- Siena -

Siena woke up, jolted from her dreams as they turned into nightmares haunted by a glowing, hissing lizard. She was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Her head was pounding, and she pressed a hand against her temple as if to try and subdue the pain. Her entire body felt weak, and when she tried to stand, she had to thrust her hand out to steady herself against the wall. She was cold and shivering.

Her fingers brushed against something smooth propped against the wall. Siena kept her eyes on the ground while the room spun. The feel of the object was so familiar; but she dared not hope.

Siena, called Ihi's voice.

Siena looked up, and her eyes widened as she saw her brown andalusite staff, perfect and flawless and real! A sound behind her made her jump and she looked over her shoulder.

"Who's there?" she asked the empty room. "Ansgar?"

The door, she noticed, was ajar. Siena fought back the elation. The staff and the open door had to be a trap, and her time in Crystallos had made her wary.

'Ihi, what should I do?'

We are part of you. We will be with you whatever your decision.

Siena's mind raced. She took hold of her staff and leaned heavily on it as she crossed the room to the door. If there was any possibility, however slight, of escape, Siena would take it, just as she had before.

In the Wilds, Ihi said, we did not think it through. We took the opportunity, but perhaps it was not a good one.

'I can't keep sitting around, waiting for more opportunities. They are too far apart, and none of them seem good when they first appear.'

Siena cautiously pushed on the door, and it opened further. She looked both ways down the long corridor but saw no one. Running on the pulsing adrenaline, Siena stepped into the hallway, moving quietly. She could not move as quickly as she would have liked, not until more feeling came back to her legs. She did not care if she was in a labyrinth. Nothing mattered anymore, except the hope of freedom.

Freedom, however, was not appearing. Siena wandered in circles, passing marks she had made on the floors and walls a dozen times over, climbing stairs and turning corners. In all that time, she had seen no one, no daemonis or sanscoeur, no Ansgar. It was as if the castle was deserted.

"I'm done with this," Siena said. She had begun to feel her strength returning. She raised her staff, planning to knock down the wall itself, but as she spoke her spell, the staff went limp.

"What?" she gasped.

Siena! shouted Ihi at the same time.

Siena screamed as she looked at the staff in her hand. It had become a writing, hissing snake which wrapped itself around her arm. Siena flung it off and it hit the wall, sliding to the floor, and rolling onto its stomach. The snake expanded, growing larger and striking towards her. Siena turned and ran. The snake followed, slithering along behind her, keeping pace without any visible effort.

When she reached a corner, the snake herded her to the left, snapping at her heels. She kept running. The snake melted into the shadows, but when Siena turned another corner, the path was blocked with spiders. She shouted and went the other way.

'What's happening?' she gasped.

They are not real, Ihi realized. They are illusions!

"What?" Siena cried.

She stopped short, as if to turn and face the things chasing her, but when she turned, she was staring at a wall. Siena raised her hand and pressed against it. It was real, and solid. She looked around, trying to understand what was happening. Then she felt a gust of magic, accompanied by a foul smell.

"Ah, ah!" laughed a deep, gravelly voice to her left. Siena's gaze rested on a very tall daemon of the palest blue she had ever seen. It was crouching when she first looked at it, and it seemed deformed. Then it slowly rose to its feet, and Siena's breath caught in her lungs.

The daemon's humped back was actually folded wings, great bat-like things protruding from its shoulders and sides. Its hands were clawed like all daemonis, but its feet were like an animal's, long clawed toes and all. A tail lay coiled around its feet and two long, twisting horns grew from its head of shaggy hair. There were no markings anywhere along its body.

The creature was grinning widely. Its face seemed oddly draconic, less human than Inanis and Lacerta. Even without considering its horns, it stood taller than Inanis and Lacerta.

"Rare it is we have prey come find us!" it laughed.

"Stay away from me," warned Siena, though it was an empty threat.

The daemon laughed and the sound of it sent chills down Siena's spine. It advanced towards her, and she took a step back.

Out of instinct, Siena raised her hand. "Conjuration: Bar-" her words were cut off when something grabbed her wrist and jerked her backwards, out of the way from the advancing daemon. She looked up, surprised to see Ansgar standing there, blocking her from the towering creature.

"She isn't for you," he said to the daemon.

"Aaaaah," it squealed, tail lashing. "But we want her. We want a taste. We are kept locked away in this room. Kato said he would bring us something delicious. Just a taste, just a taste of her magic!"

"No," spat Ansgar.

The daemon snarled but stopped advancing. Its body glowed softly, and its nostrils flared. Then it grinned again. "Aaah, Ansgar. How you have changed. Günay has his claws in you too." The daemon laughed. "Günay will never have his claws in us, no, no. This is why he keeps us here, away from our kingdom, our throne!"

What does it mean? Siena wondered. Ansgar stepped back, forcing Siena to do the same.

"Günay will never have me like he does Kato," Ansgar said. "And you won't have her. Step back, Letum, and let us leave your lair."

"But she came here!" protested Letum. "She invaded our lair, so she is ours!"

Ansgar's anatase staff transformed into a polearm, which the daemon eyed warily. "Do not test me."

The daemon growled and hissed, and all the light from its body went out, submerging them in complete darkness. Ansgar's grip tightened on Siena's wrist, and she winced.

"Let's go," she said, and turned and ran, dragging Siena behind him.

Ansgar did not speak to her as they ran down the corridor. Siena tried to get him to stop, but he kept pulling her. There was something off about him. She saw bloodstains all over his white robe, just in the stages of turning from red to brown.

Is he an illusion too? What game is Kato playing?

She could tell, though, this was not an illusion. "Ansgar, stop!"

Finally, he did, and Siena pulled her wrist from his grip. It was beginning to bruise, and it hurt. "What was that back there? And where are we going? Clearly, you're not taking me back to my room."

Ansgar glared at her. "Your being here puts everything at risk. Including your own life! Do you even realize how close you were to being devoured? For the second time?"

"As if that's my fault!" she shouted.

There was a flash of true, raw anger in his eyes that made Siena cower, as if she were facing one of the daemonis. His pale eyes seemed even paler, almost white. He calmed himself.

"I know. I'm sorry." Ansgar reached for her. "Please, even if you never trust me again, trust me now. Let's go."

Siena stared at him, andfor the first time since coming here, she thought she saw him, her Az. "Alright," she said, and took hold of his hand.

- Siena -

Siena followed Ansgar through the maze of Crystallos Castle until they reached a large room Siena had never seen before.

"This is Lacerta's wing of the castle," Ansgar explained. "It's about the only place now that's safe from Günay's eyes."

The room was as bland as Siena's cell, but there was a strange warmth here that was absent in the one where Siena had been kept. Through an open doorway, Lacerta appeared. Nanus and Gigas were hiding behind her.

"You two stay here," she commanded softly. Their bodies' light was dim, as if they were afraid of something. Lacerta walked towards them. "Come, Siena. Quickly, now."

Siena shrank back. "Where are you taking me?"

Lacerta reached out and placed a large, clawed hand on Siena's head as if she were a child needing reassurance.

"Go with her," Ansgar said. "I'll stay here and cover your tracks."

Siena whirled around. "You're not coming with me?"

The look on Ansgar's face, despite the smile, was sad. He shook his head. "Can't. I'm tied to Crystallos now in a way that will never allow me to leave without Günay's consent. But you aren't. And somehow, I don't understand it, you cut Lacerta's bond with Günay, which means she can get you home."

Lacerta nodded, and Siena felt as if everything was moving too fast all of a sudden. Ansgar closed the distance between them, forcing Siena's attention back to him. She looked into his face and her heart skipped. He was there, smiling at her as he once had. He cupped her chin and pulled her close, wrapping her in a crushing embrace again. Tears welled in Siena's eyes, and she buried her head in his chest, clutching at the front of his white robe, stained with dried blood. The embrace lasted for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Ansgar pulled away, but Siena clutched tighter, and pulled him down to kiss him. His hair tickled her eyes and nose.

"A proper goodbye this time," Ansgar whispered when they broke apart. "I truly thought that day in Lutèce would be the last time I saw you."

Siena shook her head frantically. "Stop. Just stop! Come back with me, Az, please!"

Ansgar pushed a lock of Siena's hair behind her ear. "I can't do that, and I can't tell you why. I've signed my death warrant, Si. There's no place in Lutèce for me, even if I wanted to go back."

"Then we don't have to go to Lutèce," pressed Siena. "We can go anywhere. I'll go wherever you go. Don't leave me behind!"

"The sun will rise in the human realm soon," Lacerta said softly behind Siena. "We can only travel through the realms at night. We must go."

Siena grabbed hold of Ansgar's sleeve. This was what she was hoping for, a true escape, but now that she faced it, she could not bring herself to leave. "Please," she sobbed.

Ansgar gently removed her hand from his sleeve and touched her anatase pendant with his forefinger. "I promised to always protect you, Si. This is all I can do for you now. Let me do it."

He brought his hand to the back of her neck and pulled her close for another kiss, once on her lips, and then on her forehead. He stepped away. Siena moved to follow, but Lacerta grabbed her elbow.

"We must leave, Siena," she urged.

Ansgar looked at her. "Goodbye, Siena. I'm sorry." Siena felt a sharppain on the side of her head. Her sight faded as she tumbled forward.

- Siena -

Siena woke suddenly and gasped for air until her lungs felt like they would burst. It was the cleanest, lightest air she had breathed in Elam only knew. She felt strong, clawed hands on her shoulders.

"Siena," Lacerta called, "Siena you must not breathe so fast. You must acclimate again. Take slow, deep breaths. There, like that, yes."

Siena blinked and looked around. It was dark, but not the oppressive blackness of Crystallos. Her hands felt grass beneath her, cold and wet with dew. She looked up to the sky. Stars and the moon glittered there. When tears fell, Siena could not tell if they were from joy or sorrow.

"Lacerta," she asked in a shaky voice, "is this real?"

"It is real," Lacerta said, following Siena's gaze to the sky. "We wanted to show you our stars. The ones in Crystallos. But now that Lacerta sees these again, we think they are much prettier."

Siena nodded, wiping her face. She tried to stand, and Lacerta helped her to her feet, steadying her. Then the daemon hugged Siena. Her hair was wispy against Siena's face and her skin was hot, but not blistering. Lacerta must have been suppressing her magic a great deal.

"We will miss you, Siena. You were our first friend, when we did not understand what that was. You taught us so much."

Siena's mind was still fuzzy from the sudden change in atmosphere, so she nodded dumbly as Lacerta spoke. The daemon took one of Siena's hands in hers and pressed her other claw over her own chest.

"We are a being of magic. We do not have a heart like you. Lacerta and Inanis and Letum, we are all the same. Maybe once we had such a thing as a heart or soul, but when we became part of the Stream, we lost it, and became magic and that magic became sanscoeur again. Daemonis are made up of the memories and feelings of all which we have consumed. In a way, we are not a single being, but neither are we each many beings."

"I don't understand what you're trying to say," Siena sighed.

"When we absorbed part of you," Lacerta explained, "part of you became part of us. And we will always carry that part of you inside us, no matter what form we take after Lacerta."

Lacerta reached behind her and pulled the andalusite shepherd's hook loose from its ties on her back. She held it out for Siena to take.

"We know Ihi now, so we were able to find your staff and return it to you."

Gingerly, Siena took hold of her staff. It was cold and dull when she touched it.

'Ihi,' Siena called gently.

We are here. We are always here.

'Then why isn't the crystal reacting?'

Ihi was silent as stone now, but she could still feel it, so there at least was some comfort. Siena felt the depth of the anima's sadness as strongly as she felt her own. Lacerta looked up at the sky.

"We love this sky very much," she said, and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she looked at Siena. "We love this world very much now, because of you. Thank you. But we are still of Crystallos. Lacerta did not choose to be the way we are, and we cannot change our nature. But thanks to you we can choose our own actions."

Lacerta raised a claw and tore a rift through the air. "We will miss you, Siena."

It was goodbye, but it felt deeper and sadder than Siena would have expected, even from Lacerta.

"Your allies will come. We cannot be in this world without them knowing, so they will come. We must leave before they arrive. It would not be good for us, or for you, if Lacerta is found with you."

Siena nodded. "I'll miss you, Lacerta."

Lacerta smiled and steppedthrough the rift, disappearing into the blackness that would take the daemonback to Crystallos. Siena sank to her knees, clutching her staff tightly.Nearby, the sun began to rise, and to her left, a Bridge Gate began to open.