.  It was also the final confirmation that what I thought had ended freshman year was clearly starting again. Damn it.

“All right, we’ll go with you,” Sean muttered at last.

“Oh, thank you,” Necavi rolled his eyes.

“Come on now, friendly talk,” Alistair said cheerfully.  He had been loading the tent and other supplies into a pack as we talked, and with the task now done, he hefted it onto his back, along with his sword.

“Th-that’s a lot to carry…” I said.

“I can take it,” he grinned, and stood upright.

We managed to walk about ninety feet from the campsite before we were attacked.  Three cockatrices (ugly, vicious crosses between birds and serpents: they were far more intimidating than their game sprites) and a thief engaged us in battle, although there was not much that I could do but cower behind Sean and hope none of them noticed me.

Alistair drew his sword from off of his back, and Necavi began mumbling an arcane language as an iridescent, glowing sphere grew in his hands.  Sean was weaponless, so he fought with fists, drawing blood from the thief’s mouth in just two blows.

“Earth slide!” The sphere burst in Necavi’s hands.  Jagged boulders fell from the sky, destroying the cockatrices easily.  Alistair took his turn last.  He swung the heavy sword effortlessly, jumping, bringing the blade down, slashing vertically and then horizontally.  The bloody effect it produced revolted my sensibilities, and I shut my eyes as the thief’s death scream rang in my ears.  So this was what all those battles were really like.

The remains of their bodies soon faded on the grass, leaving behind coins and a few vials of liquid.  I was relieved that we did not actually have to loot their corpses.

“Hey, angel’s breath,” Alistair said, shaking one of the vials. “We need more of this.”

“It r-revives a chara—um, a person—that’s been knocked out,” I explained to Sean.

I noticed that Alistair was taking the items while Necavi (happily) collected the gold.  I wondered which was heavier.

“You realize that this defies all physical laws, right?” Sean told me.

“Well, they’re not human,” Alistair said, as if that explained everything.  When Sean just looked at him, he sighed and went on, “Their bodies just turn to dust when they die.  They’re not meant to be here in the first place.  That’s why we call’em monsters.”

“That one guy looked pretty human…” Sean said. “He certainly bled like a human.”

“Actually he bled quite a bit more than a human would,” Necavi corrected. “He didn’t have any organs… real humans rarely travel with monsters.”

“Really,” Sean said. “How fascinating.”

For once, he sounded sincere.

He sat beneath what he was sure was the largest tree in existence, with a trunk too wide to see around and too tall to even fathom its top.  He guessed that it could support an entire forest community in its mammoth branches.

From the tree a temple was carved, its façade crafted of marble that seemed to rise from and melt into the tree, as natural and strange as anything.  The temple doors, which were three times Tialiel’s own height, were sealed shut, and had no doorknobs.  Instead there was a circle that was cut into halves by the edges of each door, about the size of his fist.  Vaguely Celtic designs covered the temple walls in bas-relief, partially obscured by the moss and ivy creeping and clinging everywhere.  Flowers bloomed out of the vines, vibrant and enormous, full of the energy of creation.  But what interested him most was the fountain, which was the exact same as the one they had found near Claris’s house.  Its crystal woman prayed silently before the tree and the temple.  Cadmiel paced around the fountain, his face creased with worry.  Anael and Metatron were both perched on one of the giant branches, above Tialiel’s bench.

“So, this means the tears have randomization properties!” Anael yelled.  They had been fruitlessly searching for Sean and Claris. “I suppose the only certain way for two parties to arrive at the same destination would be if they were holding hands or something at the time of transport.”

“All very interesting,” Cadmiel said, “but I think we have a more serious problem to contend with, don’t you?”

Anael jumped down from the branch, followed by Metatron, who had, as of yet, said nothing.

“I guess,” he said. “What should we do, then?”

“I’m thinking…” Cadmiel said. “…Hey, do you suppose this was the same fountain we encountered the other day?”

“Why don’t you check?” Anael suggested. “Orifiel kicked it, did he not?  The crystal should at least have a scratch, somewhere.”

“Hm,” Cadmiel stood on the fountain’s edge and leaned over, examining the statue’s body.  On her neck was the most minor of abrasions, a slice of pure white surrounded by pale blue.  “It’s there.”

Anael’s eyes alit. “Then—that means that either a new tear opened in the exact same spot, and took the fountain back to its original location, or it means that the fountain snapped back to its proper place and time on its own.  But why?  And under what conditions?”

“That’s… good, right?” Tialiel said. “That it fixed itself?”

“That’s only one theory…” Cadmiel said. “We don’t really know why it regained its original—dimension.”

Excuse me… perhaps I should attempt searching for a nearby consciousness… or two?

“We’re in a forest,” Cadmiel said. “There’s too much life, I’m afraid.”

Metatron nodded in meek agreement. Yes.  I’m sorry.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Cadmiel sighed. “I just don’t know where to go from here…”

“I kind of like this place,” Tialiel mumbled.

“It’s very pleasant, yes,” Cadmiel agreed. “but I don’t think staying here is going to accomplish anything."”

“And at the same time, we haven’t even the roughest estimate of where Sean and Claris might be,” Anael rubbed his chin. “Possibly they’re in another world entirely.”

“You’re always such a ray of sunshine, Anael,” Cadmiel said.

Someone is approaching.

Metatron gestured to the forest behind them, and they ceased conversation.  The sound of leaves being crushed underfoot and branches pushed aside drew closer.  The angels did not hide.

Lucius was disappointed when he arrived at the clearing.  He had enjoyed crashing through the greenery, squishing flowers and shaking vines.  He stumbled onto the stone circle, surprised when Metatron and his friends surrounded him.

“You!” Lucius cried. “Evil!”

“I think you’re confused, little buddy,” Cadmiel said.

“He’s evil!” Lucius’s hands shook as he pointed at Metatron. “Look!  No eyes!  Clearly evil!”

“Meta, who’s this guy?” Tialiel whispered.

His name is Shamshiel.  He also calls himself Lucius.

Lucius clutched his head.  “Shut up!”

Metatron bit his lip. I am—

“Shut… up!”  Fire exploded from Lucius’s fingertips, snaking through the air and swirling into a funnel around Metatron, who kept his gaze low and his head bowed.  The flames singed his gray uniform and reached for his skin, but he showed no signs of suffering.

“Meta!” Tialiel cried.  “How could you do that to him!”

“He’s a bad man,” Lucius huffed. “A bad, bad man.”

Metatron put a hand through the violently whirling fire, and it was gone as if doused, leaving smoke curling at his feet.  Anael moved swiftly.  He had Lucius’s skinny arms pinioned behind his back in less than a breath.  Shrieking, Lucius’s body faded rapidly out of sight.  Anael’s grip loosened just long enough for the mist that was Lucius to slip between his fingers.  The air quivered slightly as he ran, past the fountain and up the temple steps.  Unfortunately the doors did not yield to his hands, so he pressed against them and held his breath.

Shamshiel, I can see you.

Metatron’s voice echoed in his brain, but that eyeless face was not turned towards his own.  Metatron’s profile looked towards Cadmiel, as though his attention were there.

“Go away!” Shamshiel cried. “Leave me alone!”

I don’t mean to intrude.  But if you wish to escape, you are moving in the incorrect direction.

“Just shut up!” he yelled, both in his mind and out loud.  The outburst alerted the others to his presence, so he sprinted back down the steps and past all of them, returning to the vast forest.

Yes, that is the correct way.

“I think this is the wrong way.”

“It’s got to end somewhere, though, right?” Leliel said.  “I mean, it shouldn’t matter which way we go, there’s bound to be an end eventually.  And we’ve already gone so far…”

“S’pose you’re right,” he agreed.  So the fathomless lines of trees and vines and moss continued.  The forest was beautiful, and the air was comfortably warm and breezy.  Walking through it caused a strange, though not unwelcome, feeling of docility in Donovan.  But they did not have time to waste, and the annoyance at the delay festered in the back of his mind.

At last they came to a long suspension bridge, made from moss and ivy covered logs.  It connected the forest’s edge to what appeared to be more forest, but as they crossed it, Donovan realized that all was not right.  The land to which the bridge connected was not separated by a mere gorge.  He saw as they moved close that it was like an island, suspended in air.  Its bottom was not visible, as it sloped downward into mist, but its edges were plain.  The bridge was the only bit of anything that held it to the rest of the mainland.

“Amazing,” Leliel said, after he pointed it out to her.  “I wonder what holds it up like that?”

“I want to see the bottom,” Donovan said.  He took flight from the bridge and descended into the mists, with Leliel not far behind.  They flew until they reached the jagged tip of the island, which was hanging a good ten miles above the ocean beneath it.  They admired this feat of geography for a moment before returning to the island’s top, where they landed neatly on its edge.  No sooner was this done than did Lucius crash from the trees, pouncing on Donovan and nearly knocking him off the side.

“You’re here!  You’re okay!” he squealed. “Yay!”

He jumped up before Donovan could properly maim him and latched onto Leliel, wiggling with joy.  His happiness dissolved into unintelligible squeaks of relief.  She ruffled his hair affectionately. “I don’t guess you’re hiding Shateiel somewhere, are you?”

“Nope, haven’t seen’im,” Lucius shook his head. “But, all those other people are that way.”

He gestured towards the clearing.

“You mean… Orifiel?” Leliel said.

“No, no.  It’s, um, Cadmiel, and Tialiel…and Anael…” he pursed his lips as he rattled off the names, saying the last with an uncharacteristic mix of fear and revulsion, “And—and—Metatron.”

“They must have also been separated,” Leliel mused.

“Which means that they’ll be looking for Orifiel and that girl soon…” A cold smile of anticipation curled Donovan’s lips. “Where are they?”

“We-ell…” Lucius said, “I think maybe I was, um…um… maybe just two minutes..three… I don’t know, it’s not far.”

“What about Shateiel?” Leliel frowned.

“I think he can handle himself,” Donovan said.  “Besides, he’ll be angry if we pass up this opportunity… they both will.”

Leliel grumbled in dissatisfied agreement.

“Normally I would avoid traveling at night,” Necavi said, “but the Sancta forest is uninhabited by monsters.  Also I feel we should move quickly…”

My mind agreed, but my body said “No, goddammit.”

But I refused to be the only one needing a rest.  I clutched the heavy pendant still around my neck, which had somehow fallen beneath my shirt in the fall from my world to this one.  I pulled it free and held it, feeling somewhat better as my fingers touched the cool blue gem.  Necavi’s attention focused on me as I let the necklace rest against my chest.  He stopped walking.

“Where did you get that?” his voice was dangerously calm.

“I found it,” Sean said. “Hanging from a tree.  Outside Wendy’s.”

“And you just put it on?” he scowled at me and then at Sean. “You let her put it on?!”

“What’s the matter… I think it looks good on her,” he shrugged.

“You idiot,” Necavi spat. “How could you just put on a strange pendant like that, with no clue as to its properties!”

“T-to be fair, jewelry isn’t u-usually enchanted where w-we’re from…” I said, eyeing Sean’s simmering rage at Necavi’s insult.

“Still,” Necavi said.

“What is it, then?” Sean snapped, when Necavi failed to explain.

“Actually, it’s from here,” Alistair said. “It’s the elementals’ pendant...you use it to get into their temple—y’know, Nonluna.  It can do more than that, though.”

“M-maybe I should take it off…” I said, reaching behind my neck for the chain.

“No,” Necavi said. “Leave it.  It’s already developing an affinity to you.  Look at the gem.”

The sapphire was indeed tinted at the edges with purple, like a slow invasion.

“Purple?” I said.

“Wind,” Necavi answered. “Your element.  Keep it until we get to the temple, then put it back.  An affinity doesn’t mean it belongs to you.”

I hadn’t said or thought that it did, but I only nodded.

Vague memories of the forest, the pendant and stronger images of Nonluna (since it was a place I had actually visited outside the game) surfaced, hazy after three years of decay.  The faint memories strengthened as we pressed further into the forest, which was one of the most lush and peaceful I had ever seen.  We passed open, empty treasure chests, and when Alistair remarked on being the one to find them, I told him what had been in them.

The lack of monsters calmed me even more than the forest atmosphere.  Out in the grasslands I cowered behind Sean, but the monsters, seeming to sense my weakness, often aimed for me.  Luckily, I had excellent protection, which was the only reason all my limbs were still intact.

I was stifling a yawn when I saw it, mostly hidden by tall ferns and trees.  Uncertain at first, I broke from the group and strode towards it, entertaining for a second the possibility that I was hallucinating.  I was not.

“S-Sean!” I cried. “Alistair!  Necavi!”

They flanked me instantly, weapons drawn.

“Look,” I said. “It’s a car.”

Alistair and Necavi sheathed their swords, bewildered.  Sean circled the car, which was unlocked, with the keys in the ignition.  I didn’t know much about car models, but it was two doors, electric blue and small, like a sports car.  Red and black dice hung from the rearview mirror, and a Darwin fish was attached to the back windshield.  The almond-shaped front headlights reminded me of cat’s eyes.

“You know…” Sean laughed suddenly. “I bet the owner of this car was inside it when it went through the tear, and whoever was in it fell out during the transmit.”

“Or possibly they panicked and jumped from the car, in a desperate attempt to escape,” Necavi suggested, “and were sucked into the void regardless.”

Sean doubled over with laughter.

“How is that funny?” I said.

“Just the mental picture,” he chuckled, “of some guy, flailing to get out of his car…”

“Sometimes I w-worry about you…” I said.  I stepped over him (he was on the ground now, consumed with laughter and somewhat disturbing giggles) and crawled into the driver’s seat.  Compact discs strewn over the passenger's seat glimmered in the spare sunlight.  I flipped them over to read the labels.  Enya.  Gravity Kills.  Finger Eleven, N’Sync, Mozart, Bartok, Queen, Sloan, Dir En Grey, Led Zeppelin, and on and on.  The seat was covered with compact discs, and there were more on the floor.  I wondered if the car’s owner was schizophrenic, with a soundtrack for every personality.  I hit the button next to the CD slot and a Celine Dion album slid out.  Definitely a schizophrenic.

Sean recovered his senses and leaned over me as I pawed through the CD collection.

“Let’s take it,” he said.

“The m-music…?” I said stupidly. “I d-don’t think that’s right…”

“No, dear, the car,” he answered patiently.

“O-oh, right,” I blinked. “But no one here can drive.”

“I can.” Necavi and Alistair spoke in unison.

“Maybe so,” I went on doggedly, “but this is a c-car from our world.  The c-cars here work differently.”

Necavi shrugged. “From what I can see, it’s mostly that your vehicles operate on gear shifts. The power source seems to be different also.”

“Oil?” I said, trying to remember how the cars in the game operated.  Sadly my sieve-like memory had let that information fall through its many holes.

“How filthy,” Alistair stuck out his tongue.

“Exactly,” Necavi said, “Which is why ordinarily I would refuse to take an environmental hazard such as this through a holy place, but the situation does qualify as an emergency…”

So we got in the car.  I thought that I’d seen some terrifically absurd things in my life as a result of my association with Sean.  But as we began rolling noisily through the forest, flattening grass and coloring the mist light grey with smoke from the exhaust, with Necavi driving and Alistair playing with the music… I knew I had seen nothing.

I kept expecting some god or beast to swoop down from the sky or jump out from the bushes and attack us, angry at our flagrant desecration.

But we received no such smiting or retribution from the heavens or the earth, and we reached the forest’s edge safely.  The bridge we crossed was too narrow for the car, so we left it there.  Perhaps it would stay there forever, to be conquered by ivy and insects.  Or maybe we could use it to leave.  Either way I felt bad for its owner.

It was nearly midnight.  I was so full of tired.  But the rest provided by sitting in the car had restored some of my strength, and I oddly felt my stamina replenished moderately as I gripped the pendant, which was glowing softly in the jet blackness.  It and the sphere of light Necavi created to float in front of us were all that lit our paths until the trees ended into a clearing.  Then I saw the moons, seven of them, each in varying stages of fullness, hanging in the sky like great, luminous pearls.

“That’s why we call this planet Septerra,” Alistair said. “Septerra Celinae, really… the planet of the seven moons.”

I knew that, of course, but I imagined he said it mostly for Sean’s benefit.

“Hey, it’s that statue I kicked,” Sean said.  I turned, and in the clearing’s center I saw the fountain’s familiar shape.  Behind it rose a gigantic tree, with the façade of the elemental temple carved in marble emerging from its thick trunk.  An unnatural silence pervaded the area, seeming to speak to the power there.

“You kicked that?” Necavi said, appalled. “It’s not enough that you took the pendant, you also kicked that statue?  You realize this is akin to going into a church and setting the priest on fire?!”

“Hey, I didn’t know it was holy,” Sean said, and grinned. “I wanted to see what frequency it would produce.”

“Gee, Necavi,” Alistair said brightly, “and I always thought you were insane.”

“I do have some respect for powers that can kill me,” Necavi muttered.

“Guess that’s where we differ."

I walked up the temple steps and stood in front of the doors.

“Do I put the pendant here?” I said, feeling the hole created by the grooves in the double-doors.

“Very astute,” Necavi said.

“Meh.” I fitted the pendant into the hole, and the doors reacted, as the patterns carved into them filled with light.  Stone slid against stone, and the doors opened; the darkness was too much to see inside.  I was lighter without the pendant’s weight on my neck, but somehow I felt less safe.

A figure dropped down in front of the entrance, followed by three more.  I jumped back in surprise and was saved from falling off the steps by Cadmiel’s swift grab of my wrist.  Cadmiel?

“H-hey!” I said. “Where have you been?”

“Here,” he said.  “We were sleeping, actually.”

I realized that Anael, Tialiel, and Metatron were the other three figures.

“Ah, good to see you!” Sean said.  “Now let go of her.”

Cadmiel, not being the spiteful sort, dropped my wrist. “Lovely to see you’re fine, Sean.”

“Can we skip the reunion?” Necavi said. “Come on.”

He took the lead as we entered the temple, since he controlled the primary source of light.  The sphere revealed that the doors opened into a cavernous room with walls of bark.  Save for a staircase leading downwards, it was empty.

“That makes it simple,” Sean said.

The stairs led down, down, and down.  By the time we reached the bottom, I was panting and perspiring visibly.  And that was just the downhill climb.

I recognized the earthen walls around us, and the sloping pathways ahead. Not only from the game, but also from my backyard.

“This was the inside of the crater that showed up behind my house a couple y-years ago,” I said. “R-remember, Sean?”

“Oh yeah…” Sean said, blinking. “You’re right.”

We conveniently ignored Alistair's mumbling "I did say this was Nonluna..."

The thin memory of the correct path strengthened as we walked.  By the time the actual temple appeared in my line of vision, my feet were again screaming.

“I never understood why it always took so long to get down here,” I complained, “I mean, there a-aren’t even any m-monsters.”

“It’s designed like this to discourage them,” Necavi said. “And other unsavory sorts…”

“But I thought you couldn’t even see the temple if you didn’t believe in the faith…?” I said, recalling Alistair’s remarks so many years ago.

Necavi smirked. “Piety doesn't always equal purity.”

“I haaate the dark,” he moaned as they entered the temple.

“Hush,” Donovan whispered fiercely. “It’s bad enough that you’re glowing like a lightning bug, you don’t need to be talking, too.”

Lucius sulked quietly and clung to Leliel, who was nearly invisible in the absence of light.  They waited at the top of the stairs until they heard the footfalls of those descending fade.  Then they started down themselves, using their wings to hover just slightly off the ground, which both masked their presence and sped the journey.

Donovan clapped his hand over Lucius’s mouth at the foot of the staircase, muffling his yell of “I’ve been here before!”

“How did you know he was going to do that?” Leliel whispered.

“I’ve known him for three hundred years,” Donovan said dryly. “I should think I have a handle on his habits by now.”

Lucius wriggled free of Donovan and pouted. “Meanie.”

“Yup."

“Why are we down here anyways?  I don’t like it down here… it’s dark.”

“It’s dark out there too,” Leliel said.

“I know,” Lucius sniffed. “It’s awful.”

“We’re down here so we can observe what Orifiel is doing,” Donovan said, as though explaining to a slightly retarded child, “Then we report back and wait for further instruction.”

He clenched and unclenched his claws. “Hopefully that instruction will involve violence.”

“Yay!  Violence!” Lucius cried, and Donovan covered his mouth for the second time. “Shut up!”

“Sorreee…” he whispered.

A soft, even voice spoke from behind the steps. “What took you so long?”

Lucius shrieked, “Ghost!” and lunged for Donovan, attaching himself to the taller boy like a piece of velcro.

“It’s not a ghost, you imbecile,” Donovan grumbled. Shateiel stepped out and stood near Lucius, so that his face was illuminated by the boy’s glow.

“Shateiel,” Leliel smiled. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Good to see we’re all in one piece,” Shateiel answered, and then added, after a sideways glance at Donovan (who was violently prying Lucius from his waist), “For now, at least…”

“How long have you been here?” Leliel asked.

“Since I entered the tear in the gazebo,” he replied. “I was actually a bit deeper inside, but I managed to get to the steps…and I found that the doors up there wouldn’t open.”

“What would you have done if no one came?” Leliel frowned.

“I was searching for another tear when I heard their footsteps.”  Shateiel jabbed his thumb in the direction of Claris and the others. “Lucky that you had the sense to follow them.”

“Did they say why they were here?” Donovan asked, hoping for a chance to leave early.

“No…” Shateiel said. “I did not want to trail them alone, though, which is why I was waiting here…”

“I wonder what they think they can do,” Donovan muttered.

“Shall we go and find out?” Shateiel suggeted.

The pursued were far ahead of them by now, so Lucius led the way safely, uninhibited by the fear of being noticed.

Woman, you are pushing it.

This is what my body growled at me as our walk continued, with me lagging behind.  The desire to rest was kept at bay by my overwhelming feelings of awe at this world, which before was primarily a visual experience, seen through a television screen. To feel it with every sense was beautiful, and even calling it that was inadequate.  Although the game’s environments were three-dimensional, they were, in the end, merely fleshed out artwork.  The soft ground beneath my feet, the moist, sweet air, mud walls snaked and criss-crossed with ivy—all were freed from the realms of the imagination into reality.  The part of me that wished none of this had ever happened diminished as we walked into the temple.  I had felt this same awe at this place upon visiting it years ago, though then it had been dulled with fear and uncertainty.  Doubtlessly I was still uncertain and afraid, but the company of so many others, none of whom seemed to particularly want to kill me, reduced those feelings somewhat.

Since our party’s size had swelled from four to eight, entering Nonluna was simplified—each person, excepting Sean, touched one of the seven colored stones set into Nonluna’s doors, causing the elemental reactions that opened them.

Alistair knelt before the altar and its rainbow diamond, and a green-haired woman, her face familiar from our last visit, appeared like a hologram over the jewel.

“Hey,” she said. “Nice to see you again.”

“G-Great Goddess, Moreaetas…” Alistair stumbled over his words, bowing his head, “We come seeking the advice and aid of the elementals.”

“All of us, huh?” she said. “I guess it’s important, then.  I’ll wake everyone up.”

The projected image fizzled into empty air.

“These people are awfully benevolent,” observed Anael. “Most creatures with enough power to be classified as deities wouldn’t offer their help without some sort of test or proof of purpose…”

“Oh, I’ve already done that,” Alistair said. “A lot.”

“This had better be good,” an irritated female voice prevented further inquiry from Anael.  Seven forms were coaelscing into being around us, forming a circle.  Instinctively, the eight of us clustered closer together.

“What knowledge dost thou wish us to bequeath upon thee?” One of them, presumably a male, asked haughtily.  His silky, flowing blue robes swished around his thin body as he gestured with his delicate hands.  His eyes, a nearly transparent blue, saw without pupils, and as he stared at us I felt as if something inside of me was being pierced.

“Madefieri, do you really have to talk like that?” Another, the Wind God we’d met last time, frowned at him reprovingly.  Madefieri did not dignify him with a response, and after a short silence Cadmiel started explaining.  He told the elementals of the tears and what their presence meant, to our present knowledge.

“Frankly…” he said, as he was finishing, “I don’t know what you could do to help us, but perhaps you should at least warn your people.  So they don’t panic and riot, or something.”

Moreaetas, who seemed to be the leader, answered.

“It’s been years since you visited us, and before then it was years before anyone came to us at all.  Though our faith is the most widespread on this world, it seems many are unwilling to take the difficult journey here.  So, lazily, we have slept, and slackened in our efforts to protect this small planet…”

She looked around at the six other elementals, each of whom were shamefaced.

“Even now as I stand here, I can feel the disturbance in the order of things.”

The elementals murmured in agreement, and then one, a female with shining white hair and gold eyes, asked, “But what should we do?”

The black-haired, red-eyed man next to her said, “What can we do, Lucerna?”

“I guess we’ll have to go the surface,” said Moreaetas.

“Go to the surface?” the wind elemental echoed, sounding excited. “Really?”

She nodded. “It’s simple… we must just warn them, yes?”

“Yes,” said Cadmiel. “They just need to watch their steps… in the most literal sense of the phrase.”

“We’ll also lend you our strength,” she said. “To one of you I will give the power of summoning us when there is a need.   As for you—“ she nodded to Necavi and Alistair, “We’ll augment those powers of ours that you already have.”

Necavi grinned at the prospect of new power, and they both bowed respectfully in thanks.

“Now then...Who will receive the summoning power?” Moreaetas asked. Sean pushed me forward.

“Claris.  The rest of us can already take care of ourselves.”

 “I think that was an insult," I said.

“Sorry, darling,” he said. “But what if we were to be somehow separated?  You know you’re not trained to fight.”

“I t-took Taekwondo…” I said meekly, but he was right.  Compared to my company I was an insect, easily crushed.  With the summoning ability I would still be an insect, but at least I would be an armored insect.  Or something.

“Her?” Moreaetas scrutinized me, and the other six suddenly moved towards where I stood. “You were the one wearing our pendant.”

“Y-yes,” I managed, intimidated by her careful gaze. “S-sor-sorry.”

“It’s no problem…” she said. “Hmm… I suppose you’ll do.”

Cadmiel and the others stepped aside as the elementals formed their circle around me.  Involuntary anxiety pushed at my stomach.

“You’re going to have to relax, honey,” Moreaetas said. “I promise this won’t hurt.”

“Yeah, we’ll be gentle,” the wind god laughed.  He set his hand on my shoulder. “I’m Anhelans.  You’re of my element, so it will be easiest to call me.  You might have to concentrate a little harder for the others, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

He gave me the same studying stare as Moreaetas. “Well, reasonably sure.”

He moved his hand to the top of my head, resting it against my thick hair.  The others followed his example, until seven hands were pressed together against my skull.  I felt sort of silly, until their strength—or rather, the ability to call on it—flowed from their fingers and into an as yet unused part of my mind.  I knew their power and I knew their names.

“Take our pendant with you when you leave.  Focus on who you want to call and grasp the pendant, and if you’re concentrating hard enough, the called will respond,” Moreaetas explained. “It might help if you dust the pendant with a bit of the element you want to summon—for example, a bit of water for Madefieri, a bit of soil for Adimitri, a bit of flame for Callida, and so on.  Be careful though… as I’m sure you’ve noticed, the pendant will affect you based on what element it’s set to.”

She looked a little worried. “Are you sure you can handle it?”

“U-um… yeah,” I said. “I’ll be alright.”

“Hm,” she said. “Yes, I’m sure you’ll be fine.  Just, be careful.”

“Will do,” I muttered, discouraged by the lack of confidence.

“That’s all we can do for you directly,” Moreaetas said.

“Shall I return you to the entrance?” Adimitri asked.  I remembered him, and his quiet, frightening smile.

“That would be most appreciated,” Cadmiel said.

That smile slid slowly onto Adimitri’s face. “As you wish.”

“Should we report?”

“Yes,” Leliel said. “It looks like they still don’t even have a clear idea of what to do…or even what’s going on.”

“I wanted to say hi to everybody,” Lucius moaned. “Do we have to go?”

“You’ll see them again, soon enough,” Donovan said. “Then we can all play.”

Adimitri held the pendant out to me.

“Good luck to you,” he said.

“Thanks,” I said, slipping around my neck, smiling inwardly at the comforting weight against my chest.  Adimitri sat on one of the marble benches and breathed in deeply.

“You don’t know how long it’s been since I—or any of us—have come up here…”

He ran his fingers gently over the stone beneath them.

“I feel acutely the imbalance in the earth.  We’ll tell as many people as we can.”

“That’s at least one world we don’t have to worry so much about,” Tialiel said optimistically.

 “Out of an infinite number.” Anael mumbled.

“U-um… what now?” I said. “D-do we just wait around for another tear?”

“Well…” Cadmiel said. “Normally we would just fly to this world’s Heaven and use it to get back to your world, but, strangely, this world doesn’t seem to have one.”

“N-no Heaven?” I blinked.

“Not in the sense that we think of it,” Tialiel amended.

“You see,” Anael began, “There are infinitely many worlds, universes, and galaxies.  To even attempt to contemplate the number would drive a person insane… but anyway…In most of these worlds, something akin to Heaven exists—some belief system that supports the idea of God, of Heaven, of… well, us.
But in some worlds, like this one, the religion did not or has not yet developed towards that kind of monotheism.  So the concept of Heaven as we can enter it, does not exist.”

I nodded my head slowly. “…Yes.”

“Even if there was a Heaven, the idea wouldn’t quite work…” Cadmiel said. “After all, you are a human, Claris… but at least it would be something.”

“We need to go back to Mecca,” Alistair said. “You want to come with us?”

“I don’t suppose we have much choice,” Cadmiel shrugged.

“So, so, wait—“ Sean said. “Let me get this straight.  You people can’t get us home?  So what do we do?  Just randomly enter tears until we somehow get back to Claris’s house?”

“We could snap back, like the fountain,” Anael said. “But then, I really don’t know why it returned to its starting point.. if only I could perform an extended study…”

“Hopefully the next world we enter will have a Heaven,” Cadmiel said. “Then we could figure something out.”

“But until then, we’re stuck here!?” Sean cried.  Cadmiel nodded, with another shrug.

“Some of us have jobs, you know,” he sighed irritably.

“No point complaining,” Alistair said, always chipper.

I did not hear the rest of the conversation, because at that moment I fainted.  The exhaustion finally had its revenge.  I hoped, at least, that I had fallen onto grass and not stone, since I imagined that a concussion would be uncomfortable.

When I again tasted air, I sat up, only to be gently pushed back down, onto a soft sleeping bag.

“Watch it,” Sean was sitting, indian-style, beside me. “Don’t strain yourself.”

“Wh-where are we?” I said.

“Just outside the forest,” Sean said. “I carried you as far as that car we found and then we camped out here once we rode it out.”

So we did use the car to leave.

“I’m s-sorry,” I said, just because it seemed like the right thing to say.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were tired?” he chided. “We would have stopped.”

“I d-didn’t want everyone stopping just for m-me,” I averted my eyes from his. “I’m enough of a liability as it is.”

“Oh, come on,” Sean said. “Don’t talk like that.  No one’s angry with you.”

“I’m s-still the weakest person here…” I sulked.

“Claris, half of us aren’t even human,” Sean said. “And Necavi and Alistair have fought and trained for years.  You’re comparing apples to oranges, which is stupid, and I know you aren’t stupid, so stop.”

He was right, once again.

“S-sorry…” I repeated.

“None of that, either,” he said. “How do you feel?  Honestly.  Don’t make me use force, now.”

“F-force?” I laughed.

He wiggled his fingers. “I’ll tickle you. Don’t think I won’t.”

“I am a bit dizzy.”

“Go back to sleep, then.”

“B-but..”

“Don’t push me, Claris.”

I relented, and half-closed my eyes.

“Sleep well,” he said, and disappeared through the tent flap.

Sean took his place by the campfire, between Tialiel and Cadmiel.  It occurred to him that this was not the most ideal spot to sit, but he decided that he did not care.

“She’s sleeping."  He idly tossed a twig onto the flames.

“I blame myself,” Alistair said sadly. “Usually I notice when someone’s faltering…”

“It’s been a while since we traveled with weaklings,” Necavi muttered, a comment which earned him Sean’s hateful glare.

“Actually I was pretty tired myself,” Tialiel said, nervously, with a few wrings of his hands. “But I was too embarrassed to say anything because everyone else looked like they were okay…”

“That’s what Claris said,” Sean’s voice was gruff as he continued to glare at Necavi, who stared back defiantly.

But eventually Sean’s eye returned to Tialiel.

“What is it that you do, anyway?”

“That I… do?” Tialiel said, bewildered.

“Yeah,” Sean said. “Cadmiel’s training me, obviously… Anael’s family… and Metatron’s like some kind of chaperone.  Why are you here?”

“He’s my friend,” Cadmiel answered.  He slid a cigarette between his teeth and bit down on it with irritation.  He ignited the cigarette on the campfire, his eyes on Sean as he leaned towards the flames. “He’s also a clairvoyant.”

“Did you happen to foresee that we would be trapped here, like animals?  Confused, filthy animals?”  Sean ignored Cadmiel’s glowering, and did not actually turn to him at all, acting as though it were Tialiel who had just spoken.

“No…” Tialiel said.  His knuckles were white; his nails that were about to draw blood from his flesh as he dug them into his palm.  But as scared as he was, a voice inside him was still whispering happily, “He’s beautiful in the fire’s light.”

“I can’t always control it..” he went on softly. “And by can’t always, I mean, almost never.  I was never really trained.”

“Why’s that?” Sean said.

“None of your business,” Cadmiel said, calmly.  He took a drag from the cigarette.

“Last I checked, I wasn’t addressing you,” Sean said, just as placid.  He flicked the cigarette from Cadmiel’s mouth. “That’s a nasty habit, you know.”

Another cigarette appeared between his lips as the first hit the ground.  Cadmiel’s reply was a grin and a half-joking mutter.  “You know, I think that's why I like it so much.”

I ask you what I asked the betas: Is it bad/wrong that I gave Claris the summoning power?  I thought it was logical that she should
have it, since she really can't defend herself otherwise (and it's not like she'll be able to use it that well right away either...).  Should I
have given it to someone else?  E-mail me or post!

Other aimless rambles: A passus is the Septerran equivalent of our mile.  It's derived from the Roman unit of measurement, and in Septerran terms one passus equals five thousand of our feet, so it's a little less than a mile actually.

Although I don't say so in the story exactly, Moreaetas is the statue-woman.  All of the elementals have pointy elvish ears. ^_^;
If you're wondering why Leliel and Donovan didn't just fly through the forest, it's because (besides the fact that flying takes much more energy than just plain walking) the forest canopy was too irregularly thick to navigate properly--that is, there's too many branches and trees in the way to make flying any more efficient than walking.  Sean, as I'm sure you've gathered, doesn't know how to use his wings yet. :3;

Angel's breath is obviously the equivalent of a Phoenix Down in Final Fantasy games, or an Ammonia for Breath of Fire fans.  We'll see more of my dorkily named RPG items next chapter, when they travel to Mecca and Alistair has to restock. =P