Omar woke to three very concerned faces. He could hear their nervous shifting as they sat on the stone ground a few feet from him. How did I get here? Cascade must have somehow saved me from the drake. "What happened?" he asked.

"Well," Cascade said, "I impaled the drake with a... large icicle, basically, and then Concord and I took you through the tunnel he made."

"What about the book?" The one that you recklessly ran to get?

"We haven't read it yet. But yes, we have it."

"We need to read it." If she has it, we might as well. Omar sat up quickly, wincing as he did so, and lay back down.

Cascade shook her head. "You need to rest more, first. You nearly died back there."

Omar sighed. "All right." He paused. "But... can I talk to you about something first? Alone?"

Cascade frowned slightly, intrigued as to why he would want to talk to her alone. But the frown quickly faded. "All right." She turned towards Concord and Andrea. She opened her mouth, about to speak, but they nodded and walked off before the words were spoken. Cascade watched as they became smaller and smaller, walking away from her and Omar through the hall of shelves. Then she turned to Omar, who was lying on the ground next to her. "What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.

"I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" Cascade raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Thank you for saving me from the drake earlier."

"Oh." Cascade smiled. "It was no problem."

"But... I also wanted to know why you saved me. You could have died!" He shook his head. "Why did you turn back for me?"

Cascade sighed softly. "Hmm." She thought for a moment. "Why did you save me?"

"Well... I couldn't just let you die. The drake was going to kill you."

"Why would it be different for you?"

Omar opened his mouth to say something, then stopped and closed it again. Finally, he spoke. "You see, I'm not worth anything, really. I'm-"

"No, Omar. I've told you this before, and I'll tell you again. You are not worthless."

Omar sighed and bit his lip sheepishly. He shook his head in confusion. "It's just... I'm not someone that people care about, usually. I-" He sighed. "Why do you care about me? Why are you so... kind to me?"

"Because I'm your friend, Omar." Cascade put a hand on Omar's shoulder. "Friends care for each other. They look out for each other."

A million thoughts raced through Omar's mind. A million feelings. "We're really friends?" he asked, quite surprised.

"Yes." Cascade smiled.

"Wow," Omar whispered. I can't believe it. He smiled and nodded towards Cascade. "Thank you again for saving me."

"That's what friends are for."

They both sat there, on the stone ground, for a long moment, then Cascade rose. "You should get some rest. We'll take a look at the book when you wake." Then she went to find Concord and Andrea.

Five hours had passed until Omar woke once more. When he did, the four companions sat down to read the mysterious book they had recovered from the sealed-off room. Flipping it open, they began to read.

Many times they were entranced by what they had just read, and stopped reading it aloud to re-read it, for they had to read it aloud for Omar.

The book contained the history of Vespara.

As they read, they learned of the gods that had once inhabited the Celintian cloud, a city on the clouds, hidden from the world. They learned of the plan to defeat the monsters. And they learned of how Vespara had, instead of contributing to the attack, given her entire soul into the human being that she had chosen on Zenaria.

"Well, that's just great." Andrea sighed. "That means that we have no chance of befriending our fifth power-wielding teenager. That's what it means, right?"

"That's what it means." Cascade shook her head. "As we've just learned, Vespara tried to become the ruler of all the gods. She created some monsters, the Azenar, based on some monsters she had observed on another world, the Xev. She was going to use them to destroy the gods, then to take over the world, but the gods found out about it and imprisoned the Azenar somewhere..."

"Somewhere?" Andrea raised an eyebrow.

"The letters are faded, so I can't make it out."

"Oh."

"Well, this made it so that she couldn't use the Azenar she created anymore, so when the Xev, coming from the other world arrived, she thought it would work in her favor. She tried to make them work for her, promising them equal power when she took over, but when they found out she wasn't going to give them equal power, they abandoned her and her plans. This was bad for her, because she can't take over if the Xev destroy all the gods."

Andrea was starting to catch on. "So you're saying that this teen- the one that she transferred her soul to- will try to rule Zenaria? But that's not how that works."

"Well, you can't "rule Zenaria" exactly, but kind of. This teen - Sephtis I believe his name was - will want to be the dictator. Make an empire, probably. Change the world to be bent to his will."

"But that would take so long."

"He has all the time in the world. Remember, Vespara in her entirety was transferred to Sephtis. That means he's immortal, just like the gods. He'll age, but he won't die unless we kill him. And also, remember, he still has those Azenar that Vespara created that were based off of the Xev from the other world. Sephtis can use the Azenar to take over."

"Hmm. Well, do you think he's hunting us?"
"Oh, definitely. Do you think it's just by chance that almost all of us have been in really odd life-or-death situations? I mean, except for Concord. But that makes sense. According to the book, he wasn't there when the gods originally discussed the idea. There's no reason for Vespara - or rather, Sephtis - to know that you're here. So, in a way, you're our secret weapon, Concord." Cascade placed a hand on Concord's shoulder. "But Omar, you said that the people at the orphanage had suddenly switched from annoying you to trying to kill you?"
"That's correct." Omar nodded vigorously. "It was strange, especially because there was not much reason for them to, it seemed, and they seemed to be getting materials out of nowhere. I mean, where did they get the materials to make a giant hammer?"

"They were probably getting paid in something they liked. Most likely, money. Maybe fancy food or something else if they liked that better," Cascade explained. "Chances are, Sephtis is older than us. And he's not in an orphanage."

Cascade shook her head, remembering what Andrea had told her. It was unbelievable. "Anyway, Andrea. You thought that I tried to kill you all those years ago? And succeeded to do so to... some others?"
Andrea sighed sheepishly. "Yeah, I did... for a while."

"Sephtis made you see me while it was really him. And I bet he made that Aerodon crash."

Andrea gave a deep breath out. "This is intense."

"It really is," Omar said.

"So what do we have to do?" Concord asked.

"We need to stop Sephtis from killing us. Then we have to kill him first, and make sure his plan doesn't succeed," Cascade replied. "And I think I know where to start."