Anise smiled and blushed as Peck wrapped a blanket around her. She truly appreciated everything he had done for her since they first met. Everyone that had helped her until this point she felt gratitude for. She promised herself to pay that assistance back threefold.

Suddenly, the earth swallowed her whole. She should have expected this reaction from the Lady of Stone. Their introduction began with the Lady trying to bury her alive. Even so, the experience of falling was startling. The landing was soft in spite of landing on the earth. The darkness was not so bad especially with the Sword of Light in her hands.

"I have no interest in trees and blood and kings."

The Lady of Stone moved like a shadow on the walls, a ripple of a figure that paced around Anise. "Look around you. Shadow and I understand one another. The cold and the dark and the barren suit me. I'll drink up the blood that's spilled. I'll swallow the buried dead. I'll swallow you." There was a grin in her voice.

Anise watched as the Lady paced around her. She now understood. She could only imagine how living so long in the darkness could create an appreciation for it. She approached the Lady and placed a warm hand onto her shoulder.

"Have you forgotten?" Anise asked softly. "Have you forgotten what it was like to feel the warmth of the sun? The beauty of life? The earth I know is a warm place full of life. The earth works together with the trees, water, fire, air, light, and darkness to create a beautiful world." Anise closed her eyes and brought forth the image of her world in her mind.

Using the light of the sword and the image she conjured in her mind, Anise unconsciously created a shimmering image behind her of her the Kingdom of Riverforde. The image of the sun in the sky. The warm earth. The plants and trees growing off the gifts of the earth and the old dying trees returning to the soil from whence they came. People being born, living off the land, and dying only to return to the land. Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Trees, Light, and Darkness all worked together in cycles and unison.

"I'm sure this is why the Dragon brought myself and other Sun Children here," Anise reopened her eyes. "I'm sure this land used to flourish just like mine. We can make that a reality again. How would you like that?"

She enveloped the entire space with light and warmth. Healing and soothing. "Remember how relaxing a sun-baked stone feels? Isn't it nice?"

The sharp, small gasp cutting through the night air was the only sign Artemis had awoken. She had never been a peaceful sleeper. Someone else had, once. But the sun-child found the waking world to be an escape from her dreams, rather than the other way around. In the beginning, waking had been a violent, unforgiving action, as panic slammed into her. But she'd learned to manage it over the years.

The coarse cloth of a bedroll underneath her was the first thing she registered. Then the unmistakable sounds of the forest at midnight, and the warm red glow shining through her eyelids. Artemis was perfectly still where she lay as she realized she didn't know where she was.

She counted out a minute in her mind as she searched her memory for an explanation. But there was only shadows. Shadows and a pale faced man, with a long, slender hand extended –

Artemis' eyes snapped open.

The Lantern cast the inside of the tent in an eerie red glow. Pushing herself up, she glanced about. The Lantern was by her side, and automatically her hand reached out to grab it and pull it close.

What had she done?

She was running away from her family all over again, betraying them because she was terrified of letting them down.

But… no. No, this was different. This… this had to be different. Artemis wasn't running away, she told herself. Her family would be with her, she'd kill the dragon, and then –

Then I'll face them.

After… after she made this right.

There was something hard clawing in her throat, and a burning behind her eyes. Her fingers clenched around the Lantern, fear and regret circling around her head. She shoved them down.

She'd made her choice. She'd made a deal.

Artemis swiped at her eyes. Her cheek was cold.

She paused, her hand stilling. She didn't feel cold. Between the bedroll and the Lantern, she actually felt rather warm. The Lord of Shadow's face flashed through her mind again. Clenching her jaw, Artemis pushed herself out of the bedroll.

The tent was a mess, apparently abandoned in a rush. She picked up a backpack, peering inside. Useful. She picked up a notebook, flipping it open. Artemis parsed through its contents. Then she stuffed it in the backpack. There was food. Artemis couldn't remember the last meal she had. As if in answer, her stomach grumbled at her. How long had she been on the island for? With little hesitation, Artemis went to work on the roast rabbit and the stew, gobbling it all down with little regard for manners. Her mother would've been appalled.

The soup was still warm. Whoever it was that'd made it hadn't been gone long. She wiped at her mouth with her coat sleeve. She stood, grabbing the backpack.

Throwing the strap over her shoulder, with the Lantern in hand, Artemis stepped outside.

The Lantern's light glistened off the stains in the grass. Artemis didn't have to look too closely to recognize it for what it was – blood. The campsite was just as messy as the tent. Nura was gone.

Artemis wasn't surprised. But she'd hoped, that maybe…

She squeezed her eyes shut. The griffon was gone. Fine. She didn't need her.

Nura was gone, but in her place… marid. Ghosts or demons or ghouls, Artemis couldn't tell. Shadows with starlight eyes stood in the darkness, as numerous as the forest's terrible trees.

Trees that Artemis could now control.

One of them stepped forward, a sickly green light in its hand.

It held the Lantern out to her, waiting.

Artemis clenched her draw, her heartbeat heavy in her throat. Then she stepped forward and took the Lantern.

"I'm sure this is why the Dragon brought myself and other Sun Children here," Anise reopened her eyes. "I'm sure this land used to flourish just like mine. We can make that a reality again. How would you like that?"

She enveloped the entire space with light and warmth. Healing and soothing. "Remember how relaxing a sun-baked stone feels? Isn't it nice?"

The Lady of Stone was as cold as the darkness; at Anise's touch she grinned and returned to the soil, leaving the princess to try her convincing alone in the illuminated cave. She saw the images, felt the words and their meaning -- and when Anise was finished, the Lady was nowhere to be seen ... but her voice rumbled in the walls, thick with sarcasm.

"How lovely! What a quaint little place. All this talk of light and hope has made me remember something I've forgotten to tell you: Shadow has got himself a new champion, one who will crush you and your precious dragon. And now I have something to tell him: there is a place still bathed in sunlight, that is ripe to be plunged into darkness. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear it."

With that, a deadened silence descended upon the cave; the Lady had gone, not to be called back.

After a few moments, the sound of a shovel struck above, and bits of dirt fell on Anise's head; it was Peck, digging his way toward her. A tiny beam of moonlight sifted through -- and Peck's calls of her name were drowned by the roar of the Dragon.

The sword brightened with the call.

Artemis clenched her jaw, her heartbeat heavy in her throat. Then she stepped forward and took the Lantern.

As Artemis' fingers curled around the Lantern's handle -- as the cloth fell away from the bright green within -- the Dragon's roar trembled throughout the island.

The dead flickered and hid from the noise. Their own whispers hissed among the trees, questioning.

Artemis' arm suddenly rippled with shining scales. They gleamed and reflected the light of both Lanterns, raced along her skin -- and within a moment were gone again, though she could still feel a slightly itchy, almost metallic sensation, like an invisible chainmail.

"You hold in your hand the Dragon's defenses." The Lord of Shadow spoke behind Artemis, but all there was to see was the illusion of his silhouette at the edge of the light, standing among the dead. "Invincibility. Immortality." There was a grinning hiss in his silky voice. "As frightening as the Dragon is, without this she is as mortal as a lamb."

He paced around the campsite, slowly. The spirits parted quickly, flickering, to let him pass.

"The dead will do your bidding," he continued, while the Dragon roared again in the distance. "As will the darkness, and the cold. I have asked that the Lady of Stone respond to your call, should you require her."

The dead hummed and whispered again, a haunting sound among the dark trees.

"The Dragon herself is not as fearsome as she seems; she has a psychic power, she will attempt to get into your head, convince you of your errors, turn you against your own reasoning. She has the power of illusion; she can make you see what she wants you to see. Keep your mind clear and cold, strike through. Your greater threat will be her champion -- one like yourself, who wields the blessing of Water and the sword of light. Her will has been known to reach farther than her hand -- ensure she does not get close to the Lanterns."

He stopped, and he faced her. "What, then, will you do?"

"How lovely! What a quaint little place. All this talk of light and hope has made me remember something I've forgotten to tell you: Shadow has got himself a new champion, one who will crush you and your precious dragon. And now I have something to tell him: there is a place still bathed in sunlight, that is ripe to be plunged into darkness. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to hear it."

Anise closed her eyes as she listened to the Lady of Stone's response. So she had become just as twisted as the Lord of Shadow. She had been prepared for such a tragedy, so this reaction did not upset her too much. However, now the stakes just got greater. Again, the Lady of Stone had another opportunity to kill her and once again the Lady simply gloated at her. She could not understand why that was the case. The Lord of Shadow and the Lady of Stone had all of this power and the both of them barely even tried to stop her. Their apparent inaction perplexed her.

Anise had no need for a champion. She was the champion of her own cause. Somehow, they did. Curiosity did peak in regards to who it could be. She had met a few people from sun-touched lands like herself at this point. It could be any number of them.

She heard Peck digging away with a shovel above her, and she looked up as soon as a beam of moonlight peeked through a freshly made hole. Bits of dirt fell to the ground before her. She could hear him shouting, but the roar of the Dragon drowned out his voice. The sword flared every time the Dragon roared, and Anise watched it as it flashed each time.

Could this sword be the Sun? It would make sense for the Lady of Light to be the one to secure the Sun. Maybe once she had been slain the Lady of Stone created that casket to seal her away and hide the sun with her. The only way she could know is if she presented the sword to the Dragon, and she had planned to approach the Dragon anyways now that she had Light and Water. A purification of light and water was needed to cleanse the corruption that the Lord of Shadow had allowed to settle on the Dragon’s bones.

Anise then looked at the moonlight. Light. Could she use it to travel? She connected herself with the beam of light and focused on the space above her where more light touched. She imagined herself being carried by the light until she stood right next to Peck.

Artemis looked down at the Lantern in her hand, her attention still on the Lord of Shadow. The dragon's angry roar shook the earth.

Not fun when other people take what's yours, is it? she thought viciously.

Runes. Fire. Wood. Shadow. Stone. Dragonfire. Invincibility. The thought was sweet and harsh, wine burning her from the inside out. Intoxicating. She could kill the dragon.

Her bright gaze flicked back up to the Lord of Shadows to see the scheming eyes of a politician.

Keep your mind cold and clear, strike through. His words pierced through her and Artemis sobered. She was not some naive upstart with delusions of grandeur. She wasn't a fool. She was royalty. Intelligent. Educated. The daughter of a woman who'd assassinated her own father and tied his body to the palace gates to end a rebellion.

She would be cold. Her focus would be clear. Artemis would strike through.

The Lord of Shadow's question hung unanswered in the air. What would she do? Artemis considered her options: she could go to the dragon now, or bide her time, gathering her strength.

With the first option she had the element of surprise on her side -- well, as much as she could. The dragon already knew she held the green Lantern, which meant it probably also knew she had the red. But it didn't know who she was, or what other powers she had. The dragon was still weak after escaping from the cave, and would likely only get stronger as time passed. And what about this champion?

Artemis thought back to her tutors from years ago, and the few lessons she'd had on war. Because that's what this was -- war. She was outclassed against a more powerful opponent, who'd only get stronger if left to heal. She didn't know the battleground, but she wasn't helpless. She had resources. Her long fingers tightened around the green Lantern, the memory of scales still itching along her skin.

When fighting against a stronger opponent, wear them out. Be quick. Be untouchable. Small attacks over a prolonged period. Artemis likely wouldn't be able to deal a killing blow, but she could make it impossible for the dragon to gain back its strength if it was always trying to hold her off. She'd figure out her own new abilities as she did so.

Artemis knelt down, gathering the cloth that'd fallen to the ground. She ripped a strip and grabbed the charcoal from her pocket and scrawled two sharp runes on the larger piece: darkness, weightless. She took her two Lanterns and wrapped the cloth tightly around them, hiding their light. The forest turned to shadows. She drew another rune on the strip: un-tearable. Looping the strip around the two handles, she tied it in a knot to hang off the strap of her bag. She hooked the bag back over her shoulders and stood.

"Haven't you been listening?" she finally replied, looking back at the Lord of Shadow. She could see him in perfect detail, still. She tried not to shiver. "I'm going to kill the dragon." She looked to the mountain, crumbled and half-formed after the dragon's escape. "Any other words of wisdom?"

The moonlight enveloped her -- cooling, sheltering and bright. For a moment, Anise felt she was becoming breath -- as if the draw of air into her lungs was the entirety of her being, her vision gone, replaced by the glow of the moon.

She did not feel herself moving, nor could she direct where she went -- but somehow, when she opened her eyes, the light faded. She stood still and firm at the edge of the new-dug hole, the breath deep in her lungs.

Peck stared up at her from the ground -- where he'd fallen, skittering, upon the appearance of a bright light at his side. With a huff of relief, he relaxed, dropped backward on the ground. "Ya don't got to be so dramatic," he reminded her with a small grin. "I was the one gonna save ya." He laid a hand over his pounding chest, quieted his nerves.



Bright eyes flared out of the dark -- wings cast darker shadows on the night sky. Trees crashed, rumbled, ripped out of their roots while the batmonkeys scattered. Great tracks of turned soil carved into the ground by the Dragon's claws.

The Dragon breathed -- snarled. There was no fire.

Stolen.

A low roll of thunder rippled out of the Dragon's throat.

Peck began to breathe faster. His skin paled -- his eyes dimmed.

He wobbled while he climbed uncertainly to his feet -- slapped his legs as if trying to brush something away. He sucked air into his lungs, viciously tore his fingernails across his clothes, eyes wide in panic. "Get it off," he whispered, stumbled back, ripped at something invisible around his waist with growing desperation.

His face had quickly hollowed -- a darkness around his brimming eyes. As if his life were being sucked away.

Doreli lifted his beak, screeched into the night. With him, faint, an echo over the trees -- the island was screaming.

The Dragon's eyes brightened.

The Lord of Shadow drifted into the darkness, a smoke of crimson and black, white teeth, the sharp of an eye. "It is you who shall be the wise," he hissed around Artemis' head, while the screams swelled in the night.

The dead shimmered. Stepped close.

An army awaited her command.

The Dragon raised her serpent head. Teeth flashed. Eyes glowed.

Her jaws opened, breathed a rumble of words that shook the remains of the Mountain.

Peck stared up at her from the ground -- where he'd fallen, skittering, upon the appearance of a bright light at his side. With a huff of relief, he relaxed, dropped backward on the ground. "Ya don't got to be so dramatic," he reminded her with a small grin. "I was the one gonna save ya." He laid a hand over his pounding chest, quieted his nerves.

Anise smiled and giggled. Perhaps the first time she felt any sense of real joy in this world. All the other moments of it were likely only that of relief more than anything else. Before she could comment with gratitude and her own lighthearted humor the Dragon's roar ripped through the Forest. The large motions of the Dragon could be hear as she continued to rampage crying out in fury.

Peck then started to react as if he had something crawling up his leg. Before long he started to drain of his energy. His life. Anise stared in horror only for so long before she acted. She embraced Peck and called the Light to her. She called for the rejuvenating power of Water to join with it. "Peck. My dear, Peck, you are the one that saved me. Time and time again. Now I shall return the favor, my beloved Knight."

Her powers combined as she kissed Peck right on the lips. Her desire to protect him from the evil draining his life away rushed through her as her heart pounded. Light to protect. Water to rejuvenate. She could remember a time where she could not imagine kissing anyone except for her fiance. A prince from a far away land that she had never seen. She could remember a world in a time of peace where the battlefield was courts and politics. She felt like she had been far away from that place for a long time now even though it had hardly been a week. Now she controlled a power that could only be found in fairy tales and carried a responsibility even greater than that of Princess of Riverforde.

She could save not only a world, but several others as well. She vividly remembered the story of the dreams given to her by the Dragon. The desperately reaching out into other worlds to draw power from them and heroes in the desperate hope to find the right savior. Anise could understand that desperation. While she lived a sheltered life away from the common folk she remembered several instances of her father stressing over the burden of such responsibility. Of ruling a kingdom. He had an excellent team of advisers to help him divide an conquer the challenges before him. For them to betray him like the Spirits betrayed the Dragon, Anise could imagine just how desperate one could be.

Except the Spirits were more than just advisers. They were her children.

As Anise pulled away from Peck the Dragon cried out once more.

GIVE ME .... MY CHILDREN

Anise looked at Peck with a sad smile. "It looks like this is the final stretch. I promise I will do everything to be the savior we all need. The first thing I need to do is heal a mother in pain. I love you, Peck."

Anise turned to face the Dragon and like just before she called to the Light to bring her to the Dragon. She gripped the Sun Sword tightly ready to use it to channel her Light and the power of her own Sun to cleanse the Dragon's body of the Lord of Shadow's corruption. With it she would also use the healing power of Water to repair what she could. Even if this was the last thing she did, Anise would do everything in her power to honor the Lady of Light and save this world and all others connected to it.