Xanthy chewed on her lip as she and her friends piled into another room, following the High Priestess through yet another soul door. The flash of light and the shifting surroundings had started to grow in on Xanthy.

Ezril moved past the tapestry-like maps that hung from the ceiling before settling in front of a row of mirrors. Was the High Priestess angry or tired? Sad? Xanthy couldn't tell. That blank stare tore through the maps marked with more Keijula squiggles, red lines to divide territories, and glow that turned the dimness of the room bearable.

Xanthy drew towards one map. Her eyes widened at the vast representation as she realized that it was only of Carleon. A throat cleared and Xanthy whirled to find her friends in front of the High Priestess. She jogged to join them and caught sight of the mirrors again. Her legs, that should have been reflected along with her movement, were nowhere to be found on the smooth surface. In fact, when she studied the mirrors next to it, she realized that neither of them reflected anything from this room.

Xanthy knitted her eyebrows. Mirrors didn't do that...right?

Cyrdel stepped forward. "May I speak now, Highest?"

" 'Ezril' would have been fine," the High Priestess splayed a hand in Cyrdel's direction.

Xanthy snorted inwardly. Knowing Cyrdel, it would probably take him a thousand years to be able to call the High Priestess that. "Highest," Cyrdel continued, confirming Xanthy's hypothesis. "My people need your help. Their shadows have been taken and you're the only one who could help us with your expertise in soul magic. We left Depandes yesterday and who knows how many had passed on to Pidmena's bosom due to this problem. We must act quickly if we are to save them."

"Why should I help you, young man?" Ezril's tone could have jabbed Xanthy's heart clean off her chest.

Cyrdel knitted his eyebrows. "Because the King and Queen are ill as well," he clasped his hands together in front of him. "Alkara has done no harm to Carleon. We are asking for the charity of your help as allies. We have helped you build your soul ports and you got your summoning elixirs from Penleth. All we ask is for you to help us in our present plight."

Ezril's face could have resembled the stones the Temple was built with. A strange memory of the priestess in the Temple of Magic leaped at the front of Xanthy's mind. Were all High Priestesses like that?

"Where are the shadows?" the High Priestess's tone was flat.

Cyrdel blinked. "Sorry? What shadows?"

"The ones that are taken," Ezril glanced at one of the maps before flicking her eyes back at Cyrdel's direction. "Where are they?"

"We..." Cyrdel glanced at Xanthy then at Ravalee before turning back to the High Priestess. "We don't know, Highest."

"Then I can't help you," Ezril tucked her hands inside her wide sleeves. She turned away from them completely. "The shadows can't be summoned just like the other parts of the soul. If you are to bind them once again to its owner, the shadow must first be released from the spell containing it. If you can't produce the shadows, then there's little I can do."

Weakness threatened to knock Xanthy's legs together. Was this how Reeca felt after whatever it was that happened where Ezril took her? Xanthy's stomach turned. She had flown from Depandes and endured mind-wracking tests in that cursed road and this was how it turned out?

Unfair.

"They're my people and you're the bloody High Priestess!" Cyrdel waved a disrespectful hand at Ezril's direction. "You can do something."

Ezril stared Cyrdel down. Her lamp-like eyes seemed to glow brighter. "You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do, Crovalis," she hissed.

Cyrdel's mouth flapped open and close but no words came out. Ezril turned to the rest of them. "You are welcome to stay here for as long as you wish. The Serzhakis will attend to your needs. You may go," Ezril took the soul port from her neck and began twisting the dials. Then she paused and glanced at Xanthy. "Xanthiene? Perhaps you'd like a word with me?"

Xanthy raised her eyebrows and stepped back. Her? What's she going to say? She caught Ravalee's eye and she didn't need her half's voice to tell her what was going on. A frown crept into her face. No.

Xanthy's right eye twitched, Ravalee's "tickles" searing her mind as she turned to the High Priestess. She gritted her teeth, met Ezril's waiting gaze, and shook her head. "No," Xanthy said. She hoped it was a firm as it resounded in her head. "I don't have anything to say to you."

Ravalee's head snapped from Xanthy to Ezril then back at Xanthy. Xanthy shook her head and crossed her arms. She had made a decision.

Xanthy turned to Ezril. "I have a question," she let her arms fall to her sides. The others had lost interest in the conversation and wandered off around the room. "Why did Sorina say that the Upper Floors are forbidden?"

Ezril's eyebrows slightly raised. "Because this is where I live?"

Oh.

"The Upper Floors are limited to me and the Rekshais," Ezril's skirts swished as she moved towards the mirrors once again. From the corner of Xanthy's eye, she saw Reeca move towards one of the maps and leaned over to study it. "The First of the Upper can be accessed by travelers that didn't pass through the Pilgrim Road. Serzhakis aren't allowed there because they're still students themselves."

Xanthy blinked. "You have a school?"

"Down in the Third of the Lower," Ezril jerked her head as if that would tell Xanthy where it was located. "A hospital, too. Second of the Lower."

Xanthy craned her neck at the ceiling, noting the lack of murals on it. "What's in the rest of the Upper Floors?"

"The throne room," Ezril answered. Why was the High Priestess humoring Xanthy's questions in the first place? "Next is my quarters, then the forbidden room, and this— the war room."

"Why was there a forbidden room?" Xanthy shifted her weight from one foot another. Weren't there any chairs in this room?

"We need to protect the Soul Spells," came Ezril's answer

Xanthy knitted her eyebrows and inclined her head at the High Priestess. "Soul Spells?"

"Are you kidding me, Xanthy?" June strode towards them from across the room and waved his arms around. "That's one of the oldest tomes written in Umazure. It is said to contain every spell regarding the soul. It's the chronicle of soul magic."

Ezril nodded, glancing at June with approval flashing in her eyes. "We need to protect it because it has many spells that can prove disastrous should they fall into the wrong hands."

A whish of movement from Xanthy's periphery caught her attention. "Uh, Ezril?" Reeca's voice called from somewhere where the maps were. "You might want to see this."

The High Priestess stalked towards the varichria's direction with Xanthy at her heels. Xanthy came to the map and knitted her eyebrows. What was going on?

A sharp intake of breath beside her and Xanthy turned to Ezril to see the HIgh Priestess's face was a mask of horror. Oh. So, Ezril could make expressions after all.

"I never thought it would be this day," Ezril breathed before marching off into another map beside the one they were peering at.

June stepped from behind Xanthy and regarded the glowing map, tapping his chin. Xanthy regarded him. Could he understand the Keiju koset even when he's half-blood? "What's the deal with this glowing thing?" he pointed to a vague spot on the map. "Joperos Lin?"

Reeca joined him and squinted at the map, too. "It looks like it wasn't good."

What in Umazure was going on?

Ezril's skirts whished as she moved to check the other maps. After a while, the High Priestess went back to the one Xanthy and her friends were observing. Xanthy stepped back to give way. Ezril pressed a hand into the glowing portion before drawing her arm back. Before Xanthy's eyes, the glowing portion grew until Xanthy could observe more details like trees, mountains, and even large animals like...graspel.

A lump formed in Xanthy's throat. Not those again.

Thankfully, Ezril didn't linger on the graspel grazing on forest grass. The High Priestess moved her hand towards the place that June called Joperos Lin. There was a lot of movement, that much Xanthy was sure of. Grainy silhouettes looked like a swarm of sphy feasting on a corpse to Xanthy. A flash of silver caught Xanthy's eye. What was this?

"She's really done it," the High Priestess rasped, stepping back as if in shock.

Reeca whirled to Ezril. "What in the gods' names is happening?"

"This is a map detecting irregular magical activity," Ezril shook her head, the blank expression taking over her face once again as she regarded the varichria. "It picked up the signal of a mass summoning."

"What are they summoning?" Xanthy stood on her tiptoes trying to look over June's shoulder as Cyrdel and Ravalee leaned towards the map as well. "They look like dancing cleretis out there."

A sigh a few paces away from the map caught their attention. Ezril was massaging her forehead. "I should tell you the plight we are in. You came at an unfortunate time," the High Priestess tucked her arms inside her sleeves again.

"Two days ago, Kymalin coerced the Necrom to turn against Carleon. She vowed that she will march here with our own army behind her and take the throne by force," Ezril's eyes hardened at the mention of the famed Cardovia agent. Xanthy felt the similar emotion bubbling in her stomach. "She said she will attack with full force. So she is out there, performing a mass summoning of spirits from the Land of Wonders to take to battle."

Xanthy's stomach soured for real. Ezril glanced at the glowing maps. "Such an atrocious act against Pidmena is punishable by death. I tried to warn her, to make her stop, but Kymalin wouldn't listen."

"Wait," Reeca turned away from the map with wide eyes. "Kymalin? As in Kymalin Iaro?"

Ezril nodded. Reeca braced her hips. "How did she get a hold of Carleon's army?"

"Simple," Ezril closed her eyes as if this was stressing her out. "She's my daughter and the heir to Carleon's throne."

Silence.

Xanthy blinked. The High Priestess's own daughter was plotting Carleon's downfall? How did she even convince the army to follow her?

"Cardovia is turning its eyes to us now," Ezril sighed as she pushed silver locks out of her face.

"Cardovia again?" Xanthy clicked her tongue. She's getting tired of hearing that name every time there's trouble. "What is it this time?"

"Kymalin works for Cardovia," Reeca stepped in and regarded Xanthy like they all knew this. Xanthy nodded. "She made it clear when she gave Erin my flintlock."

"So she's responsible for Jarvik's death," June said. Xanthy's stomach churned at the mention of the deceased human.

Ezril whirled to June a bit wildly. "You know Jarvik?"

"Yeah," Xanthy shrugged. "He's a friend."

Ezril nodded. "Before he died, did he tell you something?"

Xanthy opened her mouth to ask a question. How come Ezril knew? Then, it slammed into her. Oh, banshee. Necromancer. Duh.

"He said something about thrones and heirs," Reeca tapped her chin, looking at her boots in thought. "That's what drove me to ask my mother what she knew."

"Your mother's into this, as well?" Xanthy turned to the varichria. Was that why Reeca's mother died?

Reeca pursed her lips, stepping away from Xanthy. "I just thought she'd know something since she has friends of friends," she said. "She might have picked something up."

Ezril turned to Xanthy. "Tell me how Jarvik died and what my daughter's role was in it."

June and Reeca pursed their lips. They knew how painful that was to them who witnessed everything. Xanthy blew a shaky breath and told Ezril.

"Then Vikara, who was actually Elred, helped us get Jarvik and his children out—"

"Elred?" Ezril knit her eyebrows.

"Yeah," Xanthy nodded. Why was Ezril giving attention to the name like Airene did? "She's a shard fairy that works for Synketros."

Xanthy braced her hip with one hand and tapped her chin with the other. "What's her family name? Um..." she snapped her fingers. "Valkalin! Yes, that's it. Her name's Elred Valkalin."

Ezril's face paled so much Xanthy could see the veins in her cheeks. "Not Synketros too," the High Priestess strode towards the maps again and began dragging her eyes through them again. "Are they here?"

"They are quiet for now. There's no telling when they'll strike," Reeca stepped forward and crossed her arms. "Right now, we should focus on Cardovia. They're on the move and they have already attacked Depandes."

Ezril paused and turned towards Reeca. Cyrdel stepped forward. "The one we've been telling you about? That's their work as well. There's this thief that used one of my inventions to steal all of those shadows," the prince pushed his spectacle up his nose. "There's just no way a single shadow extraction spell could affect the whole land area of Depandes but it did."

"We need allies," Ezril hissed, turning back to the maps once again. For someone who looked like she's in her twenties, the furrows in Ezril's forehead could have threatened to erode her whole face. "There's only a single unit that remained loyal to the crown. Jarim's faction won't be enough," Ezril whirled to Cyrdel. "How about Alkara?"

Cyrdel shook his head. "Most of the army is in Depandes, trying to take control of the situation."

Ezril turned to the map once more. "Cardina will not help us. The other kingdoms are too far to aid us on time." Then, her eyes wandered to Reeca. A look of revelation flashed across her face. "How about Narfalk?"

Xanthy knitted her eyebrows. What has Reeca got to do with the Narfalk army?

Reeca choked on her own saliva with a cough. "Excuse me?" she shook her head. "You know Narfalk isn't a warrior territory. Varichriais just like to drink Rosado until morning."

June snorted. "Yeah, you're drunkards."

"Shut up, fogwitch," Reeca growled before turning back to the High Priestess as if she had just not cursed in the most vulgar way. "Narfalk isn't keen on providing help in terms of warfare."

Ezril raised an eyebrow. "Or you just don't want to ask for your father's help."

Xanthy's eyes widened. Father...?

Reeca harrumphed and crossed her arms. "The Torlin dynasty has fallen long ago."

Dynasty?

Ezril nodded, distracting Xanthy from further processing Reeca's words. "I understand," the High Priestess ran a light hand on the nearest map to her, lost in thought. "I'll have to call on Lanteglos to get the Imperial army to help us quite a bit. Perhaps Helinfirth can help but I doubt it, since they don't have a standing army."

Xanthy raised her hand. "We could help you," she cleared her throat.

June whirled to her in surprise. Reeca stopped pacing. Cyrdel's mouth parted partially. Ezril forgot the map as she regarded Xanthy.

Xanthy twisted a lock of hair on her finger, shifting her weight from one foot to another. "I-I mean, I would help you. I don't know about them," she gestured to her friends before meeting the High Priestess' eyes. "You can count on me."

Mentally, she wanted to kick herself. What was she saying? She should be kicking dust off her boots and getting the hell out of here and not offering to help the place that refused to help her in the first place.

Still, something stopped her from walking away. If she turned her back now, she's going to regret it for the rest of her life. As the Virtakios, she must do something—anything—just to help.

Save the ones she could because she has the power to. Did that make her a savior of this island? Far from it. She just shouldn't ignore the cries for help when she has the given might to save them.

Xanthy took a deep breath before extending her hand to Ezril. Let her hope that she wasn't making a mistake this time around. "I'm the Virtakios," she blinked at how strange those words sounded coming from her lips and being associated with each other. "I am here to help."

Ezril smiled, pushing past all the hardness Xanthy thought to be permanent on the High Priestess's muscles. The High Priestess reached out and shook Xanthy's hand. "I know," Ezril said with a warmth Xanthy never saw anywhere other than in mothers holding their children. "I'm honored."