On the night of the new moon, the trio huddled up outside the castle, hidden in an oversized cloak. It was as dim as it could get, but they had brought the cloak just to be sure.

Just then, Luke realized that if he could grab a hold of any of the Amaroks that King Luke, Queen Kiarha, and the alternate Eunelope sisters, he would be home free.

All he would have to do was figure out how to use it. But just then, another realization immediately took over. If he left right now, he would never be able to stop Gerre Voren from taking over this reality.

As G said, he might be at the center of this. So he couldn't leave just yet. And that meant he would have to delay his personal goals and focus on stopping Gerre first.

But he also had another thing to worry about. The realm collapsing on itself due to the four new arrivals, and that meant he, Hara, Kiarha and Yanna, along with their older counterparts, would be sent into the void.

He could already feel the slightest vibrations coming from below him, and knew that they would need to hurry up.

Their plan was to retrieve the Amaroks of King Luke, Queen Kiarha, and Yanna, and then exit to a different reality before this realm shattered.

They crept towards the gates, the black cloak absorbing any light thrown at them, whether it be by the lanterns the guards wielded or by the lampposts near the castle gates.

They successfully made it through, and now came face to face with the imposing wooden doors before them.
They were huge and magnificent, able to easily fit a truck if needed.

A giant iron slab barred the handles of both doors, preventing entry. Only the guards had the muscle to be able to push the slab away and grant entry.
Using G's rifts were out of the question, as she could travel between realities, but she couldn't travel between areas if they were in the same reality.

However, they weren't deterred. They crawled around soundlessly until Hara, the one keeping watch through a tiny hole in the cloak, saw a window just low enough for them to reach.

They went up to it, and to their dismay, it was locked. However, what happened next was nothing short of a miracle.

One of the guards outside had run out of water, and he opened the wooden doors to get inside. They ran under their cloak, trying to be fast yet quiet at the same time.

One of the guards heard footsteps, and he instinctively raised his spear. But he found nothing, and returned to his original position.

It worked, and they squeezed into a large vent that they found nearby. G quietly shut the vent and the three of them watched as the guard returned outside with a cold bottle of sparkling water clutched in each hand.

G thought back to yesterday morning, when she had heard the hum of the portal. She had looked outside, but saw nothing. Of course, the wanderer could have already left by the time she looked outside. Or they could be in hiding.

Neither option boded well with her.

The trio emerged from the vent into a dimly lit corridor. Stone walls stretched around them, interrupted by flickering torches and the occasional security camera. G activated her scanner, mapping out the blind spots they could navigate through.

“This way,” she murmured, leading them deeper into the castle.

The plan was simple on paper: locate King Luke, Queen Kiarha, and Yanna, retrieve their Amaroks, and escape before the realm’s collapse accelerated. But in practice, every step was filled with danger. Guards moved with military precision, and the castle’s architecture was a labyrinth designed to confuse intruders, making them easier to apprehend.

They ducked into a side hallway as a pair of guards passed. Their footsteps echoed ominously in the silence. Once the coast was clear, they pressed on, their movements fluid and coordinated.

After what felt like hours of tense navigating, they reached the grand doors of the throne room. Beyond those doors were the key players in this reality’s power structure—the alternate versions of Luke, Kiarha, and Yanna.

“We need to split up,” Luke said, his voice barely above a whisper. “G, see if you can access the surveillance room. We need their patrol routes. Hara and I will take the throne room.”

G hesitated but nodded. She vanished into the shadows, her presence barely a ripple in the darkness.

Luke and Hara pushed the throne room doors open just enough to slip inside. The chamber was bathed in cold moonlight streaming through stained glass windows. At the far end, seated on ornate thrones, were King Luke and Queen Kiarha.

Luke’s breath hitched at the sight of his alternate self. The resemblance was uncanny, down to the faint scar running along the left side of his jaw. But there was something colder, harder, in King Luke’s gaze—a ruthlessness born of absolute power.

Hara touched his arm, grounding him. “Focus,” she whispered.

They crept closer, staying behind pillars to remain unseen. As they neared the trio, Luke’s eyes caught a faint glimmer at King Luke’s hip—the unmistakable glow of an Amarok.

Meanwhile, G slipped into the surveillance room. Monitors lined the walls, displaying every corner of the castle. She scanned the feeds, her sharp eyes picking out patterns in the guards’ movements.

But then, one feed caught her attention. It showed Baroness Mennona’s office—a place that shouldn’t have been of interest. Yet there they were: the alternate versions of the Eunelope sisters, poring over maps and documents with an intensity that made G’s stomach twist.

“What are they up to?” she muttered.

She copied the feed to her scanner for later analysis and returned to rejoin Luke and Hara.

Back in the throne room, Luke and Hara were in position. They waited for the perfect moment—when King Luke shifted his attention to Kiarha, who was whispering something in his ear. Yanna turned away, gazing out the window.

Luke made his move. He darted forward, silent as a shadow, and reached for the Amarok at his alternate self’s hip.

But just as his fingers brushed the artifact, King Luke’s hand snapped down, gripping his wrist like iron.

“Well,” King Luke said, his voice dripping with icy amusement. “I didn’t expect to meet myself tonight.”
They brandished their blades, steel ringing against steel.

Hara sprang into action, drawing her blade and lunging at Queen Kiarha. The room erupted into chaos.

As the fight raged, the vibrations beneath the castle intensified. The realm’s collapse was accelerating, spurred on by the conflict. G burst into the throne room just as King Luke threw his alternate self to the ground.

“We’ve got company!” she shouted, her scanner flashing red.

From the doorway, a figure emerged. Cloaked in shadow, their presence radiated menace. They stepped forward, and the light caught their face—a face very few recognized.

The wanderer had arrived.

Naomi Aikhen's face shimmered in the light of the throne room. She had three Amaroks strapped to her chest, and was clutching what looked to be General Hwarang's halberd.

Naomi swung her halberd, and due to the hooked shape of it, she managed to snag Queen Kiarha's Amarok.

At first, Luke didn't understand why she was trying to acquire more Amaroks when she already had three. But then, it clicked.

He had read it in "Chronicles of the Riftkeepers."

The Amaroks are but a piece of the puzzle.

Could there be a more powerful item that needs the Amarok as a fusion ingredient...?

Luke assumed that Naomi thought so, otherwise she wouldn't have gone to the trouble of stealing three of them.

The five of them lunged after Naomi, but she ripped open a portal and vanished through it before they got in.

King Luke let out a loud string of curses as the portal closed. Most unfortunately, this echoed in the giant throne room, which woke up and attracted the attention of the actual king and queen of this reality, as well as Adaiana, Calix, and the other Eunelope sisters.

As the Eunelopes came running, King Luke quickly used the transportation mode of the Amarok to carry all seven of them to a different reality.

Fortunately, they left just in time, as large chasms immediately began forming after they had left.

But then, just as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared. Since there were no duplicates anymore, the realm had become stable again.

As the seven traveled through the fabric of space-time, Hara couldn't help but glance at her alternate self.

She looked exactly like her, down to the faint birthmark shaped like a crescent on her neck and the slight heterochromia that caused their left eye to be jade green and their right eye to be grass green.

Not many people could tell the difference, but they were literally themselves, so they naturally knew about the heterochromia that the other possessed.

They stared at each other for a long moment, but eventually broke eye contact when King Luke announced that they had arrived at their destination.