"It is the dawn of a new day in Thera," Rory projected her voice, making it carry among the mass amount of people in the crowd. It had only been a few days since the Pacem Ball, and people had been asking them several questions- and rightfully so. They had a right to know what was happening in their own home.

Her brothers organized a press conference, for lack of better terms. They were standing in the ruins of the ballroom with hundreds of people from Thera, but mainly people in Fantamia. That didn't surprise any of them, seeing as the Lucina's were the royals of Fantamia. The leaders of the other realms were likely in the crowd as well. They wanted answers just as much as anyone. Rory was sure that their people had been pestering them as well.

"My name is Rory Lucina. I am not from here, I was pulled from my world and into this one," Rory began, causing some confused glances among the unique looking crowd. "The coven took your future queen, the original version Aurora Lucina. We fought to help Aurora, but it wasn't enough. The coven killed her."

Rory took a moment to compose herself, swallowing thickly at the reminder of their loss. "I understand I am not the queen you chose, so it is up to you. I would be honored to rule as your queen, to be just, fair, kind, but also ruthless in my ambition and my love for Thera. I understand if you would rather one of my brothers take the throne, they are more than capable of bringing extraordinary things to us all."

She nodded at her brothers, who gave her encouraging grins. Rory had discussed it with her brothers, and they felt as if the line of succession for the throne should not change. Their sister should be the one on the throne with their counsel. She was hesitant at first, but she knew that with their help, she might be able to do this.

"Or perhaps... you feel as if our family is no longer capable of ruling Fantamia. Even though I would disagree with that statement, you are entitled to your own wishes for the land in which you reside. With that said, I would be honored to rule. It is time for the dawn of a new era in Fantamia, in the rest of Thera as well. I want to unite the realms, we are not separate sanctions, we are one," she waited a few moments for the murmurs in the crowd to die down. She knew what she proposed went against everything Thera had been for hundreds of years. However, she also knew the realms needed to fight together in their war against Metus and the coven.

"We have to band together. Other evils are lurking in the shadows. This fight will not be our last. There's evil everywhere, and we know that now. Before you make your decision, I want you to know one thing. Aurora did not die in vain. We avenged her death, and we crushed our enemies- we are prepared to do the same again, whether we are on the throne or not. No matter what happens from here on out, know one thing will not change. The Lucina family stands strong, from this day until our last," Rory finished powerfully, her voice steady as it echoed in the ruins of the room.

The room fell silent for a few moments, making her nervous.

"From this day until our last!" someone in the crowd shouted, making her perk up with hope.

"From this day... until our last," another person shouted on the other side of the room.

One by one, each person joined in, chanting their mantra in a loud tone. Their mantra filled the broken room. Rory felt touched by the show of support, only a few people not chanting along. She let herself smile at them all, taking in each of their faces as they chanted their mantra. Her brothers watched her proudly from the side, gently repeating the words as well. Aidan gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up, and she nodded in thanks to them.

"Rory, that was brilliant. You were brilliant!" Channing congratulated, smiling at her proudly. The crowd had dispersed, going back to their own homes. There had been a vote to decide who would rule Fantamia. Their way of voting seems rather mundane; not much magic went into it. They had Eliphas fast enchantments on the boxes to ensure no one would rig the vote, but that was it. Her friends thought it was fairly evident that she would be the one on the throne, but she insisted on a vote to make sure.

"I can't believe how many people started chanting! That was amazing!" Rory gushed in excitement, unable to contain how overjoyed she was with the outcome of the speech. "I didn't even know what I was saying half of the time, and I don't even remember saying it!"

"Hey, breathe. You did great, Rory," Maximus told her with a proud smile. He grabbed her shoulders gently, and she let out an excited breath, nodding at him.

"Thank you all for helping with this, I think you're right, it's definitely important for them to know what's happening here," she said in agreement.

"I think next, we should-" Channing began before they were interrupted. A group of scorchers marched up to them, their steps in synchronization. The cracking sound filled the air as the sparks on their uniforms lit up, ready to protect the scorchers.

"Rory Lucina, you're under arrest for the tampering and manipulating of the events at the Pacem Ball. You have the right to-" one of the scorchers began, her hand already on her sparking handcuffs.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Maximus interrupted, standing in front of his sister protectively. He raised an eyebrow at the scorcher, daring to make another move to arrest her.

"Manipulating events in the astral plane-" the scorcher said, but Rory cut him off with a snort, causing Eliphas to stare at her curiously from a bit away, "-has dire consequences."

"Unless you want to go through us, you won't touch her," Aidan spat out in a sharp tone, "you won't arrest her, you won't charge her, you won't so much as slap her on the wrist. You're just gonna walk away."

"She has broken a rule of Thera. It's against the law to tamper with an event in the way she did," a man informed him with a monotone expression, "for that, she is under arrest and will be placed on trial."

"No, actually, I won't be. You have absolutely nothing to arrest me for," Rory snapped, rolling her eyes at them. The group fell silent, seeming slightly surprised at the confidence in her tone.

"You broke the rules of Thera," a scorcher accused, a sneer on her face, "that has legal consequences!"

"And pray tell, are you going to enforce those rules? Because if that's true, which one of you shall it be? Hm?" she flashed her eyes brightly, challenging them. No one moved.

"That's what I thought. I think you forget who just took down an entire coven. We saved you, all of you. My family does not answer to you. We know what is best for the realms, if you disagree with that, you're welcome to challenge me. It's been fun seeing people try..." she laughed with no humor in her voice, her eyes flickering dangerously up to the group in front of her. "If you want to arrest me, feel free to try. Give it your best shot. You'll know where to find me."

With that, Rory broke the tight formation of the scorchers, waltzing right through them. She had a smug expression on her face as she stared at their incredulous reactions. Her brothers gave the scorchers pointed looks, happily following their sister through the scorchers. Aidan clapped one gleefully, letting out a hearty laugh. Channing was the only one left with them. He stood silently for a moment before letting out a vicious snarl at them, baring his teeth. They jumped back slightly in surprise, fearing the wolf. He smirked coyly before heading after the others.

It had been two weeks since the Pacem Ball, and nothing was the same.

Eira had the hardest time dealing with everything. Being a pyrave went against everything she was. Her name quite literally translated to snow, it was everything she'd ever known. Some of her family had even shunned her. Her parents had scolded her, saying they had warned her, and now she has to deal with the consequences. Her sister was the only one who would talk to her, but that might be because she was in no condition to protest, considering her mental state. She had difficulty controlling her powers. Her fire had nearly burned all of them at one point or another. Aidan had been trying to help her; his powers had the most similarities to her own. They spent countless hours in the castle's training rooms, days and nights spent trying to learn control.

Rory had been trying to help them mourn Aurora, but it had been hard to do so. She was a carbon copy of their sister, and there had been plenty of times one of them had done a double-take, thinking they'd seen their sister or friend. The service for Aurora was courteous. It took place in a graveyard in Fantamia. Their graves were the person's favorite flower in a vase, enchanted to live on forever. The idea behind it was that even though the person is gone, their impact will never fade. Aidan and Maximus both gave heartfelt speeches about their sister. Neither of them seemed to want to ever stop talking about her once they got up there. The only reason they did stop was when they started to cry, that was when the other twin led them down to their seat. Rory still felt responsible for what happened to Aurora- to Valery as well, actually. They had a minimal service for Valery in the graveyard as well. Rory said a few words in her honor, and she picked the brightest red flower she could come across for her grave.

All she could hear was Valery's last words: don't screw it up.

Everyone else had also all struggled to move on from dying. Rory hadn't thought about the repercussions of that. All of them had been struggling with everything from nightmares to general jumpiness. She was worried that they had a few hallucinations as well, but none of them would admit it. Rory would diagnose it as PTSD, but she wasn't sure how their medical system worked here. She was still unsure about a lot in Thera; she had plenty of questions that needed answering.

She had woken up to screaming in the middle of the night plenty of times. When it first happened, her first instinct was that they were under attack. She had run out of her room with her hands light up with star energy before she realized it was coming from her brother's room. She ran into his room, seeing Maximus screaming and flailing in his bed. Running towards him, she debated waking him up, knowing that could end badly for people having a nightmare. When his screams didn't seem to be stopping, she shook him desperately.

"Maximus! Maximus, wake up!" Rory pleaded gently, horrified at whatever he could be dreaming about. "Come on, wake up!"

His eyes snapped open.

His hand darted for her neck, squeezing tightly. Rory gasped out with a mixture of shock and pain, her fingers instinctively clawing at his hands. She tried to peel him off, but he had a tight grip. "Maximus..." she choked out, her voice barely above a whisper.

Maximus didn't seem to hear her, though. He flipped them around, pinning her to the bed. She gagged and sputtered as she tried to get his body off of her, but his super strength kept her down. He had immense strength, making it nearly impossible to get him off. "I'm sorry..." she whimpered before taking her hands off his arms. She pressed them against his shoulders, using a bit of her star energy to blast him backward.

He stumbled off the bed, seeming to snap out of whatever trance he was in once he hit the wall. Rory rubbed her tender neck, wincing when her fingers grazed over the bruises already forming. She stared up at him nervously- she wasn't scared of what he'd do, but of how he would react to what just happened. Maximus gaped at her, seeming to be utterly in shock of what he did. He shook his head slowly at first before he became frantic.

Aidan appeared at the door, his eyes widening at the scene in front of him. He seemed to piece two and two together, turning to his brother hesitantly. Maximus began to stutter out an apology, tears welling in his eyes. "Maximus?"

"Hey," Rory started slowly, placing a hand in front of her in an attempt to calm him, "it's okay, I'm okay."

"No..." he whimpered, gritting his teeth, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I hurt you."

Rory shook her head, standing up from the bed and slowly making her way toward him. She cleared her throat painfully so that it didn't come out scratchy. "I'm okay. I shouldn't have woken you up like that. I'm okay, I promise."

After that night, she didn't go into his room whenever he screamed.

A few of their friends decided to move into the castle. Channing took residence in Maximus' room. He was the only one who was able to fight him off if he woke up like that. Rory's heart always hurt when she heard her brother wake up screaming, knowing there's nothing she could do. She wanted to be able to be there for him and help, but she didn't go through this when she died.

Eira moved in as well. It made it easier for training sessions with Aidan. The fact that her family all but kicked her out was also a reason. She stayed in the guest wing on the other side of the castle, along with the others. They took in Eliphas as well after much discourse. Rory claimed that she felt as if it was the right thing to do, but in reality, she wanted to find out why he lied to her about the astral plane and her abilities. He somehow knew that she could manipulate memories, and she wanted to know how he knew that. Saffire and her sister had decided to stay in their village. They're helping them get order restored, no longer under control of the coven. Saffire had been going around to several villages, helping them get used to their freedom once more. Malakai didn't live with them permanently, but he stayed with them on occasion. Mainly when their meetings go late. He and his brother lived together in a small house in Valsaire. Rory had still yet to officially meet him, only getting glimpses of him.

Rory had been avoiding Malakai like the plague. She was a bit embarrassed after she kissed him, especially since she was confused about how she felt. She knew that she cared about him, but she was still getting used to life on Thera. She wasn't sure if she was ready to be with someone; she was still trying to understand who she was; she didn't need to add a relationship to that. On top of that, she was to rule Fantamia. She wouldn't be able to handle it if she had to choose between Fantamia and him. She needed to focus on what was best for her people. Her mind hadn't stopped for even a minute; thoughts were spiraling her brain. She kept thinking about the upcoming war and what would happen next. Her thoughts had been keeping her up at night, letting her have little sleep.

On the nights she couldn't sleep, she was reading or fighting. While spending a few nights training with anyone else who couldn't sleep, she was mainly doing research. She wanted to learn everything she could about Thera. She had studied their history, their daily life, their animals- everything she could get her hands on. Their food shares several similarities to the food on Earth- save a few ingredients. Some food such as meat was replaced with the different animals they had on Thera, and the same went for any plants. Other than that, their food was relatively the same.

Their education system was similar as well. They had schools throughout Thera, typically a few in each realm. They taught the same subjects as they did on Earth except with a few more that apply to Thera. They had classes that study different powers, categorizing them into different areas. Rory was still studying the categories, as they seemed to be endless. She hoped in a few months that she would be familiar with most, if not all, kinds of magic. They had classes that taught them the coven's spells as well so that they knew what they could be up against. Classes that intrigued her the most were about the animals in Thera. She'd been studying them all, specifically on vuplides. She wanted to know what her amicorda can do. Aliya had been able to teleport to trick Caeler, and that in it of itself is an incredible ability. Her vixen's tails were incredible as well; the more tails a vuplide had, the more powerful they were. Rory counted nine tails, making her extraordinarily strong.

Rory also had taken an interest in teaching herself some basic medicine. She understood there were some concoctions she can make, studying those thoroughly. The recipes were similar to medicine, almost sounding like a magical potion. The methods she read up on focused on rapid healing and energizers- both useful concoctions in a fight. She stayed up most nights teaching herself things that could help them in the upcoming war.

There had been nights where she came across spells or charms that she thought would be useful. She was also brewing up an invention for communication, but she needed Eliphas. There were countless times where she would have him perform spells she found. She would tell him that she needed his magic and he would comply. He was helping her with the communication device, using various charms to perfect it. Rory was surprised by how helpful he was being, and she assumed that Eliphas knew that Rory was growing suspicious of him and wanted to get in her good graces.

One night, Rory was in their library, flipping pages through the floating book in front of her. Her eyes scanned the words carefully, whispering the words out loud. She read out loud often, and it helped her focus better when she was tired like this. When she stayed up this late, her eyes could begin to blur, and her focus could suffer. Reading out loud kept her attention on the words. She carefully wrote down the information with her pen on a piece of parchment. She was careful not to knock into the stacks of paper filled with information next to her. She kept forgetting to try to find something to bind them together, worried that she would lose them. She was so entrenched in her reading that she didn't notice the door to the library open.

"Why am I not surprised?" Malakai mused, making her jump. She turned around to see who it was, scowling when she saw him.

"Creep much?" Rory quipped in annoyance, turning to focus on her reading again.

"Worried... much," he corrected pointedly, making his way towards her. He pulled the seat out across from her, sitting down. Staring at her, Rory began to squirm under his hard gaze. She huffed out, moving the floating book in front of him, blocking his view of her. He let out a chuckle, rolling his eyes at her dramatics. Malakai calmly moved the book away, making her glare at him.

"Don't worry about me," she told him with a shrug.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Malakai asked in concern, surprising her. She figured he would ask why she was avoiding him.

Rory sighed out tiredly in exasperation, jotting a few notes down on the piece of paper from memory, careful not to smudge the pen's ink. "In case you've forgotten, there's a war in the near future."

"I've noticed, believe it or not. What I don't understand is why you're depriving yourself of sleep over it," he challenged with raised eyebrows. Rory didn't answer him. She just continued to write. "Rory," she didn't react, she just kept writing. "Rory!" he grabbed her hands, careful not to make her smudge the ink of the pen. "What's really going on?"

Rory stayed silent at first, not wanting to admit what was on her mind. But something about the look in his eyes made her want to trust him, to confide in him. The fact that he looked genuinely worried for her surprised her slightly. Although she wanted to assume that it was only because she saved his life, she knew it was because he had some sort of feelings for her. Unfortunately, she couldn't deny her own feelings for him either.

"You all died... because I wasn't prepared. I didn't know everything about Thera but I can fix that. I can be prepared this time," she said simply, taking her hands away from his own, eyeing him strangely.

"That's insane, knowing..." Malakai trailed off, grabbing one of her pages of notes and scanning it quickly, "which classes they teach here won't help you win a war!"

"Knowing every piece of knowledge I can should help. No knowledge is more important than another, I will learn everything I can," Rory explained in a firm tone, clearly not willing to stop her studies.

"All right," he gave in tiredly, sighing, "let's move onto the other reason why I came down here, then: you've been avoiding me."

Rory froze, biting her lip uncomfortably. She shifted in her seat before collecting herself. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

Malakai let out another laugh as if predicting that response. "Right, so... you haven't been avoiding me because of a certain kiss, perhaps?"

"That's ridiculous, of course not," she whispered unconvincingly.

Of course she was.

"Right," he huffed out, seeming to lose his patience a bit as he leaned forward in his chair, "listen, Rory. You can't just do that and then pretend it never happened. You don't just go around kissing people for no reason!"

"Don't think that just because I kissed you once that we're together now... or anything," Rory told him uncomfortably with an awkward shrug.

"Right, so that kiss meant nothing, huh?" Malakai pressed on with knowing smirk, seeing right through Rory. He stared at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking- which infuriated her. They just met less than a month ago and he was acting as if they had been in love their whole life. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she did have some sort of feelings for him.

"I was overwhelmed with emotions- it meant nothing. Nothing's changed," she told him firmly, not having time for this.

"Right, well, I'll see you in two days' time, then? After your coronation?" he quipped, making her confused. The voting showed that the people of Fantamia wanted Rory to be their queen. Her coronation was in two days, only fueling the reason why she couldn't sleep. She was terrified that she wasn't qualified for the job. Luckily, her brothers and friends had reassured her that they'd help her every step of the way.

"You just inviting yourself over now?" she bemused with a small grin.

"I still owe you a dance," Malakai reminded her cheekily, making her smile drop.

"I was consumed with emotions, and it was your dying breath," Rory told him snarkily, making him laugh slightly, "it didn't mean anything."

"Wear a red dress," was all he told her before walking out of the library. She scoffed at him, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Unbelievable."