Welcome to Gaia! ::

This room is one of the four small square rooms on the map. Once you are all inside, the door closes behind you. The door seems to be sealed by some sort of Chaos and the room is covered in a dark fog.

This is the same fog that obscured the twelve paths in the Wilds and the path to the Observatory!

There is no going back. At least, not the way you came. You will need to find a new way out.

There is a sphere in the center of the room that looks like an orb with stars, constellations and astronomical phenomena. In fact, it looks a lot like the orb that is Urania’s personal item. But if you have been to Urania previously, you recognize it and know that, once activated, it can clear the fog.

It projects a voice that all in the room can hear:

“Please enter the password for activation. Hint mode is active.”

Then it adds:

“I arrive every day and leave every night.”

Amarynthos, Knight of the Moon

Amarynthos snorted at the suggestion of throwing Cynthus. “Hope you’ve got a good arm if you’re planning on throwing anyone. Throw me instead, I’ll hit harder. Have you figured out your magic, Cynthus? You look good.”

He tapped on the floor with his staff, partly in thought and partly because his skin felt like it was crawling. He didn’t like whatever shade of Chaos was clinging to the air, and every shadow made him think of Alastor.

When they’d parted from Sessrumnir and Alastor he’d promised that they’d look after each other. So, his arm was hooked around Ephesus’ and he had no intention of letting it go.

“I think the sun makes sense. Are we in the same solar system or does the sun have a different name here?” There were stars and constellations everywhere, and–well, some of them looked familiar enough that it did actually make sense if they were in the same solar system. And, judging by what he’d heard about Urania from Ephesus, it seemed like there was good reason to believe as much.

“Can’t have day without the sun, can’t have night without it. I think Reims is spot on.”

Dering, Squire of Lysithea

Dering might not have had much of a voice, but he nodded as well. He’d been distracted trying to memorize the area and compare it to the map, but he’d been a bit overwhelmed by just how much there was here. It wasn’t just the stars, or the Chaos; it felt like walking through the halls of a museum. This building was ancient, maybe the oldest place he’d ever been in.

He’d followed the group instinctively and while he stayed close, he was also very mindful about not crowding them. He was nervous, maybe more so because he knew this was dangerous, but he trusted his friends, and they’d never given him any reason to think he was unwanted.

Best not to give them a reason.

Thank goodness they were smart, though. He breathed a sigh of relief because as soon as he’d heard the riddle his mind had stopped moving. Maybe the sun was the obvious answer but he wasn’t sure he’d have come to that. It was like the gears were straining until Reims made the suggestion, and then things comfortably clicked into place.

How could he have said Amarynthos was full of it when he said Reims had brains and brawn! He clearly did!

Quiet still, he nodded enthusiastically in support of the suggestion.

Guine

Reims, Ephesus

Sunshine Alouette

Rose, Yvoire, Cynthus

Ephesus, Knight of the Moon

Ephesus missed his dads already, but he knew they would be okay. And they would be okay. They had each other and they were going to get through whatever was thrown at them.

He held onto Amarynthos’s arm, grateful for his closeness, but also ready to use his magic if he needed to. Hopefully it wouldn’t come down to that.

“It’s okay! Yes, it’s Effie. Or Ephesus,” he confirmed with Rose with a smile. “I was here before, yeah. But daddy and I had to face off against a couple of bears to get a key and unlock Urania from a cage. Um, the bears were a lot nicer than you’d expect. I think they were just trying to protect the place. Probably agitated from all the Chaos. Oh, but we didn’t have to do anything like this. The bears calmed down after I let them smell my magic. Um. Which smells like honey,” he explained, because that was probably good context to include.

“Your parasol is really pretty, Evie. Is that okay to call you that?” he asked Yvoire. He knew they were supposed to be working on a riddle, but he wanted to try and make sure everyone was calm, too.

“Dering, you haven’t learned how to play your lute yet, have you? I’d love to hear. I bet anything you played would be pretty enough to scare any Chaos away.”

Reims, Squire of Ganymede

Reims clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth at Amarynthos’s comment. He wasn’t annoyed, but he wanted to shake Amarynthos and make him guess his identity. He supposed it wasn’t anyone’s fault but his own. He could tell them who he was, but that probably wouldn’t go over well. So far, it was only Dawn and Maisie who knew.

“Is this thing broken?” he huffed when the voice spoke again, but nothing happened. “We said sun already. The sun. Sol. Uh… giant ball of gas. The big yellow one,” he tried to speak loudly at the orb, as if it needed to hear them better. Surely it was just programmed to say things.

“Dering, come play something for this thing. Maybe it needs music. Cynthus, you can sing, can’t you? You look like you at least sing in the shower, but probably poorly. No offense,” he added, although he gave her a flat look that hinted that he probably meant full offense. Especially after that dirty look.

“Ooh,” he continued after just a moment. “Does that burn? Good thing you have healing magic.”

Whatever the answer ended up being, it didn’t matter. He drew his sword out and faced the door, as though waiting for something to come barging in. If it was Chaos, then it was better that they had the upper hand and weren’t surprised.

Out of habit, he spun the sword around once as he would have done with a baseball bat, and held it out in front of him as though staring down a pitcher. The sword itself, although not made of the same material, was surprisingly similar to a baseball bat. The way the handle felt in his hand, and the length and weight was comparable to an aluminum bat. He didn’t know if Chaos could be physically beaten back, but he would try if he had to.

“Yvoire, come stand over here near me. Who knows what’s going to come next if this thing is broken.”

He didn’t want to fight Chaos, but he was prepared for it. Amarynthos could help him protect them, but Reims wanted to do his part.

Rose, Page of Lysithea

Rose stared around nervously when Ephesus mentioned encountering bears the last time he was on Urania. Nice as he claimed they’d been, Rose would rather not have to see if that still held true. What if the Chaos warped their demeanor? Could it do that? Turn them evil and monstrous instead of just agitated? What if they decided they didn’t like so many people here? If they were protective of this place, then they might not like a large number of people lurking around.

The topic of magic had Rose glancing at her spindle, which she still held in both hands like some sort of an anchor within the fog.

“I don’t think I have magic, do I?” she said. “Reims said he didn’t when he was like me. I’ll try not to get in the way if things turn dangerous.”

Rose wondered what her magic would be once she did earn it. She thought it might be nice if she were able to heal people, too. Maybe her magic would even have a smell to it like Ephesus’. Given what her name was, she could imagine something floral. Then again, maybe it would be completely different, like sharp thorns that could hurt someone. (Not that she wanted to hurt anyone, but she also knew she might not be able to avoid it at some point.)

She peered closer at Dering’s lute, then Ephesus’ fancy staff, then Amarynthos’ longer one. They were all so pretty. Even Reims’ sword, which should have been nerve-wracking to wield considering what swords were typically used for, was beautiful. Rose hoped she’d earn something equally stunning one day. She knew Reims’ sword had started as something rather small and insignificant. That meant her spindle might go through extensive changes too, didn’t it?

Well, there was no point getting hung up on it now. Rose would do her best to stay safe and not distract the others too much. She would have to rely on them, but she would do what she could in the meantime.

-

Yvoire, Squire of Ganymede

“Yeah,” Yvoire said when Ephesus asked if they could call him by the nickname Reims had first used, followed by a quietly mumbled, “Thank you,” for the compliment paid to his parasol.

He gripped it a little tighter, unsure how much good it would do. At least he could poke at things and maybe hurt them if he applied enough pressure.

Yvoire shifted toward Reims as directed, but couldn’t help noting that Reims had used the full version of his name. Maybe Reims didn’t care for cutesy nicknames when he was around a pretty girl he liked to hold hands with. Whether or not she was his girlfriend (was she?), Reims probably wanted to impress her. The sword would help with that. Yvoire was impressed by it, especially when Reims seemed so confident holding it.

“My magic’s melted gold,” he added, not so low that he couldn’t be heard by them all, but still quiet, wary and watchful. “It’s really hot, so try and stay back if I have to use it. I guess that means the three of us should… um… take point?” he suggested, glancing between Reims and Amarynthos. “If that’s the right phrase…”

Yvoire flushed faintly, grateful for the gloom to hopefully conceal it. He wasn’t the best at tactics. Even so, he wasn’t going to let any of the others get hurt if he could help it. If he had to put himself in harm’s way in the process, then so be it. With all of them working together, Yvoire liked to think the odds would be in their favor.

Then again, Yvoire had never done anything like this. He wasn’t even sure what they’d have to face to get rid of the Chaos. What if it was worse than anything any of them had ever seen before? What if they’d gotten themselves in over their heads?

-


Cynthus, Squire of the Moon

Cynthus rolled her eyes and kept giving Reims dirty looks. She lifted her crook threateningly like she was going to strike him on the head with it, but pulled back most of her strength at the last second and only gave the top of his head a light tap. She might be annoyed by him, but she knew better than to incapacitate a guy with a sword before they knew if they’d need him and his sword or not.

“So we’re all in agreement that it’s sun?” she asked Ephesus, Rose, and Yvoire, earning a nod and a quiet “yes” from the latter two.

She peered a little closer at the orb, but couldn’t figure out how it worked. “Maybe it’s busted. Do you think that Urania girl would get pissy if we, like, banged it around a bit? My dad likes to bang at his old consoles to get them to work when they glitch out. Says it’s foolproof.”

Cynthus didn’t bang at the orb, but she did lean in to speak loudly at it. “Hey, orb thing! The answer is sun! A sun! Or the sun! Or whichever sun you like! That thing you’re not supposed to stare directly into! Rises in the morning and sets at night! Can you even hear us or are we supposed to do something else to give you the answer? This place is weird,” she continued, directing the last comment to the others. “What do you think happens if it is busted? I guess we can knock down the door if we have to.”

Not that she’d like to. She’d leave that to Amarynthos and Reims.