After a quick change, Eary gathered at the portal door with the rest of his friends.

"Hey, guys. What are we all doing standing around for?" He asked as he approached.

"The professor texted and asked us to meet him by the door." Alice yawned as she replied.

"Are you tired?" Eary asked, giggling to the girl.

"Oh my god! I just got up from a nap. Leave me alone!" Alice replied, erupting the group into chuckles.

"While you were taking it easy..." Luke interrupted the snickering kids.

"I need my beauty sleep." Alice quickly shot back.

"Right, while you were getting your beauty sleep..." Luke corrected himself with a smile.

"Mmhmm." Alice smugly replied.

Luke and Alice paused. Their attention fixed in the last exchange of banter.

"...I was in Bright Hope all day with Sakile, learning technopathy from Bev." Luke cheerily announced to the group.

"Who exactly is Bev again?" Alice asked, her voice brimming with curiosity.

"She's the technopath Maxwell got for Luke." Sakile replied bluntly.

As Alice took a more defensive posture, Eary couldn't help but ask himself, 'Is Alice into Luke?'.

The flinging open of the portal door and a brilliant cascade of colors broke the growing tension.

"Good afternoon, children!" Professor Maxwell announced as he emerged from the doorway.

He continued his lectures like always.

"I'm glad to see you've all gathered. Today is the day we depart for the Rathok ruins. We won't be back until around midnight. Is everyone ready?"

'Fuck me.' Eary thought to himself. The prospect of an exhausting day of cheer, studies, and singing made him cringe.

"Sounds good, professor!" Mei chimed, holding up her thumb.

Eary half massed his eyes and flashed the girl an annoyed glance...One she missed.

"Excellent to hear, Ms. Wong." The professor replied in unbridled enthusiasm.

The professor swiftly explained the situation.

"The Rathok ruins have been sealed behind a series of force field locks we just can't seem to get past."

"So you want me to try and open them because I'm a Nocopo?" Eary asked flatly.

"What is that?" Maxwell asked in notable shock.

Eary explained the events of their trip to Celestial Heavens; about Eary's heritage and their failure to procure the item to purify the Claris shard.

Maxwell stared in wonderment at Eary. The unbroxen gaze began to make him feel uncomfortable until he spoke.

"I guess it's a shock. But it does explain how the Claris shard of the Aedish got here." He stated, trying to break the professor's trance.

"I could never have imagined." Maxwell said as he pictured their trials and revelations.

"Me too." Eary gruffed, folding his arms in a huff.

He sunk his head down. The repressed facts of his genealogy weighed heavily on his mind. He began to sink into the feelings. His attention was reaffirmed to reality as an arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"It's going to be okay." Decan whispered with a smile as he reassured his love.

Eary smiled back softly as his trepidation began to subside.

"How did you get here?" Maxwell asked, his voice serious and devoid of emotion.

"Apparently, I showed up in the front yard of my friend Ephraim's house." Eary replied.

"How did you travel so far?" Maxwell asked, his voice dark and searching.

"I dunno. You're the magic expert." Eary responded bluntly.

"Indeed." Maxwell replied as he began to search

Eary felt uneasy as Maxwell's attention shifted back to the matter at hand.

"The fact you are not just a Claris, but a Nocopo Claris should assist greatly in accessing the Rathok." The professor explained.

The professor's strange behavior left Eary with feelings of confusion as Maxwell corralled the group.

He instructed them through the portal door, which had been connected outside the gates of the Rathok ruins.

Eary took a deep breath. He and his friends walked through the shimmering doorway. On the other side, an icy landscape. From the great sheets of ice, several dark contraptions peeked out. Creating the forcefields, preventing access, that the professor had mentioned.

"This way, students." The professor instructed as he made his way to the force fields.

Eary and his friends all followed Maxwell. He stopped at an access panel. Complete with a circular pad, resonating with red light.

A strange language stated some instruction. The words of which felt highly strange and yet familiar to Eary.

"Earhart, this way, please." Maxwell instructed as he pointed to the red glowing pad. "Place your hand here, please."

Eary nodded and did as he was instructed. As he placed down his hand, the red light grew brighter. The same strange language spoke more indistinguishable nonsense as the barrier around the entrance disapated.

"Excellent work, Earhart." The professor stated, staring down the newly opened path. "Everyone on your guard, there is no telling what could be down here."

The professor and group of students descended the long frozen path. They were met with numerous wonders and horrors along the way.

Eary walked along in trepidation. He spotted grand stone archways peeking through the ceiling of the frozen path. Several humanoid figures, equipped with all manner of technological weaponry, stood frozen in time. A testimony to the final events of this place.

"Professor, what happened here?" Eary asked as he pulled himself closer to Decan.

The professor paused and turned to his pupils.

"A witch." The professor uttered in agitation. "The Claris of the Leoht." The professor explained.

"Ilia?" Eary asked in confusion.

"How do you know that name?" Maxwell asked.

"I just do." Eary replied, smiling nervously.

"Ilia was the doom of the Nocopo. She single handedly destroyed thousands of years of progress. And froze the ruins under the ice." Maxwell replied, his voice dripping with disdain.

'Why would Ilia do something like that?' Eary wondered to himself. Maxwell pressed the group forward.

The group descended into a large clearing. Frozen buildings and paths outlined what was once a grand city. Large towers of black metal sprung up. They pierced the ice, and the silhouettes disappeared into the ice sheet.

Large spheres, levitating around a strange circle, floated ominously. The quiet globe sentinels hummed in a low pitch. A strange pull drew Eary towards the center.

"Hey!" Decan called out, grabbing the boys arm, as he mindlessly walked to the center.

Eary shook himself free from the circles hold.

"What is that?" He asked as the spheres began to spin.

The slow occilations steadily increased. The low hum began to emit a high-pitched squeel, as light congregated at its center.

"Incoming!" Alice called out as the sphere of light grew large and unstable.

A large cracking and ripping sound could be heard. The fast spinning devices fed the globe. Soon, an enormous arm stretched out from  light. Then another. They pulled out an enormous monstrous body.

It had no skin and a maw filled with snaggled teeth. Its eyes hollow, dripped with fly larva. As long, greasy  matted hair dangled meters from the demon's head.

It opened its large misshapen mouth. Swarms of flies erupted from its mouth and descended on the teens.

The group began to frantically swat away the innumerable pests.

Eary could barely see or hear as the flies swarmed the Claris. He shot out beams of light in every which way. Hoping to land a critical blow against their assailant.

He felt a large force grasp around him. He recognized the demon's grotesque, skinless hand, as he was lifted above the swarm.

He watched in powerless horror as the beast opened its maw and drew Eary near. He struggled in vain as he watched the teeth close in on him.

*Wack!*

A large Boulder flew from out of nowhere, striking the creature in the head.

*Wack!*

*Wack!*

Eary and the demon quickly fell to the frozen floor. The swarm of flies disapating. He bounced from the demon's hand on impact. Flying through the air, he recognized his rescuer.

'Mote?' He thought as he corrected his trajectory with his power of flight.

Mote dropped the boulder, dangling from his long tongue.

"What's up, Bee?" Mote snarked as he hovered in the beasts face.

"Who is this guy?" Calvin called out, still shaken by the swarm.

"This is one of Flumenel's friends, Beelzebub." Mote explained in disgust. "He's the one that got Flum into all that evil stuff!"

Mote shot forward, knocking the demon to the ground.

"Begon demon, these kids' souls are no quarrents of yours!" He exclaimed as the demon shuffled to its feet. "And we also ain't interested in no fund raisers from ya school! I'm still waitin' for my candy bars ya son of a bitch!"

He upercutred the newly erect demon. As it fell, it shrieked and scuttled deep into the ruins.

"Ya betta run! Ya louwsey, no good punk!" Mote exclaimed as Beelzebub disappeared into the ruins.

"Oh my gosh, Mote!" Mei exclaimed as the group rallied to their feet. "I never knew you cared so much."

"It's true, Mei. I love 'em!" Mote replied, fighting back a tear.

Eary smiled at this unexpected tenderness from Mote. What a scene he made over Flumenel. It seemed that maybe Mote was a big softy on the inside after all, he thought.

"I'm so proud of you, Mote." Eary exclaimed as he approached his long-time friend.

"Yeah. It's important to stand up for the things that matter." Mote replied, his voice carrying an aura of authority.

Eary felt a surge of pride as the moteling continued to explain.

"If I didn't say anything this time. I might never get those candy bars." Mote stated ominously as he hovered in staunch defense.

Eary and Mei's mouths dropped in disgust.

"I paid good money for them bars. I expect to see 'em! Maybe we's should all go after him." Mote ranted as he scanned the tunnel.

Eary rolled his eyes at the moteling's antics. 'Figures.' He thought as he regrouped with his friends.

"Is everyone okay?" Sakile called out as the group still shook out their hair.

The students all agreed. Recollecting themselves, they examined the mysterious circle.

"What is this?" Luke inquired, examining the floating spheres. Now floating in dormancy.

"They some fancy demon summoning circles. The Rathok were known for their work with 'em baddies. Not to worry, though." Mote replied as he floated to the young man's shoulder.

"How can you be sure?" Lule asked, attention still fixed upon the spheres.

"Your ol' pal Mote knows they moms phone numbers. One wrong move and 'BAM!' Currfew time, baby! Ha!"

Eary and they group gave each other uncertain looks.

"Professor," Maggie exclaimed. "What did we come here for?" She asked.

"We are here to secure the ruins and establish a new door in the heart of the city." Maxwell explained, pointing to a large structure in the distance.

The group stared at the foreboding building. Its dark metallic butter shell gave the aura of some malicious force.

"What is that place?" Eary asked, his heart pounding in anticipation.

"The heart of the Rathok's seat of power. And the headquarters for the Nocopo's technopaths." Maxwell explained.

"Udug Hul." Mote whispered under his breath.

"Correct." Maxwell replied as he moved towards the structure.

The city streets along the way felt cold. Even for the antartic. Their sleek blackness was occasionally broken by the glow of some light. Lit for millenia beneath the ice. Their eerie glow told of the power the Rathok held over their mechanations.

Approaching the large doors of the ancient building, Eary felt a revulsion.

"We shouldn't be here." He announced in shock, taking a step back.

"Nonsense." Maxwell replied, illuminating another pad. This one shining with white light.

"Earhart, this way." Maxwell instructed, gesturing towards the pad.

"No!" Eary exclaimed. "There is something not right about this."

"I'll have none of that! The door, now!" Maxwell continued.

"Back of dude!" Luke stated, stepping in the way of Eary and Maxwell.

"I'm sorry. It's just a matter of some importance." Maxwell explained.

Eary stared at the door ominously as Luke berated the ever increasingly annoyed Maxwell.

"Stop!" Eary blurted out, halting the argument. "If we open this door." He paused, examining the crevices and grooves. "Something evil lays on the other side."

"How can you be so sure?" Maxwell inquired.

"I feel it." Eary replied.

The group gathered around the concerned Eary. Each member tried to console the young man. However, the dread only seemed to increase as a sharp indescribable fear, pawed at him from the other side of the door.

After some time and pressure. He reluctantly agreed to open the chamber.

He placed his hand upon the pad. As white light enveloped his appendage, a deep sinking hit Eary's stomach.

"Be careful, everyone." He said as the double doors slowly crept open.

The group agreed. Huddling into one of Sakile's fighting formations. They slowly headed into Udug Hul.