Kiara found herself in a black place filled with wispy, tree like fronds of dark shadow that curled into the gray sky. She had been dragged by a shadowbeast far away into a corner of the shadow land. She was alone again, and the thought tore at her painfully. She didn't know how to get out of this hell, and was convinced she would be stranded forever.

     Kiara sank to her knees on the wispy ground beneath her, sending up a small plume of dark smoke that rose up around her. What was she supposed to do? Carnirus would be coming back the next night, and who knows what he would do? She was lost... and forgotten. The only memories she had were with Hunter, and he was gone. Carnirus himself had told her the only way to escape the crystal was with his permission or dragon fire to destroy it.

     She rubbed her eyes, taking a shaky breath, "Calm down..." she whispered to herself, "There's always a way out for those who need it... and I really need it right now." she brushed hair from her eyes, hardly surprised that it was no longer gray but red. She was no longer a spirit in this dimension, as Hunter had no longer been human, so there was no reason for her lack of color.

     Kiara bit her lip, thinking hard. Why had Carnirus kept Slick at the castle? Did he need information of some sort? Maybe a way to strengthen the conversion between human and phantom?

     But that didn't matter if she couldn't find her way back to the castle, and even if she did, what could she do? She was only bait, and didn't have a hope for fighting Carnirus and his shadowbeast army. Kiara brushed a tear away from her eyes, now on her knees in the middle of the shadowy forest. She was useless. Completely useless.

      This entire thing had been set up because of her, and now the world would pay for it.

     Kiara wiped her face again, her breaths coming quickly as she tried to force herself to calm. She found her eyes locked on the ground as she whispered to herself, "Useless... I'm completely useless...." and a tear hit the dirt in front of her.

     "One is only useless when they give up trying to help," a soft voice said, and Kiara was instantly alert, whipping around to see a very faded form standing in front of her. It was hard to make out, but it looked almost like a girl so faded out, that only a gust of wind would be all it took to blow her away.

    Kiara wiped the tear streak from her face hastily, "Wh-who're you?" she asked in an unsteady voice, getting to her feet. The hem of her skirt was covered in dirt, which she quickly brushed away.

     Sorrow clouded the girl's face, then she slowly shook her head, "You... really have forgotten."

     "I'm s-sorry, do I know... you?" Kiara chewed her lip as she pulled her loose strands of red hair from her eyes.

     "No... I suppose you do not," the newcomer's voice was like a sigh in the wind— slow, but gone in an instant.

     "Um... do you have a name?" Kiara asked uncertainly, curiosity making her head tilt to the side like a curious dog.

     "Yes. I am, or was, known as Melody." the wisp replied quietly, her transparent eyes dropping to the ground, "Though my name matters not if you do not remember."

     "M-Melody?" Kiara's eyes widened, then her head throbbed suddenly, making her stumble back as she cried out. She clutched at her head as it throbbed terribly, feeling as if something inside was breaking apart.

      "Are you okay?" Melody's voice was void of emotion, but her eyes were concerned as she drifted forward.

     Then the pain was gone, and Kiara paused before slowly letting go of her head. It no longer hurt, and she turned to face Melody, "That happened when Carnirus mentioned your name earlier too! Why does that make my head hurt? You have to know! You have to tell me!"

      Melody gave a small shake of her head, "I... do not remember enough to speak of it. I will tell you soon, but not now. Time is running out, and you know it. We have until All Hallow's Eve until Carnirus takes control. "

     "B-but..." Kiara trailed off, looking away, "There's nothing we can do. It's me against an army and a phantom. How am I to hope to triumph?"

      "One does not fail unless they give up. Thus the only thing I can tell you is to never give up. There's always a way out for those who need it, as you said yourself." Melody gave her a tiny smile, "There's always a path to victory, always a way to win. All you have to do is find it."

     "If you know, tell me. You'll be saving us all a lot of time." Kiara said dryly. "The only way to stop Carnirus is to remove Hunter from the crystal thing! And that's impossible! The only way to do that is to either make Carnirus say to let them go or dragon fire to destroy it! "

      "Once the crystal is destroyed, there would be no way for Carnirus to harness enough black magic to continue the transformstion," Melody told her in her quiet voice, "That would mean a victory for humankind."

      "Yeah, just let me pull this dragon from my pocket—" Kiara began sarcastically, then broke off as Melody frowned at her, "What? Why're you giving me that look?"

     She shook her head slowly, "Nothing is impossible."

     "Look, even if I do find a dragon, he'd probably just eat me! Or even if he was friendly and could somehow understand what I wanted, we'd still have to get past an army of shadowbeasts," Kiara dragged a hand down her face wearily.

     Melody cracked a smile, "Surely you haven't seen a dragon. The army would not be a problem."

     "Do you know where one might be?" Kiara asked hopefully, expecting the answer to be no.

     "This is the shadow realm. All creatures of shadow tend to live here," Melody smiled pleasantly at Kiara, "And there just so happens to be such thing as a Shadow Dragon."