I was petrified. My mind had gone fuzzy, like the static signal on a TV. I could feel my heart pounding against my ribcage. They were all here. All of them. Here.

Suddenly, one of the unicorns flashed with light and a phoenix blazed upwards. Sierra. My heart lifted in hope and the others followed suit, leaping into action and attacking the Tormentors and Tempters with everything they had. I rose onto my feet, preparing to join them.

And then I froze. A Tempter was slowly coming towards me, and I remembered this one. Everything about it was dull gray, and it bobbed like a sleepy jellyfish. It was the Tempter that countered diligence, Laziness. My talons dug deeper into the wood as I realized what it might do to me. I began to think of the most productive thoughts I could, trying to fight, trying to try.

And then suddenly I heard a scream of agony.

I looked down in panic to see that Isaac was being dragged by the Tempters to the front of the room. My Tempter began to move towards them. Isaac was writhing in pain, but not from the Tempters. This pain came from within.

I surged from the rafter--and froze again. I almost screamed in frustration. I was getting really tired of being frozen. But then I saw that all my other friends below were frozen too. Sierra was in fairy form, stuck in place 15 feet above the rest.

Everything was completely silent.

Then, a silky smooth voice wormed its way into my head. "Watch and learn, little ones. It appears you are strong amongst your friends. Let us see what happens when you take your friends away."

My heart nearly stopped. Damius.

The Tempters were floating around Isaac in a circle, no longer touching him, but looking at him hungrily. He was curled up in a ball on the floor, shivering. Slowly, he began to get up.

Everything was silent, and everything was still.

"Guys?" he said weakly, looking around.

Isaac! I wanted to scream. Isaac, we're right here!

But he couldn't see us. We had been made invisible.

He looked around even more wildly. "Guys!" He sounded desperate.

"They are not here," the silky voice said, resounding throughout the room. "They have abandoned you."

"No," he said softly. Then, "no!" Stronger the second time. "They wouldn't do that," he said firmly.

The voice sighed. "I'm afraid they did. Oh, don't blame them. I don't think they meant to. I think they just...forgot about you."

Don't listen to him, Isaac! He's lying!

But Isaac looked down, confused, and hurt. One of the Tempters began to hiss. I recognized it. Bitterness, Isaac's weakness.

My blood ran cold.

"They never really noticed you, you know," the voice continued. "They only noticed when they needed help, when they need emotional support. You're very good at that, aren't you? But when you weren't needed, I'm afraid you just...faded from their minds."

How could Isaac believe something like this?

His fists were clenching, and a muscle near his jaw began to twitch. The Bitterness Tempter was getting closer and closer until it was breathing on his neck.

"The truth is, they were never really your friends. They were just using you."

And the Tempter lay a hand on his neck.

I watched in frozen horror as Isaac began to convulse and swell. His skin began turning black, and he arched his back in a way that looked unnatural and screamed.

Black smoke began swirling around him, the cloud growing bigger and bigger. A chill swept over me as I realized what was happening.

The cloud dissipated, but Isaac was no longer there. In his place stood a hulking, angry, pitch black dragon.

He hissed, sparks flying from his mouth.

Suddenly, I unfroze and, losing my balance, began to topple over. It jolted me into action. Flapping my wings, I buffeted my fall and did the tightest turn I could manage, making a beeline for the window behind me. I hurtled towards it, flapping frantically. The window had no glass, which was a plus, but the space was too small for the griffin form to fit through. I panicked. My mind working furiously, I chose the first thing it happened upon.

Closing my eyes, I felt emotions wash over me. Loyalty. Charity. Sharing the light.

I became a dwarf, soaring through the window just as I heard a mighty roar behind me. I flew out into open air, spreading my stubby arms wide as if that would make a difference.

And then, I began to fall.

Before I knew what I was doing, my emotions spoke. Try. Be diligent in your quest to be diligent.

A wave of nausea swept over me and my vision started to get spotty. Thoughts flashed at me. I have wings. I'm falling. I'm a griffin. I'm falling. My head is spinning. I'm falling, I'm falling, I'M FALLING!

And then everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ravi," I heard a voice say softly. It sounded like it was a million miles away. "Raaaavi," it said again. I felt like I was slowly rising from the depths of the ocean. I took a deep breath and my eyes flickered open. Everything was fuzzy, but at least it was dark. I rubbed my eyes.

Sierra was leaning over me, shaking me gently by the shoulders. She was smiling, but it looked sad. I noticed the dried tears on her face.

"Hey," she said softly. "You're awake. Good."

I slowly sat up. My head was pounding like war drums. I squeezed my eyes shut and gritted my teeth. Every inch of my body ached. "What happened to me?" I gasped through my clenched jaw.

"You over-exerted yourself," she said, sitting back. "Too many forms too fast. Your griffin wings helped slow your fall but your landing wasn't pretty. You're probably going to hurt for a few hours at the least."

I absorbed this information. It made sense. Then I frowned. "Where's everyone else?"

She hesitated, biting her lip. "Uh..."

I sat up straight, ignoring my head. "Where are they?!"

Her eyes filled with tears. "No one else...no one else made it out," she whispered, looking down.

I was silent.

"We were the only two in a flying form when Isaac...attacked," she said carefully. "I don't know what happened to everyone else. They haven't come out." She paused. "It's been about half an hour."

"We're the only ones that made it out," I said numbly, not quite believing it.

She nodded slowly, tears beginning to slide down her cheeks again.

I suddenly stood up, my heart racing. I began to pace. "How could this happen?" I whispered, distraught. "This is my fault! I ran away! I just ran away! How could I do something like that?! Now they're still in there and we're out here. Gaaaah!" I clutched my throbbing head and shut my eyes. A thick knot of...of something was forming in my stomach, my throat clenching up. I felt like I was made from liquid lead. My legs suddenly felt shaky, and I took a few more breaths before collapsing to the ground. I grasped my hair in an effort to forget about the pain that was slowly tearing my heart in half.

I sat there for a few moments, breathing hard, in pain and in shock. The world felt like it was falling on top of me. I was going to let it. The energy drained from me. Slowly, I felt tears well up in my eyes and slide down my cheeks, but I still didn't move. Nothing felt real.

Sierra was silent, curled into a small ball like she wanted nothing more than to disappear.

I felt a small movement in my pocket. A small stone golem climbed out. I had nearly forgotten about Ore.

"Hello," he said, balancing himself. I blinked. The cheerfulness of his tone caught me off guard. He looked at our faces. "Something bad has happened?" he asked, concerned.

I looked at him for a few moments before I realized I was supposed to respond. "Oh, uh, yeah. Yes. Our friends..." I swallowed the knot in my throat. "They're captured."

"But you are not," he clarified.

I nodded, unsure of what to say.

"You feel guilty," he decides. Sierra looked up.

"You shouldn't feel guilty," he said, walking up to me.

"Why, Ore?" Sierra whispered. "We ran away. We should feel bad."

There was a moment of silence.

"Nope," Ore said cheerfully.

"What?" I replied, confused. I hadn't expected that.

"Nope," he repeated. "You shouldn't feel bad. It is not anymore."

"Not anymore?" I asked, confused.

"Back," he tried again. "Before."

"In the past?" Sierra supplied cautiously.

"Yes," he said, satisfied. "In the past. Now it is now. What can you do now?"

"I don't get it," I said slowly.

"You have escaped," he said simply. "You can save, now."

"We can save the others? Is that what you're trying to say?" Sierra asked gently.

"Yep!" Ore said happily.

I sighed. "It's not that simple..."

He patted my leg with a stubby stony arm. "Try," he said firmly.

I looked at Sierra. She looked more vulnerable than I had ever seen her, but she looked curious. "We can try," she said slowly.

"What?!" I exclaimed. I looked at the heavily fortified castle, then back at her. "What?!" I repeated.

She shrugged, slowly sitting up straighter. "We can try. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if we didn't. And what else are we going to do? Sit here and wait for the Destroyer to carry out his evil plan?"

I looked between her and Ore incredulously. "This is crazy," I muttered.

"Sometimes," Ore said seriously, "you need crazy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...I'M SORRY, I PROMISE I LOVE ISAAC TOO.