(Quick Explanation - I forgot to mention this earlier, but Razvan is a group with both human and inhuman members. Their leader named it after himself, Chief Pavselkov Razvan.)

"Welcome to Philippines of Realm 367."

King Luke declared as they exited the portal.

Philippines was the last place Luke could have ever expected his older self to travel to.

However, they were met with utter despair.

The island they were on looked like a warzone. Dilapidated buildings, the smell of corpses, the redness of the sky. It looked like an apocalypse.

King Luke explained that all of their counterparts here were dead, so it was safer for them here.

Meanwhile, G wondered how long King Luke had been wandering the realms to be able to come to this specific universe and to have witnessed the death of all of them in this world.

She also wondered about why they had come to the Philippines of all places. G was expecting somewhere a little more local, such as Brundidge.

She was just about to ask King Luke about that, when Luke did it for her.

"Your Majesty, why have we come to the Philippines? Surely we could have returned to Kalna?"

King Luke fixed him with a stare.

"The Philippines is one of the most advantageous archipelagos in the world. With over seven thousand islands, anyone who's going to be looking for us is going to have their work cut out for them."

Yanna countered his statement, hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face.

"Yes, but why would anyone look for us here? Unless you've made interdimensional enemies, there's no need to come to a place so unfamiliar, with a language equally as unknown to us."

King Luke looked slightly flustered, but then, one of the Haras raised their hand.

"I've come up with a way to be able to distinguish between the two of us. I'm the one part of the trio consisting of Luke and G, so I will be called Trihara."

The other Hara, who looked much more refined yet still held that same fierce gaze, spoke up as well.

"And I'm the one who's older, higher ranked and more proper than the other Hara, so I will be called Royahara."

Yanna rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but you both still look the same."

Trihara grinned and pointed to her jacket, where there was a pin that resembled three dots. Similarly, Royahara gestured to a gem pendant she wore.

"I guess that fixes it then. Although, we still have two duplicates here. The realm destruction process is slower, but it is still here. It'll take up to three days."

At this point, Luke's goal was starting to waver. He still wanted to head back to his reality, where Kalna was free. Where he would come back and be known as a hero.

But he questioned himself. Could he really do that, when the other realities were in desperate need of help? And besides, he had read more about the Amarok.

If someone traveled back to their original reality, the Amarok would shatter, as it would deem itself as "having fulfilled its purpose."

And he had no idea what his original reality was called, so naturally he'd have to discover a way to find that first. But then, an idea struck him.

Why couldn't he ask King Luke?

But then, just as he was about to, King Luke fixed him with the same stare he had affixed on Yanna earlier, only ten times more intense.

"I know what you're thinking, little me. And don't you dare continue to think about it. Don't be as selfish as I am."

Right. Of course. He's basically an older version of me, so he obviously knows what I'll do in the past, because he's already done those things.

Luke zipped his mouth and decided to keep it shut, because he already knew that King Luke would still know anyways.

They looked around at the landscape, taking in the charred stumps of the narra trees and the destroyed nipa huts.

Judging by the fact that there were scorch marks all over the ground, a massive fire happened here. The sky was still red. But then, they heard a loud rumbling noise.

Queen Kiarha was filled with dread.

"This rumbling..."

Sure enough, when she looked to her right, there stood Mount Mayon in all its blazing glory.

It churned out more gigantic lava flows, and ash flew into the sky, painting the landscape an ominous dark red.

"No wonder..."

King Luke tossed Luke his Amarok.

"We split up. I know another universe where your counterparts are dead. Me and the others will stay here, and we can try to come up with a plan from there."

Luke used the Amarok, and the options swirled before him. King Luke went through the seemingly infinite options before settling on Realm 2361.

"In this realm, Kalna was taken over and destroyed by the Razvan. Luckily, so were all the vehicles and docks. All you have to do is think of the farthest country possible from Kalna, and you're all set."

Luke nodded, and began thinking. Kalna was located in Great Britain, which was up north. He had a few options, but slowly eliminated them.

Cape Town, he had forgotten whether that was in South Africa or South America. Madagascar was a known Razvan base. So was Sydney. Antarctica was far too cold.

In the end, he settled for the Philippines as well. Like King Luke had said earlier, whoever would come looking for them would have to search all seven thousand islands first.

The trio bid farewell to the others and went into the portal. While they were traveling through time and space, G took the opportunity to ask Trihara a question.

"Trihara-"

But Hara immediately held her hand up.

"There's only one of me now, G. So you can just call me Hara like usual."

G nodded in understanding. As the portal to the new realm opened, Luke caught a glimpse of the number 2361 above the portal before it vanished.

So that's how King Luke knows which realms to go to.

As they exited the portal, they found themselves on a particularly large island. A sign nearby greeted newcomers with a friendly "Welcome to Leyte!"

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KIARHA'S POV

Hara hadn't responded to any of her letters. She wasn't at her manor or any of the Eunelope properties either.
A massive search party funded by the Eunelopes was already searching for her, and Yanna joined in too.

Yanna had apparently felt responsible for her sister's disappearance, and she had also vowed that she wouldn't stop until Hara was found.

This put a dent in her plans. But now, she had a new opportunity. It was Hara who had owned the Traveler's Amber.

Kiarha, even though she had already broken into the Schuyler manor, knew that it would be unwise to attempt another break-in.

Instead, she asked Count Yan for entrance permission, and let out a sigh of relief when he stepped aside graciously.

Kiarha went up to Hara's room and was about to open it when someone grabbed her shoulder from behind.

Turning around, she saw that it was Yanna. Kiarha immediately slid on the polite smile and warm eyes, even though on the inside she was seething at the interruption.

"Lady Yanna. Pleasure seeing you here."

Yanna raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, Lady Kiarha? I live here, yet you speak as if I do not."

Kiarha mentally cursed as Yanna's eyebrows narrowed in mild suspicion. She quickly tapped her shoulder with her ring finger, and Yanna's eyes glazed over.

"You will not remember this conversation, and you will return to your quarters."

The brainwashed Yanna dutifully followed orders and strode out of sight.

Kiarha entered Hara's room and started perusing all the drawers and cabinets. But after an hour of discreet searching to make sure no one heard her, she gave up.

The Amber was nowhere to be found, and Kiarha came to the conclusion that she had either hidden it somewhere, or she had it with her and therefore it got lost with her.

But Kiarha wasn't going to be deterred that easily. She took out a small camera disguised as a coat magnet and hung it on one of her closet doors.

She left the manor and went back to her own manor, quietly monitoring the camera, waiting for Hara to come back and pull out the Amber so she'd know where to look.

Unfortunately for Kiarha, Hara was in another universe at the moment, so she couldn't really fulfill her plan just yet. But she wasn't aware of this, because she had never even seen G.

Just then, she heard a commotion downstairs and exited her room, rushing down the steps yet making sure she didn't trip over.

At the bottom of the stairs, she found someone that she felt she knew, but at the same time felt like a total stranger.

Naomi Aikhen.