Warning: Strong language ahead

October, Year 2039

Tick-tock. Silence. Tick-tock. Silence once more. The silence in the empty observatory in the school's west wing was only interrupted by the ticking of an old mechanical clock, the creaking of a chair as one of them shifted restlessly and the clink of ceramic against wood as they set down their mugs. The silence felt as if it had reigned supreme for an eternity and a half, when only a little more than a quarter of an hour had passed, the fact confirmed by both the old clock on the wall and the screens of their wristbands. Fifteen minutes of absolute, tense, deafening silence. Iris had the feeling she was about to lose her sanity, but, on second thought did she really need it anymore? The world had officially gone off the deep end anyway.

   Iris, like the others, just sat there drinking tea from the mug Mr.Carol had handed her and staring blankly at the green spot beside the clock that she had noticed on the wall. Yup, her mind definitely wasn't working at all, but then again, Iris mused, she doubted any of the others were better off. How did one begin to comprehend what had happened anyway? These kind of things only happened in fantasy books or sci-fi novels! Nobody taught you how to deal with instantly being zapped from one place to another in school. Things like that just didn't happen in real life... So, what did that mean? Was this just a bad dream she was having? Setting down her cup, Iris pinched herself - it hurt. So, not a dream then. What was going on? Ah, and once again her thoughts had come full circle. Yes, staring blankly at the wall was definitely a far more productive activity and was less likely to give her a splitting headache on top of everything else. The only person in the room who seemed to be in full control was Mr.Carol, only looking a bit stressed out as he typed something quickly on the holographic screen his wristband was projecting. With a sigh he closed it and with no small measure of guilt he surveyed the blank look's of the students. Clearing his throat, he decided to test the waters.

"I suppose it's about time I tell you what's going on."

Jacob nodded, a bitter edge to his words, a tone that was usually very unlike him to take on.

"Yes, that would be nice. Seeing as you are the only one who knows what the heck is happening."

"On a related note, it'd also be good to know how you knew about this crap and where we'd end up this evening."

Added Ella, testily. It seemed her response to stressful situation was anger, the polar opposite of Iris's inhuman icy calm. At her words all turned to look at the oldest man in the room, silently agreeing with Ella's question if not the phrasing. Mr. Carol, not the least bit offended by their words or tone, merely smiled tiredly.

"You have every reason to be angry with me, I suppose so I can't blame you for your tone. I take no offence to your questioning, but be warned: the one who is responsible is not as patient. I do not want to see you suffer more than I will have to."

Matthew spoke up, his voice cracking slightly.

"What do you mean by us suffering?"

Mr. Carol took a deep breath and surveyed the students, pity in his gaze.

"Please listen to me. I can only help you if you heed my advice. The reality you were just thrust into is nothing like your previous life was - in this type of reality you have to expect the unexpected. I know that emotion can often blind people, you are teenagers so that applied to you all the more so, but to survive it's 'games' you will have to learn to put them aside."

William turned his gaze to the dark-skinned man, his face as impassive as ever.

"By it you are referring to this Yfa, are you not?"

Mr. Carol raised a brow, looking between the students and surveying their expressions. Matthew looked like he was queasy, Jacob looked like he wanted to smash his mug, Ella was glaring at her tea and only Iris and William wore impassive masks. Perhaps those two would find it a bit easier than the others. 

"Is that what she introduced herself as? I'm assuming she contacted you?"

Iris nodded, confirming his guess, her blue eyes lacking their usual cheerful sparkle. They were the eyes of someone who was starting to crack. Carol did all he could to suppress the guilt at the knowledge that this was only the beginning and they would have to go through a nightmare because of him. Matthew was the one who clarified Iris's words for him.

"We all got a letter with a rather...intimate...form of address as well as the notification that some 'Loss of Direction' has begun. The letter was signed Yfa."

Ella gave a low growl in the back of her throat.

"I swear when I find that bitch I will make her pay for calling me what she did. Where does she get off calling me her beautiful fairy maiden?!"

Matthew scoffed, rolling his eyes at Ella's enraged outburst.

"The same way she got off warping you from whatever den you were in, Scruffy."

Ella shot him a glare, not willing to let her mortal enemy let her mortal enemy get away with name-calling even in such a tense situation.

"Keep your trap shut, flame eevee spawn."

"What'd you just call me, Mace-head?!"

"Not a fan? I have--"

"ENOUGH, PLEASE!"

The unexpected outburst came was accompanied by a slam. Ella and Matthew were instantly silenced. Everyone in the room turned to see the previously silent member of the group, standing on her feet, her palms slammed down on the table and her eyes closed. Her body was trembling violently. Jacob, who was seated at her left, cast her a concerned look.

"Iris?"

The girl sighed and slowly sat back down, burying her face in her hands, hiding her facial expression from all of them. In an exhausted voice, she continued, a note of pleading in her voice.

"Look, obviously we're all tired and freaked out. We have no clue what's going on, but Mr. Carol does, so please could you all just shut up and listen to the only one here who knows what the heck is going on?!"

They all exchanged a glance and resolved to keep silent. Tensions were running high and they were all dealing how they could, just like Yfa had told them all humans did, but they did have to listen. Mr. Carol stood up, tucked his chair in and folded his arms behind his back before he began speaking.

"You said this Yfa told you about a loss of direction. Did she give you any clues as to what it is?"

Jacob looked at the man in confusion, befuddled by the question.

"Don't you know what it is? You said something about a loss of direction too, when you'd just found us."

"I want to be certain we're talking about the same thing. Was there anything at all?"

Ella frowned, tipping her head back as tried to think back.

"Well, she did blather on about humans reacting to stressful situations differently and something about uncertain paths. Nothing really that stood out."

Wrinkling his nose, Matthew nodded in agreement and Jacob and William soon followed the suit. Iris looked up from her hands, confused.

"Wait a minute: did she say nothing to you of not heeding her warning and she didn't drop two weird words on your heads? She said they're from her language, but I've never heard them before."

All the other teenagers shook their heads, their eyes betraying emotions ranging from extreme apprehension mixed with confusion to alarm and curiosity. Carol inclined his head in Iris's direction, an indiscernible emotion playing on his face.

"What two words did she teach you?"

Iris frowned, crossing her arms, but rather confidently she repeated the two words she had learned from a language she'd never heard before.

"Um, it was Fnoyemir - which means friend and Rachi - which should mean comrades. That's it."

Mr. Carol gave her an appraising glance, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Miss Fawners, if I'm correct you have a particular aptitude for languages, yes? Top of your class or so I'm told."

Iris looked down at her lap and shrugged her shoulders, her voice quiet as she responded.

"I do well on test, yes. I somehow end up with the best marks in the class, but that's all. The rest is nonsense. I'm just good at languages because my family speaks three different ones. That's it!"

The last words contained a trace of panic. Iris was waving her hands in front of herself and if one could catch a glimpse of her face they'd see fear written over it. Mr. Carol sighed.

"I'm not blaming you, Miss Fawners. In fact, it's a rather useful thing to be good at. This complicates matters though - it means Yfa is close enough to us to know you and your strengths."

"It could be a fluke." Ella reasoned, apprehensive.

"That's doubtful. Alright, listen, I don't know how much time we have left so I'll tell you all I know about what's going to happen and you have to follow my instructions to the letters or you could end up dead, understood? I'm not exaggerating- the reason I know about this is because you aren't the first ones this has happened to - the others didn't make it. Death is all too certain for you now. Am I clear?" 

The teenagers responded with a nod, whatever thoughts they had evaporating at the mention of death and at the sound of genuine grief in Carol's voice. Death...It had always seemed an abstract concept to them, well mostly. Out of the five of them only two of them had seen Death's visage before and it had shaken them - they knew death's footsteps so to speak and they could identify the steps in the distance. Death was waiting, watching them. Iris clenched her clasped hands and William averted his eyes while the others seemed merely afraid. Truly, blessed were the ones who had not seen Death's form hulking over their loved ones. Meanwhile, Carol continued.

"Yfa said she's putting you through the Loss of Direction. Well, for one, she's staring off small. In essence, you will randomly be transported from one spot to another and there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop yourself or to choose your destination though it should be limited to Eastbridge. The best thing you can do is be always prepared for a sudden trip and adapt to the best of your abilities. Don't overthink it and don't try any stupid no matter what. The indicator should be the sole of your shoes glowing pink."

Jacob looked at the Vice Head incredulously.

"And this is starting off small?!"

Mr. Carol smiled grimly, dipping his head once in confirmation.

"Oh yes, if this Yfa is what I assume she's is - this is very kind of her."

"And what do you think she is?" William inquired.

Mr. Carol calmly looked out of the window which was spattered with raindrops. None of them had noticed that it had started raining. He looked at the stormy sky with a wry smile on his face.

"She's an alien. Or she should be."

Ella scoffed at the notion.

"That's impossible."

"Hate to agree with Miss. No-manners here, but she's right. Aliens don't exist. We'd know."

Mr. Carol gave a throaty, bitter laugh one full of pain and things that were best left buried in the sand of times long passed.

"Oh, if only that were true. Believe me or not, you have already begun experiencing the Loss of Direction and you can't do anything to stop it. All you can do is try to survive. Trust me, you will wish for your death serval times over before Yfa is done with you. You will break, make no mistake about that."

He scanned their faces and sighed. His tone was softer as continued.

"Look, I'm not trying to scare you...I don't want to lose you. I couldn't help the others and don't ask me about them. I tried to find Yfa before the deadline, but I failed. I want you to have a chance at living past this ordeal and for that you must endure. You're not little anymore so I won't sugarcoat this for you - life will be worse than death. The simplest way to put it is that you will be living in a nightmare you can never wake up from, not until Yfa's amused enough and then the nightmare will change shape, but it will not stop. I will try to make it this experience as short as possible, but the only way to do that is to find Yfa . However, with nearly no leads it won't be easy."

William reached into the pocket of his suit and produced a letter in a plastic folder, holding it out to Mr. Carol. His voice was firm as he spoke.

"This is the letter which I received during the school day. I have had it analysed, but no traces of human DNA were found. Maybe it could help you."

"Thank you. It will."

Silence descended upon the group. A few minutes passed quietly before Ella spoke up, her voice small, she sounded nothing like her usual self.

"What about our families ? And school? You say we're going to be randomly teleported - someone's bound to notice. I don't want anyone calling me a witch or my family to worry."

Mr. Carol had a helpless expression on his face.

"I honestly don't know, Miss Rocherfote. I will do my best to cover for you five here, but beyond that I cannot assist you. You must help each other - you cannot ignore each other any longer. And, yes, I know that you have been acting like the others don't exist."

They all opened their mouths to protest, but Mr. Carol cut them off with one hand.

"I'm not asking you to be best friends or anything - I'm asking you to work together, to be allies if not friends. You know that apart from myself and the people next to you you will have no one to turn to, because after all - teleportation is impossible and aliens do not exist. Yes, you do not know each other and you are all nothing alike, but that doesn't mean you can't try to work together, does it? Now, one last question because it looks like our time isn't up."

He indicated to their feet and they all looked down to find their shoe soles glowing blue. 

"That's the sign that once you take a step you will be returned back to your previous location or, well, approximately. It'll trigger a reverse warp. Now, I believe Miss Fawners is part of the gymnastics club while Miss Rocherforte and Mr Jones are part of our school's teams. Track and football, yes?"

"Yes"

"Well, I'll, unfortunately need you to quit those clubs and join the newly-founded astronomy club."

Iris furrowed her brow, confused.

"But, sir, we don't have an astronomy club."

"As of tomorrow we will - those club meetings will be our cover. I need to see you all at least once a day if not to make sure you are all relatively unharmed then to catalog the warps you've gone through. So, after the school day is finished I need you join me here for at least ten minutes, understood."

They all murmured an agreement. This man was really their only hope of making it through this loss, whatever it was. It was honestly hard for Iris to wrap her mind around the concept. She was in her final school year, she was supposed to be worrying about her grades or her upcoming exams not aliens from beyond the Solar system and...Unexpectedly, something occurred to Iris. She locked eyes with the adult in the room.

"Wait, I believe I may have something else to add."

Mr. Carol frowned, but nodded to tell her to continue. He was surprised: the least noticeable one in the group was the one that held the most information. Why would they single her out so early on in the game? Well, it had most probably been a coincidence as, apart from Jacob, Iris was the one who led the most normal life out of the five. The girl interlaced her hands, fiddling uncertainly with her fingers as she spoke.

"Before we ended up together on the evening of the Rewind Festival I was babysitting my younger brother. He dragged me off to see a fortune teller, he went in first, but then she called me in. When I went to see her she kept referring to me as 'chosen' and she told me this weird fortune telling poem. I just remembered it."

Iris drew a shaky breath and looked around herself. Ella was slumped in her seat, arms crossed over her chest, looking highly sceptical while Jacob had a slight hopeful expression on his face. Matthew had his brow furrowed as though he was trying to puzzle something out and Mr. Carol looked thoughtful and apprehensive. Iris's attention was drawn to William when he spoke, his voice serious and his whole being reminding Iris of something or someone else. Who? She couldn't place her finger on it quite yet.

"Do you remember the poem?"

"I do."

"And are you confident that you can repeat it word for word?"

He pinned her with his gaze, evidently meant to intimidate her into telling him the truth. Iris, however, found herselves meeting his gaze with no qualms at all. Huh. That was odd, normally she would be afraid of even looking someone like him in the eye. Iris nodded.

"It's not the kind of thing that one can forget easily."

"Then would you be so kind to share it with rest of us?"

It seemed like some unspoken challenge was going on between them. Ella raised a brow: the heck was going on with the two of them? She saw the blue-eyed flower girl shrug an so begin to recite smoothly:

"A creature not from Sol has risen,

Five of Terra it has bidden.

Five from all corners of the world

shall have to lose all they dear hold.

A loss of mind, a loss of body,

A loss of feeling, a loss of paths - all unavoidable.

Prepare, oh chosen child, prepare

For there is no escaping it's deep rooted snare. That was it. She was called Madam Ailli, I think."

Ella threw up her hands in a sign of resignation, a sarcastic note in her voice .

"Well, you've got me totally convinced that it's an alien. 'Cause no human phoney fortune teller could ever come up with that."

Matthew snorted, eyeing Ella as though she was a small child who needed the most basic things explained to her.

"Anyone can come up with a poem, dingus, but not one that actually comes true. A loss of paths? Seem familiar?"

Ella proceeded to kick the redhead under the table and stand up. Iris glanced down at the screen of her wristband, noting that it had somehow turned to half past midnight and she needed to get up early for school seeing as she lived on the outskirts of Eastbridge, following Ella up. Jacob also got to his feet.

"Seem like we should get going. This isn't going to be one of those scenarios where we've only been gone a few seconds, is it?"

Ella snorted and both Mr. Carol and Iris cracked a smile at that. It seemed exhaustion was overruling panic at the moment. The older man sighed and dipped his head in agreement.

"Sadly, no. But we've spoken long enough. The last thing I want is to cause more trouble for you than I already have. Go, but be careful."

They nodded once more before all taking one step forward and vanishing with a soft crack. Carol stood up and went to deposit the mugs in the sink. He sighed to himself.

"Ailli, huh...Should have known she'd get involved, never could stay out of trouble that one. So does that mean that she knows who Yfa is? Is she on her side? No, Ai is mischievous, but she'd never hurt a human. Still, why would she tell Iris Fawners that? Convenience? Ai's a whimsical person, but she'd never does anything without some kind of reason. Ow!"

Carol winced as his hand brushed against a chipped part of the cup, thankfully though it was just a scratch. He put the cup aside, murmuring.

"This is only getting more complicated. Yfa's going to a slippery one to catch especially since she's one of the 14 and she's using an alias. I'd go to Tase with this, but she has her hands full as is, besides I should probably keep this a secret for as long as possible. A rogue agent...Never good news."

***

The next morning Iris had to focus hard to stay awake in class, constantly stifling yawns. In the end she'd never fallen asleep despite ending up right in her bedroom. Her mind, though confused and exhausted, just wouldn't turn off. She'd taken a quick nap during her ride to Rai Station on the city rail (that was what had replace did the subway in Eastbridge), but that did nothing to lessen her exhaustion. She'd also been jumpy the whole morning, watching her feet and dreading seeing the soles turning pink. Some part of her still refused to accept it as reality despite the fact that she'd teleported 3 times now. It wasn't as fun as one would imagine it to be, especially when it felt like someone had decided to light your feet on fire every single time. Still, despite Iris expecting it, nothing did happen. She safely reached her school, went through Algebra, English safely, steadily arriving at her Literature class and pulling out her tablet and stylus. The class started off as normal and as she lost herself in the discussion of which foreign writer should could be considered the classics, Iris was lulled into a sense of security. Yes, this was nice, this was normal. They then moved onto the presentations portion, apparently the teacher, Mr Kogswood had asked a few students to do presentations on famous foreign writers. Looking through the list on his own device, Mr Kogswood dramatically (a small always) called out.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, let us welcome to the stage Ellen Rocherforte with her presentation about the pessimistic humorist russian writer - Chekhov."

He struck a pose, pointing a the girl in the back. The class, already well used to the dramatics, clapped politely. Iris looked over her shoulder to see Ella stand up from her seat with her tablet, an annoyed expression flickering across her face. She looked just as sleep-deprived as Iris, but her movements betrayed none of that. Iris envied her for having that amount of self-control. Their eyes met and Ella's gaze seemed to harden as she saw Iris. She turned towards the board and took a step only to vanish with a small crack. 

  Iris's eyes widened and she gulped. Oh no, this was bad. This was very, very bad. How would everyone react to a person vanishing into thin air before their eyes? Heart thumping violently in her chest, Iris looked to her right and caught Matthew's eye two seats away from her to see him looking as freaked out as she was, although he was trying to keep calm. Iris looked at the teacher to see him rubbing his eyes. She braced herself for his reaction, only to hear him sigh in disappointment, asking his head.

"Oh, Miss Rocherforte is absent today? Why did none of you tell me that, you rapscallions,hm?"

The class attendance monitor, a boy, chuckle do awkwardly.

"Sorry, sir. I have no clue why I didn't mark her down as absent today."

"Ah, these things, happen, Mr Rogers. Now..."

Iris stopped paying attention past this point, her mind spinning. Why wa she the teacher acting like Ella was absent? She'd even answered during the lesson even more so her things were clearly on her desk! And why were none of her classmates acting freaked out? Hadn't a girl just disappeared into thin air before their very eyes?! Adopting a mask of calm, Iris leaned over and whispered to Heidi.

"Hey, Heids, why is everyone so calm?"

The blonde raised a neat eyebrow at her.

"Why shouldn't we be?"

Iris stared at her before whispering hurriedly.

"Ella Rocherforte just vanished into thin air! How is that normal?!"

Heidi blinked her warm rich brown eyes at her in confusion before placing a hand to Iris's forehead, looking at her worriedly.

"Iri, do you have a fever? Ella Rocherforte's been absent the whole day so far. And people don't vanish into thin air, silly. Did your uncle fill your head with stories of 'alien' ruins again? Iri, you're 17 now, you know better than to believe that. You ok? You're looking awfully pale?"

Iris muttered  quick confirmation of her wellbeing before sitting back in her seat, burying her face into her hands. She felt positively nauseous. What the hell was going on? Well, she knew Ella had been teleported off somewhere, but why was everyone acting like she hadn't been here in the first place. Had she been hallucinating and Ella had really ditched school? Her mind flashed back to Matthew. No, he'd looked just as freaked out as she had. Iris lifted her head up and looked to Matthew who met her gaze with the same fear and confusion clear in his eyes: he didn't understand why no one else had seen it too. Iris needed to talk to him. Mr. Carol had been right - they could only rely on each other it seemed. She needed to get out of class. Iris lifted her hand up and waited until Mr. Kogswood pointed to her.

"Yes, Miss Fawners?"

"Sir, may I please be excused? I don't feel well all of a sudden."

The teacher frowned and looked at her in concern.

"Do you need someone to take you to the doctor's office?"

Iris opened her mouth to respond when Matthew, who'd evidently figured out her plan, quickly jumped to his feet and offered. Heidi looked very bewildered beside Iris.

"I'll take her, sir. She seems in no condition to be walking by herself."

The teacher turned to him and nodded.

"Of course. Who better than our young doctor in training? Go ahead."

Matthew swiftly reached Iris's side and wrapped and arm around her shoulders, helping her out of the classroom while she acted as though she was about to fall over all the while trying not to look at Heidi. Inside this was very awkward and embarrassing, but that same inhuman icy calm hadn't taken hold of Iris again and it demanded she reveal nothing. As soon as they'd got out into the corridor and Matthew had slid the door closed they dropped the act. He looked at her with approval.

"Good acting, Fawners. What in the name of all thing she good happened in there? It's like they all..."

He trailed off. Iris nodded, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's like they all forgot Ella was ever there. Were their memories overwritten or something?"

Matthew looked uncertain, his common sense conflicting wit his reality. Everything he'd ever been taught in both medical school and in this denied the possibility of Iris's suggestion being the truth, but...

"I'd say impossible, but after last night I don't know what's really impossible and what's not. You saw her disappear too?"

"Yes. Though why did no one else?"

"Maybe it has something to do with us being..."

He looked nauseous, unable to finish the sentence. Iris finished it for him, her blue eyes steely.

"Being Yfa's chosen, you mean?"

"Yeah."

The boy confirmed, running a hand through his hair agitatedly. He didn't know what to do. That had never happened before. He had always been proud of himself for being able to have a plan of action no matter what. He had always been able to solve all problem so alone, independently. Of course, those had all been normal, human problems with no...no aliens involved. He wasn't sure even if there were any aliens involved. He was lost. No, he didn't  have time to focus on his pride - they had to figure out what was going on. He wasn't too worried about Scruffy-spikes, she'd be fine most probably given her attitude to life, but this was another issue entirely. Swallowing his pride, he looked at Iris, who was chewing on her lip absentmindedly.

"So, what now, Fawners?"

She focused back on the present, her large blue eyes looking at him. She sighed.

"Okay, first thing's first: call me Iris. I don't know in what's family you were brought up, but normal people in England call each other by their first names, unless you're in London and then that's another story entirely. Can I call you Matthew?" he nodded and she smiled "Good. I say we go find Mr. Carol, he might know what's going on."

"And if he's not here?"

Iris shrugged. "We'll work from there. Solve one problem before moving onto the next one."

Matthew looked at her with a raised eyebrow over his green eyes, a bit impressed by the girl's ability to think straight under pressure. She reminded him of a head surgeon during an operation, confidently issuing orders. Huh, maybe she wasn't like what he'd heard about her. He nodded in agreement.

"Right, that's probably our safest bet for now."

They both took of on a run towards the faculty office. They made it halfway there before the pain exploded in their legs and their soles lit up neon pink. Iris found herself squeezing her eyes shut before crashing into something. Taking a few shaky steps back, Iris shivered at the cold. She opened her eyes to find herself standing on what looked like the foot of a mountain of rocks in a crater. It took a moment for Iris to realise where exactly she was and when she did her blood ran cold. Out of all the places she could have teleported her to Yfa had chosen to place Iris at the foot of the monument to humanity's failure 20 years ago. Iris Fawners was standing shivering at the site of Impact Zero, the place they had all come to refer to as C-Zero. Yfa must have been having a good laugh at that.

Warning: Swearing ahead.

October, Year 2039

The summer months passed by far too quickly for Iris's liking, all the freedom and the fun of those warm two months was soon behind them as was Iris's 17th birthday, after September the 3rd came and the teenager found herself abruptly launched into her final year at Liberta Academy. September too, melted away swiftly, the days wilting and falling, like autumn leaves from trees. With September and the early school days gone, October took it's rightful place with it's usual chilliness and day to day routine.

 That was how Iris found herself sitting cross-legged on the soft carpeted floor of the school's east library hall along with the rest of House Virgo, listening absently to their House Head, Ms. Burnes - a middle school science teacher, prattle on about the upcoming house competitions and how imperative it was that they win them all this year. It was the first house meeting in October and everyone from as young as three years old (for those were the youngest in the school) to as old as 18 years old (Iris's classmates) seemed raring to go. It seemed as per usual, Ms. Burnes' speech was serving it's purpose and riling the usually very friendly members of House Virgo up. Every member was ready to go and take home the gold. That was everyone, except Iris. Unlike her housemates, Iris Fawners sat detached, the words floating past her ears unheard, her hands were clasped tightly on her lap and her large bright blue eyes, a stark contrast to her olive skin, were staring into one spot, not really seeing anything at all. The girl that sat beside Iris sighed, rolling her brown eyes  and shaking her head, sending her blonde curls swinging. This was happening far too often for her liking. Heidi Lanes, Iris's closest friend since childhood, snapped her fingers right in front of the other girl's face forcing her to snap back to reality. Seeing Iris run her hands through her short ebony hair as a nervous habit, Heidi fixed Iris with a serious gaze.

"Iris, the heck is wrong with you? You were zoning out again."

Iris blinked confused and still a bit rattled from being jerked out of her thoughts abruptly.

"I was?"

"Big time. How come? Are you that bored? I mean, you're usually one of the most fired up people at these meetings. What's going on Iris? You have dark circles under your eyes, girl. Is something up?"

Iris waved a hand to show that she was fine and managed a tired smile, trying to reassure Heidi, knowing that if she did not now Heidi would never let this go.

"I'm fine, Heids. We're having a family lunch soon so I'm just really tired from all the preparations that have to be made. You know how it is with my family."

Heidi nodded in understanding, giving a low whistle. Iris's family was indeed rather large and preparing for family lunches was definitely tiring considering they had to cook and prepare room for how many people was it again? Heidi scrunched up her nose in confusion, turning to Iris who was frowning again.

"Hey, Iri, who's coming to this lunch? How many people?"

Iris threw her a "why do you want to know?" look, but shrugged and slowly began to count in a whisper.

"Well, there's my dad's brother and his wife with their two kids and one son-in-law. Then there's my mum's sister, Naomi and her husband, Taichi, with my three cousins - Takumi, Ben and Mihail. My grandma, Alexandra, is coming too and so is Grandmother Claudia and Grandpa Fred. 'Course then there's Ren and his wife with their two kids, Daisy and her husband, Ivy and Wendy live with us so that's easy, so that just leaves Mum and Dad, Heather, Aster and myself. That should be 25 people. Oh and Great-Aunt Tatiana might be coming so that makes 26. "

Heidi's eyes bulged: that was a lot of people. And since she'd been present at one of these lunches as a guest she knew how much food had to be prepared as well as how much cleaning up had to be done afterwards. Iris's family was a very diverse one. Iris herself was a quarter Japanese, half British and a quarter Russian. It showed in her features. Iris's father, James, was of the Afro-American ethnicity while her mother, despite having a Russian name- Katerina, had more of Japanese blood within her. Iris, however, was born with large blue eyes inherited from her Russian side, olive skin that definitely had the touch of her father's genes and dark ebony hair that she'd inherited from her mother. Despite her looks and despite the way people looked at her, Iris held her head high and carried her mixed blood proudly. She'd never been ashamed of her multiracial family, she loved each and everyone one of them with all of their insane quirks and habits. Heidi gulped, staring at her best friend in horror.

"And how often do you have these 'little gatherings'?!"

Iris chuckled, swatting Heidi on the arm.

"They're not that bad, Heids and it's only once a season. Though I am" she paused to yawn "dead tired with school on top of all that. "

"Yeah and it shows. Do you--"

Iris swiftly cut across her friend, hurrying to decline her offer.

"No. No makeup, ever. No concealer even. Hate all that fake paint. Besides the lunch is today so I'll have all the time in the world to rest afterwards."

Heidi huffed, but put her hands up in a sign of surrender. Iris had to be one of the most stubborn 17 year olds she'd ever met and her refusal to put on even a touch of makeup was another thing that made her peculiar. She said she hated how fake it made her feel and given Iris's character Heidi could grudgingly understand that. Iris was one of those people who did their best to live true to themselves, not hiding anything and living every day to the full. Iris seemed to have taken the "You only live once" thing very close to heart. Heidi was about to ask Iris another question when she was cut off by Ms. Burnes clapping her hands together to draw their attention to her once more.

"Alright, my sweets, one last thing of note and then you're heading off to your lessons. Quiet down."

Slowly the general hubbub died down and silence settled over the students. Ms. Burnes nodded in approval. 

"Lovely. Now, we all know about the sparks coming from Stromboli in Italy, correct?"

A small girl's voice piped up to clarify.

"Ms. Burnes, is that the volcano the news lady was talking about on the net?"

"That's the one. Well, as you all know while it hasn't erupted yet it has affected the atmosphere so we may have a blue moon soon enough. Isn't that exciting? That doesn't happen often. Now we should have the first quarter of the blue moon this week..."

Iris didn't hear what the science teacher said afterward that because suddenly her heart gave a painful thump and her world came to a screeching halt, the sounds disappearing just like they had the evening of the Rewind Festival in June. Her mind brought back the memory of that night, the night she had spent all summer forgetting. The last of the words on the whiteboard sprang to mind: "Be ready, we shall begin upon the first quarter blue moon". Iris shook her head, trying to inject some logic into her mind which was steadily inching towards panic. No, that was stupid, impossible. She didn't know and couldn't begin to explain what had happened that night, but it was obvious that that warning couldn't have been referring to this. Stromboli had only begun sparking in September and she had been warned in June. It was impossible to predict a "blue moon" (a phenomena that occurred when there were enough red particles from volcanic influence scattered in the air) that early on. However, the fortune teller's word floated through Iris's mind, almost laughing: "A creature not from Sol has risen, five from Terra it has bidden."  Aliens? The very idea of anything supernatural and the such was preposterous, this was nearly the middle of the 21st century for crying out loud, they'd know. But...There had been five of them in the room, hadn't there? The weird way Mr. Carol had been acting was unexplainable and then...Iris thought to the member's themselves. She herself had the blood of people from Russia, Japan, Ireland, Kenya and England, Ella Rocherforte (her hostile classmate) had said she was French by blood, Matthew Ilves (her other new classmate from that night) had said he carried both Finnish and Irish blood, she knew from the previous year that Jacob was born in the U.S and both his parents carried mixed blood and then that left William Knight. She didn't know him and he was her only hope that the last line was wrong. However, the last name Knight should have been a clear enough indicator for her as to who he was. By the current year there were very few families in the world that had pure blood and were dedicated to keeping it that way, but the Knight Family was one of them and with it's wealth it could practically do whatever it wanted. Unless Iris was sorely mistaken, William Knight carried pure English blood. Iris buried her face in her hands as another line of the fortune teller's creepy poem sprang to mind: "Five from all corners of the world shall have to lose all they dear hold." Iris shook her head, bluntly refusing to even think about that. It wasn't preposterous and even entertaining the notion of any approaching danger was ridiculous. She was safe, aliens did not exist and she and the four others could continue to ignore each other as they'd been happily doing since the school year had started. That evening in June was a hallucination of her mind, it did not happen, end of story. Full stop. Heidi's voice broke her out of her thoughts again and she found herself walking through the corridors, guided by an exasperated, but resigned best friend.

"Hey, Iri, have you seen the way Mr. Carol looks lately? He looks like he's about to collapse"

"What do you mean?"

"Behind us. Look at him."

It took Iris another glance at her friend to notice the concerned look on her usually bright face. She looked over her shoulder to see that Mr. Carol had stopped to talk to Ms. Burnes about something. Iris had to admit that her friend had a point, Mr. Carol looked deathly thin and worn out, dark bags hung under his eyes and they looked listless, no longer shining with the vitality of life they once held. No wonder, Heidi had been worried Iris was worried too. Unexpectedly, Mr. Carol chanced a glance sideways and his eyes and the teenager's met. She saw a flicker of recognition pass through their hazel depths before a worried replaced the faint friendly smile that he had been carrying recently. Iris's heart picked up pace. She'd never seen Mr. Carol look so worried and, dare she say, almost a little afraid in her life and that scared her in turn. Suddenly, he made a few signs with his hands in the silent language all the young people in Liberta were familiar with before bidding goodbye to Ms. Burnes (who seemed to be mulling over whatever he had said) and taking his leave. Iris felt Heidi tugging on her arm, but she didn't move, her mind was still processing Mr. Carol's silent message. She hadn't even aware he knew the student's secret language. He had told her "Be careful." She needed to be careful? Of what? Iris shook her head: she was in her last year, she didn't have time to think about cryptic messaged and whatnot. She had enough on her plate. Enough, no more stupid thoughts. With that decision she chased after Heidi to follow her to their English class.

***

The next half of the day passed rather uneventfully for Iris with the exception of Heidi tripping during P.E and running into Aster in the western hallway. She gently helped her friend into the classroom after lunch as the girl had hurt her leg rather badly when she'd tripped. Concerned, Iris looked at Heidi who was pulling out her Social Studies textbook and notebook.

"You sure you don't want to go to the nurse again?"

Heidi laughed and shook her head in refusal.

"Iri, I'm fine. It's just a big scrape. I've seen you go through worse without a fuss."

Iris frowned and crossed her arms on her chest, visibly unhappy with her friend's retort.

"Yeah, but that's me. You know that I live life this way. I'm used to it. You, however, are not."

Heidi waved her hand at her as an abvious dismissal, a merry light in her almost amber eyes.

"Oh, shut up. My aunt tells me that I'm a prissy little brat enough as it is without you so stuff it. Hey, Iri?"

Iris looked up from her own bag at the sound of her nickname. Heidi was looking curiously at her desk which was next to her's. Heidi raised her eyebrows.

"What's that on your desk?"

"On my desk?"

Iris stood up and turned around, accidentally hitting her knee against Heidi's desk in the process. Wincing, she looked at her desk. Sure enough, on her desk lay a small innocuous white envelope with her name written on it in neat, cursive script. Frowning, Iris picked it up and looked around herself. The classroom was still empty save for her, Heidi and the newly appeared Matthew and Ella who were resolutely ignoring her and more decidedly each other. It turned out that those two could never get along especially when they had to work on a group with other people so the teachers did all they could to keep the two apart. Heidi returned Iris's attention back to the envelope in her hands.

"So, what's it say?"

"Give me a moment and don't be nosy. You're up for answering in class today by the way, since I covered for you last time."

"Fine, be that that way."

Heidi whined, pouting, but did as Iris suggested, starting to look through her notes of the last class. Iris, meanwhile, opened the envelope and pulled out a small folded piece of paper. Setting down the envelope, Iris unfurled the note. A shiver ran up her spine at the vaguely familiar handwriting. Her hands trembled as she read the note. It read:

"My dear chosen flower child,

I hope you enjoyed the holiday I gave you and that you have gathered up your strength for the tasks ahead. My fnoyemir, ah, pardon me - your children of Terra call them friends. Well, my friend told me you didn't quite believe her prediction and it seems you may not have heeded my warning, but I suppose that's to be expected. You, humans, are such fickle creatures and so difficult to convince. Now, our work shall begin whther you want it to or not.

   All humans panic when their plans go awry, when their path is lost - their reactions are always most curious. I have observed that while said reactions vary the response is always linear: try to find a way out. Therefore, I have drawn the conclusion that humans feel lost when aforementioned conditions are met. That said, I wonder how you, my sweet precious flower, along with your Rachi (ah, forgive me once more - comrades is the human word) will handle the Loss Of Direction. Good luck. It shall begin tonight.

Sincerely,

Yfa "

Iris began trembling, fear overwhelming her. She hurried to tuck away the note and throw the envelope into her bag. Throwing all rules of propriety out of the window, Iris sat down on her desk and took deep calming breaths, her hand resting over her frantically beating heart. Heidi looked up from her textbook, curious.

"So, who's it from? Oh, Maker, Iris! You're as pale as a sheet. What happened?!"

If there was one thing Iris was certain of at the moment it was the fact that she's couldn't tell her worrywart, caring best friend the truth. She would never make Heidi worry like that, especially over something like this. It was impossible to believe after all. Iris forced a genuine-looking smile to her face and gave a somewhat convincing laugh.

"Oh, just a note from an admirer that doesn't seem to want to take a hint. He called me his "sweet, precious flower"! It's disgusting. Sorry, if my face doesn't portray my disgust adequately."

Heidi breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled.

"Woah, you scared me, girl. You looked like you'd just received a death sentence or something. Want me to go and tell that jerkwad to bug off? I'll do it."

Heidi threatened confidently. Her dark-haired best friend laughed, but was quick refuse her offer.

"Thanks, Heids. I'll deal with this myself."

"If you say so. So, it was a love note?"

Iris flopped down in her chair tiredly, opening her own notebook to glance over the notes she,d made form the previous class. Somehow nothing made sense to her. Sha gave her Welsh best friend a half-smile.

"Of a kind."

Haiti reached over the divide between the rows of desks to pat Iris on the shoulder, grinning as the classroom started filling up.

"Well, dont'cha worry, Iri. Everything will be a-okay in the end."

Iris looked over her shoulder to see a dark look on Matthew's face as he tucked away a familiar looking white envelope and Ella was shredding something beside a bin, something of a pristine white colour. Iris's heart sank: they'd gotten the note too. That did not sit well with her. She smiled at Heidi.

"You're a weirdo, but I hope you're right. I really do."

Heidi rolled her eyes and tapped her forehead.

"You know I am. Who's the smart one here?"

"Oh, stuff it."

***

That evening Iris Fawners was exhausted, completely and utterly. She had once again just reaffirmed the fact that family gatherings were evil. Despite what she had told her friend that same morning they were that bad. Oh, blessed be those naïve and oblivious to all the hardships that a large close-knit family brought with it. She could hear her cousins running through the corridor, but she really couldn't bring herself to care. When was too tired. Where'd the little beasts get that much energy anyway? She kind of envied them. Iris groaned quietly into her covers as she lay face down on her bed before turning her head to look at her desk. In it, shoved haphazardly into a drawer, the white letter peeked out. Iris didn't care, she couldn't care less right now about some gibberish. She wanted to sleep. Yes, sleep...Sleep sounded wonderful about now. Ah, her favourite time of the day during the school year and most probably her favourite activity currently. But the noise... Iris pushed herself up into a sitting position reluctantly and called.

"ASTER!"

Her 13 year old brother and three smaller boys poked their heads into her room, guilt written all over their faces. The oldest of three was Mihail, then there was Takumi and the youngest, the four year old, was Ben. She glared at the troublemakers.

"It's ten in the evening. Get your butts to bed!"

All four boys frowned and had Iris not been so tired she'd have marvelled at how alike they looked despite her cousins having their Japanese blood far more pronounced than Aster did. Aster groaned.

"Oh, come on, Iri, we were playing pirates and--"

"Don't care. Mum and Aunt Naomi said bedtime so bedtime it is. Or should I tell Uncle John that he can't tell you about his latest archeological trip to the ruins of the Incan civilisation?"

Takumi, who was 8 years old, quickly rattled off something in Japanese and took off, Ben running after him. Mihail sighed, bid her goodnight in proper English before following after his younger brothers. Iris frowned, her mind was barely functioning.

"What'd Takumi say?"

Aster raised an eyebrow and fully came into his sister's room, closing the door behind himself. He looked at Iris in confusion.

"Is your Japanese that rusty?"

Iris huffed and flopped down on her bed.

"No, but my brain doesn't understand human at all right now. Besides, I was always better at Russian than Japanese. You know that, oh wise Japanese whiz."

Aster smirked and pulled a red curl, pleased, but a little embarrassed.

"True enough. He said he'd find Uncle John. Is he really going to tell us a bedtime story?!"

Iris nodded, covering her eyes with her right arm.

"Yeah, he said he would. Now, get your sorry ass to your bedchambers, young man, and you wake me before my alarm does tomorrow and the lot of you are dead meat. Got that?"

Aster snorted, but quickly nodded and ducked out of the room. Iris sighed. She was glad her father's twin brother, her Uncle John, had taken over the bedtime duty for the boys. The adults would probably keep on talking till the middle of the night, but since most of the cleaning was done Iris could get to sleep. Uncle John wasn't much like the other adults and he and his wife, Aunt Leila, enjoyed telling the kids of their archeological exploits. The boys loved it, it was probably half the reason they came to these family gatherings willingly. She enjoyed it too, but right now a glass of water, a shower and sleep sounded heavenly to her. Iris sat up and slipped her sandals on again before heading downstairs. She wished the chatting adults goodnight, accepted her Grandma's goodnight kisses calmly before heading to the kitchen to find herself some water. However, the moment she stepped past doors leading into the kitchen the world stopped. Again. Her feet were on fire once more. Iris couldn't suppress the faint whimper that fell past her lips as she saw the sole of her sandals glow bright pink. She could almost swear she saw a strange inscription on the floor above her raised foot. She didn't want this, she was terrified, but she had no choice. Her feet felt as though they were having the skin melted off them and it was excruciating. Steeling herself for the worst, Iris took a step forward....

  She opened her eyes to find herself standing standing and shivering from the cold in the school's back courtyard. She was dressed casually and for her warm home so of course, the nighttime cold got to her. She felt the corner's of her eyes sting. Why...Why again? Why her? Iris looked up at the sky and saw a real, genuine blue moon shining in the sky. It was a self-centered thought perhaps, but at that moment Iris felt as though the optical illusion was mocking her. Iris's arms reached up to hug herself and she willed herself not to cry. Crying wouldn't help anything. But still, damn it all! That note hadn't been a sick joke! This was some warped reality! Who the heck was messing with her?! No, Iris realised a small she heard four more soft cracks, she wasn't alone in this twisted reality. Iris turned around to see them: Ella Rocherforte who was actually dressed for the outdoors and wasn't currently cussing loudly and profusely as she too realised the situation, Matthew Ilves who like her was dressed for home wear and was glaring at the moon as though it was at fault, Jacob Jones who was only wearing a coat over his sleepwear and was currently looking hopelessly confused and finally there was William Knight, who was wearing, oddly enough, a suit and a shirt, but no tie, who's clenched hands were the only indication of his emotions as his face was blank. No, she wasn't alone and she didn't know yet if that was a good thing or a bad one. Ella was the first to burst out, anger evident in her voice.

"Okay, who's the little shit responsible for this crap?! 'Fess up."

Matthew, ever the antagonist to Ella, snorted in annoyance, his own voice betraying his irritation.

"As stupid as ever, Rocherforte. It's obvious that it wasn't one of us."

Ella glared at him, her contact glinting in the light of the moon.

"Shut your piehole, Ilves. Someone has to be responsible for this! It's the same 5 people again! And that note! We all got it! This garbage ends now."

Jacob gave a weak, strained laugh, one that was very unlike him. He met Ella's glare with a defeated look.

"What even is this? What's happening?"

Ella snapped her mouth shut, she obviously had no answer. Matthew and William had no answer either. Iris sighed, shifting from one foot to another to gain some warmth. She watched the white cloud of warm air float up before she spoke again an icy calm taking hold of her.

"I'd say it's teleportation. You know, instant movement from one place to another."

All eyes were on her and she shrugged. Matthew rolled his eyes, adjusting a pair of glasses she hadn't noticed before.

"That's impossible. Teleportation isn't even on the drawing board in tech companies. And I sure as heck don't posses such a device in my living room."

Ella made a face, but bedrugingly voiced her agreement with her nemesis.

"I absolutely hate to agree with anything the four-eyed lobster has to say, but, Blue, that's impossible."

That was possibly the nicest thing she'd ever said to Iris. Jacob unhappily shrugged his shoulders, shivering from the cold. Iris didn't really know what else to say, she knew it didn't make any sense if one applied common sense to the problem, but that was what her gut feeling was telling her. To her surprise, she heard William's calm voice pierce the tense silence.

"Foretelling the future is also impossible and yet it happened. Look at the moon. The optical illusion only started tonight and yet, Yfa, knew about it 3 moths beforehand. That should also be impossible."

Matthew looked at William irritably.

"Your point, Knight?"

"My point is we cannot rule out anything at the current junction."

Iris sighed, knowing that William was completely right in saying that. And that wasn't a good thing at all. Ella growled,crossing her arms, her impatience and annoyance once again rearing it's head.

"I hate this! So what do we do then? Is Blue right or something?"

A new voice a very familiar one spoke up from behind the teenagers.

"She is thinking in the right direction, yes, Miss Rocherforte."

The young people whirled around to see the gaunt face of their Vice Head. He smiled at them helplessly. They stared at him. He, meanwhile, smiled sorrowfully as he spoke.

"I wasn't able to find them. I'm sorry... The Loss of Direction begins now."

June, Year 2039

Iris stared at the other occupants at the room and they stared right back at her and then at each other. They didn't seem to have the faintest clue of what in the universe was going on either. One minute she'd been looking for her wayward brother outside during the end of year festival, the next her feet were on fire and then BAM! she was here. If she had to guess she'd say something similar might have happened to them. Trying to get her mind to work again, Iris took this chance to survey the other occupants of the empty old classroom.

  One of them was a girl that Iris was fairly certain she'd seen in the class next to hers. The girl was tall and lean but with curves, her unruly brown hair was in a short pixie cut, her eyes were an unnatural shade of purple (she was most likely wearing colour contacts) and Iris spotted a black butterfly tattoo sitting boldly on her collarbone. The girl was eying her and the other occupants of the room with a mixture of hostility and suspicion. As soon as their eyes made contact Iris hurriedly looked away. 

   The other three were boys. Iris was glad to realise she recognised at least one of them: the smaller boy - he was her classmate. He stood between the two taller ones, he was small, but had a muscular body, short glossy brown hair, tanned skin and warm rich brown eyes. That was Jacob Jones, probably the most athletic young man in her class. If her memory hadn't failed her (unlike logic) then he was on the school's football team. She had never personally spoken more than a greeting to him, but she felt a little relieved when he caught her eye and gave her a shaky smile or recognition. She gave a barely perceptible nod in response. She moved to look at the other two boys.

   The one who stood to the left of Jacob was of average height with most of the boys in her year though he appeared younger than 16 or 17. The first thing that stood out about his features was most definitely his surprisingly neat flaming red hair and his green eyes which stared at Iris coldly, surrounded by millions of light freckles on his pale skin. He did not look happy if the death glare she was receiving was anything to go by. Iris quickly turned to look at the last person in the room.

   She gulped. The last young man in the room was looking right at her with his cobalt blue eyes, a few shades more vibrant than Iris's own blue eyes. Unlike the others in the room (with the exception of Jacob who had recognised her as she had him) he was looking at her with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension in his eyes, but his face showed none of that. He was definitely the tallest in the room, though the girl was close to catching up to him in height. His hair was what surprised Iris the most though: it was definitely the brightest blonde Iris had ever seen and while it was unruly at the front towards the back it was brushed back into a neat ponytail. She barely resisted raising an eyebrow: it was unusual for men to have longer hair in this day and age, well, at least in common society. He reminded her of someone...

Realising that she'd been looking at him for a fraction too long, Iris looked away towards the door.

  As if on cue the door creaked open and the sound of shuffling footsteps was heard. Iris's breath caught in her throat as an irrational fear overtook her. Following her instincts she moved away from the whiteboard behind her and rushed over to one of the windows. The other's looked at her uncertainly, but Iris didn't dare take her eyes off the door. They must have felt the danger too because a moment later they weren't that far from her. Finally, the door opened fully and in came the last man they were expecting (though in truth none of them had known who to expect) - the Vice Head. He was a tall dark-skinned man who was usually cheerfully smiling with clarity in his hazel eyes (he reminded Iris of her dad a lot - both visually and behaviour wise) and although he was a bit eccentric he was beloved by all the students. At first glance everything about him seemed normal: he was smiling, he was wearing his trademark purple shirt, but then there were his shuffling footsteps, slumped shoulders and the empty, almost soulless look in his eyes. Iris had never, in all her years of being taught by him, ever seen him like this. It terrified her. The girl, who evidently possessed more courage than Iris did at this moment, tentatively called out.

"Uh, Mr. Carol?"

Mr. Carol didn't respond he merely continued walking towards the whiteboard as though asleep, but his eyes were open and he wasn't blinking. He looked like a living corpse. The thought must have entered the redhead's mind too as Iris heard him mutter the word "zombie". A chill ran up Iris's spine. She knew she didn't have enough words in her vocabulary to describe what kind of fear she was experiencing right now, but she doubted she could have if she had wanted to. Meanwhile, Mr. Carol reached the whiteboard and after crashing into it once headfirst (something the teenagers normally wound have found funny, but this time it just made things scarier), he picked up an orange marker. Tearing the cap off with his teeth he picked it up and began to write in surprisingly neat, cursive letters - definitely not his handwriting. As soon as he was finished he stepped back so they could read, unmoving. Iris's breath hitched as she scanned the words on the board. It read:

"Welcome. It was very difficult for me to settle on a handful of good specimens from within my student body, but you shall suffice quite nicely. You are my chosen and my chosen you shall remain. Dear chosen children, I grant you your summer 'break' to prepare, but be ready - we shall begin upon the first blue quarter-moon. Be ready."

Iris's gaze was torn away from the whiteboard when she heard the clatter of the marker hitting the wooden floor and a low groan. Mr. Carol was clutching his head with one hand and supporting his weight by grabbing onto a desk with the other. He slowly raised his head, pain clouding his hazel eyes before clarity slowly returned to them. He surveyed the fear on the student's faces and glanced once at the board before his face betrayed an expression of alarm, deathly pale in colour despite his dark skin . His alarm was replaced by urgency as he turned to the students, his usually confident voice holding a tremor.

"What happened? What did I do? Did I hurt anyone?!"

His voice rose at the last question. Mutely, Iris and the other girl shook their heads. It wa the blonde boy who answered, his voice emotionless just as his face was impassive. He was the only one who hadn't betrayed any of his emotions.

"No, you did not. Sir, you came in here as though you were half-dead and wrote that on the board. If I had to compare that to anything I would say it looked like you were sleepwalking. In a trance."

Mr. Carol sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth and hissed.

"Damn it! That fu--"

He cut himself off in time and quickly shot the students an apologetic look.

"Please forget you saw that. I nearly used my French."

Suddenly the girl snorted, covering her mouth with her hand. It was such a simple, human sound that to Iris it seemed that all the tension just oozed out of the room upon meeting with it. Stifling a laugh, the girl raised her head and spoke, her eyes shining with a merry light.

"With all due respect, Mr. Carol, I'm French and that was most certainly not my native tongue you were just about to speak. If you're going to curse, do it properly otherwise that's just lame."

Iris couldn't help cracking a small smile at that and Mr. Carol gave a weak chuckle. Returning more or less to his usual self, he gave the girl a mock bow as he responded meanwhile picking up the marker and replacing it's cap back on it.

"Why, of course, Miss Rocherforte. I shall keep your advice in the foremost of my mind and I shall curse properly in the future. If I have any more troubles I will most certainly consult you."

The girl nodded easily. The last of the tension seemed to disappate, however, the unease didn't - the writing on the board made sure of that. Both worried and uneasy, Iris turned to the only adult in the room:

"Um, Mr. Carol? What happened? Why were you like a zombie and what does that mean? It's not even in your handwriting."

Mr. Carol glanced back at the board upon hearing her words and his expression darkened considerably, before he sighed and turned back to face Iris, his face devoid of any of that anger. He shook his head, approaching the students.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Miss Fawners. I know it won't be easy, but please try to put it out of your mind. I'd say you should all go and enjoy the rest of the Festival since it will be ending soon, but I do need your names, houses and future classes - just in case."

Jacob frowned and looked at Mr. Carol cautiously.

"In case of what?"

Mr. Carol sighed and looked the boy in the eyes, his expression completely honest.

"In case whoever that was" he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the ominous neat writing on the board "tries to contact any of you again. It shouldn't happen and neither should any of the strange things you've experienced, but just in case, alright?"

He looked at all 5 teenagers and they all nodded, some more hesitantly than others. He sat down on a desk and pointed the marker at Iris, smiling:

"Kids, don't do this. So, let's start with you."

"Sure. Iris Fawners, House Virgo, I'll be in 14A next year."

"Splendid. Though I didn't know you were in house Virgo."

Iris shrugged. " Late summer child. I was born on the 24th of August, just missed being a lion."

As with all schools within the UK, Liberta Academy had houses into which it sorted it's students. However, unlike other schools, Liberta Academy decided to go one step above and sort the students into twelve houses according to their birth dates. If the rumours Iris had heard were right, the man in front of them was responsible for the idea. No one minded it though. Mr. Carol pointed his marked at Jacob.

"You?"

"Jacob Jones, House Cancer, I'll be in 14C next year."

"Marvellous. Now, you."

The girl straightened up and nodded,crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ella Rocherfote, House Pisces and I'll be in the same year as blue eyes over there."

Iris frowned at the nickname, but didn't protest. She shouldn't have expected much different from her. Now that she knew her name Iris realised she'd encountered Ella Rocherforte before and she'd never been nice, though that wasn't personal - Ella seemed to be hostile and slightly rude towards everyone. Iris had never been bothered to find out why and now they were going to be in the next class the following September? Oh, joy. Meanwhile Mr. Carol had turned his marker towards the redhead:

"And you, my good man"

The boy frowned, but responded and unhappy expression on his face.

"Ugh. Matthew Ilves, also House Pisces and I too will be in 14A next year."

Mr. Carol nodded calmly, but Iris (who was closest to him in proximity) could have sworn she'd heard him snort and mutter something about two fish in the same barel. Whatever that meant. He finally turned to the blonde young man in the room.

"And last, but in no way least, you."

He gave a curt nod of his head and as impassively as ever responded.

"William Knight. House Scorpio. I will be part of Class 14C next year."

Out of the corner of her eye, Iris saw Matthew almost sag with relied before he threw an irritated glance in William's direction. Wait...William Knight? Where had she heard that name before? Iris didn't notice as she stared off into space, tapping her chin with one finger thoughtfully out of habit. Her eyes widened a fraction in surprise as she recognised the name. He was William Knight, the veritable "Stone Prince"?! Huh, maybe the girls in her class did have taste, but they were such hopeless romantics...Ugh. Iris quickly changed her train of thought. Mr. Carol stood to his feet and nodded.

"Right. Well, it's currently" he checked his watch " 15 past eight so I advise you to get going. There's still a little under an hour left of the Festival so I suggest you go enjoy yourselves, get your mind off that. I trust I'll see you all in September. Enjoy your summer holidays and be careful on roads. Now, shoo, off with you lot" 

Slowly, all of them filed out of the room leaving only Mr. Carol alone. 

***

"IRIS!" 

A resounding cry assaulted Iris's eardrums as soon as she stepped out of the school building. A moment later the girl found herself tackled into a hug of such force that she tripped and fell over. She looked down to see a familiar curly mop of red hair. Iris sighed in relief: Aster was okay, he'd come to find her. She saw a hand being held out to her and saw that William and Jacob had stopped beside her after seeing fall. She grasped Jacob's hand (which was closer) while William put her brother back on his feet. He turned to look at her and nodded before walking away, not giving her a chance to thank him. She shrugged and turned to Jacob, who was brushing the dust off Aster who was busy wiping his eyes. 

"Jacob, thanks."

"No problem. Have a good summer, Iris."

"You too."

He smiled and walked away. Well at least one of the people she'd run into wasn't nice. Jacob Jones was generally a nice, happy-go-lucky guy who lived life to the full, never wasting a single day. He was one of those few people who were kind to everyone they met and treated even people who didn't like them with care. Iris smiled, shaking her head: what was wrong with today? Had she hit her head while looking for Aster? 

   Aster. Iris turned to her younger brother, bending a little to be on eye level with him. She ran a hand over his curly hair, smiling gently.

"Are you okay?"

He sniffed and nodded, his hands still covering his face. Iris sighed.

"Were you scared?"

"No! It's just people said they saw you disappear into thin air and then you weren't answering your wristband so..so..so..SO I THOUGHT A GHOST TOOK YOU!"

He nearly yelled out the last part in an effort to get it out beforehand breaking down into sobs. Iris looked surprised for a moment before carefully prying Aster's hands from his face. She wipe down his tears away with her hands and smiled cockily at him.

"Come on, Captain. Stop crying. Do you really think some measly little ghost could take your big sister?"

Aster hiccuped, his tears slowing. In a quiet voice he asked.

"Which one? I have 3 and a big brother. It could take Daisy."

Iris couldn't hold back a light laugh at that as she imagined her oldest, 25 year old sister, being attacked by ghost. She shook her head, sending her short, barely curly raven hair swinging.

"Nah, it'd be too scared. She'd clobber it to death with her endless collection of stilettos."

Aster cracked a shadow of a grin, looking more and more liked the normal little boy she knew and loved, even though he annoyed her to no end at times.

"With the neon pink ones. They hate neon pink."

"I hate them. Gah, where did Daisy get them?!"

"Yup. And the ghost couldn't take Ivy, too. She'd make it fall asleep with her bedtime stories like she does me and Wendy."

Iris nodded, smiling at the thought of her second oldest sister tucking the ghost into bed along with her two year old daughter, Iris's niece. Catching onto the little game that had started, Iris pretended to consider her older by 2 years sister:

"What about Heather? It could take her."

Aster vehemently shook his head in denial of that idea.

"Nope, it couldn't. It'd fall in love with her - Heather's too pretty and too nice. Oh, wait, that'd be bad too. I don't want a ghost for a brother-in-law! Come on, Iris, we have to save, Heather! "

Aster suddenly grabbed Iris around the wrist and dragged her off after him as he broke into a mad sprint. Iris laughed and ran after him, her mind completely discarding the uneasy and scary memory of the last half an hour from the recent memories pile. A small they ran, Aster grinned over his shoulder and breathlessly added.

"Oh, yeah, and it definitely couldn't take you, Iri!"

Iris smiled and raised her eyebrows to question his logic. Aster laughed before explaining.

"Well, apart from the fact that you'd have Ren and I to protect you, you have some sort of power yourself, Iri. I don't know what it is. You're way too smart to be caught by a ghost anyway!"

"Oh, really?"

Aster nodded confidently as they rounded a corner, pulling Iris after him.

"'Course. You could take any monster, Iri! No ghost, wizard, fairy or even alien could even touch my big sister!"

"Aster, I love you sometimes."

Iris exclaimed lunging to grab her brother, but he easily dodged her. Laughing, he sprinted away from her down the hill towards the bus station.

"Just 'cause you're awesome, don't let it go to your head, Nomad Baboon!"

Iris's eyes widened and narrowed playfully as her brother compared her to one of the mobs he frequently fought in his little adventure video-game. Iris retorted by dashing after him, yelling: "GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE DEKU BABA!"

***

The man in the empty classroom crossed his arms and a dark expression came over his face as he looked at the writing. This was not good. He had pretended that it was nothing bad in front of the children, but even he knew he hadn't fooled them completely. Well, of course, he hadn't - they'd seen him be used like a puppet, for pete's sake! It had, no doubt, been terrifying. These children... The writing said they had been "chosen". What did that mean? He knew it had to be one of the 14, but who? If the residual fabric disruptions he had noticed upon coming back to himself were true then that meant someone had teleported the children there. That was definitely not good. They were not allowed to do that. Something like that could cause excruciating pain to the kids. Growling quietly to himself, Owen Carol picked up the whiteboard wipe and quickly cut across the writing, proceeding to furiously erase it from existence. Why were they interfering?! Why? Glancing out of the window, he saw one of the girls exit the school building. His hand clenched into a fist: he had to get to the bottom of this before October came, but he had to do it discreetly. There was no room for mistakes or blind accusations. Great Stars above, he knew that.

June, Year 2039

"Iris, come on! Hurry up! You must be the slowest person on Earth!"

Iris shot her younger brother, Aster, an annoyed look as she slowly stood to her feet, having finished tying her shoelaces. Placing one olive-skinned hand on her hip and narrowing her bright blue eyes at the impatient young boy, she raised a brow.

"I'm sorry? Do you want me to trip and fall?!"

Aster, a 13 year old boy with a mop of curly red hair, brown eyes and skin a shade darker than his sister's, rolled his eyes as he huffed. 

"No, but at this rate we won't get to do anything and the Rewind Festival will be over! Now, come on!"

Iris sighed, but let her Aster drag her by the hand between the many food and game stalls that were arranged throughout her school's rather large courtyard. Liberta Academy was a very peculiar school even for a private institution, but none of it's unusual events beat the Rewind Festival. The Rewind Festival was a tradition that dated back to the school's foundation which had been nearly 2 decades ago. The Rewind Festival was something akin to a themed fair and it was always held on the evening of the last day of the school year. It was held to celebrate the school year that was behind them and to set goals for the one to come. This year Iris was celebrating the end of her year before last at Liberta as well as babysitting Aster who was for the first time allowed to attend the Festival with his class and not their parents, however, it wasn't like they were going to let a hyperactive teenage boy roam around unsupervised and so Iris had ended up playing chaperone while wandering around a mythical themed Festival. It was not easy. She supposed she could only be thankful that the Festival started in the evening and that she had had time to go home and to change into comfortable clothes before being dragged back out here. Oh well. As Aster dragged Iris past a stall that was selling hotdogs, she couldn't help noticing the holographic projection that hovered above it, displaying the last few minutes of the track race that had taken place when Liberta had held it's sports day in the spring. That was another thing that Liberta did during the Rewind Festival: they holographically projected video clips from throughout the school year to make the message of the Festival clear. The Rewind Festival this year was very beautiful, there was no avoiding that fact. The lighting seemed to be made up of colourful old paper lanterns hung up on cords throughout the courtyard, the stalls were all decorated with different mythological characters or objects and the people at the stalls had decided to dress up in costumes, add to that the fact that soft themed music played in the background and the atmosphere was perfect. 

   Iris nearly crashed into Aster who had stopped rather suddenly in front of a purple tent. Iris raised an eyebrow as she peered around the young boy to look at what this particular attraction was. The small plaque before it read: "Madam Ailli's tent of fortune telling".  Iris sighed, casting her grinning brother a tired look.

"This is where you wanted to go?! Seriously, Aster?"

He turned to her with puppy-dog eyes.

"Please, Iri! My friend, Carl, told me this lady isn't a fake! Pretty please!"

Iris crossed her arms over her chest, frowning.

"Aster, real fortune telling isn't anything good."

"Oh, come on, Iri! She'll just look into her crystal ball and guess my fortune! It's not like I'll stick around if she starts worshipping some evil spirits or something! I like my soul too much to have it be stolen. Please?"

Iris sighed and handed her brother two pounds, throwing her hands up in a gesture of surrender. She was fairly sure this lady was a fake anyway, they always were and a fake couldn't really hurt Aster. Aster gave a cheerful cry of triumph and, after quickly hugging his sister, ducked into the tent. Iris sat down cross-legged on a nearby patch of grass and looked up into the sky. Despite all of Eastbridge's technological advancements and all the proclamations of the fact that it was nearly 2040, the stars had never changed. They were great bodies of power that shone in the heavens, steadfast and seemingly omniscient they had long watched over humanity and, if science was to be believed, would continue to do so for centuries to come. To pass the time and alleviate some of her boredom, Iris proceeded to name off the constellations from memory. She didn't have to wait long as Aster came out of the tent practically skipping some five minutes later. Iris climbed to her feet, wiping off the grass stains and raised a brow at her sibling.

"So, was it worth it?"

Aster eagerly nodded his head, his brown eyes shining with excitement.

"Yeah, Madam Ailli told me I'll be a great football player in the future! She also told me that I should focus on my studies a little more. It's like she knew my problems and hopes! She's awesome, Iri!"

Iris sighed inwardly. Yep, another fake. It was fairly easy to tell that Aster was an avid football fanatic and player judging by his attire and his problems with his studies could easily be attributed to his hyperactive personality. It was all too easy to guess. Iris was swiftly brought back to the present when she heard the next words that came out of Aster's mouth.

"She, uh, knows you're here too. She says she's curious to tell your fortune, too."

"She's going to do it for free?"

Iris asked, sceptical. Aster affirmed her guess with a nod. Iris shrugged and resigning herself to her fate, ducked inside the tent. She almost choked on the potent smell of perfume and scented smoke in the tent, but she pushed on through. Coughing, Iris asked the woman dressed like a genie that sat on a cushion deep in the dim tent.

"You wanted to see me?"

"You are Iris Elizabeth Fawners, yes?"

Iris's blue eyes shot wide open and her dark brows flew up to her forehead in surprise. Now wary, she spoke cautiously.

"How do you know my full name?"

The fortune teller laughed, her laugh sounding slightly like the tinkling of wind chimes to a bemused Iris. She smiled and gestured for Iris to sit down on a poofy purple cushion with golden tassels. After throwing her a "you better not try anything" look, Iris did as she was told. The woman, Madam Ailli, steepled her long fingers with red fingernails before herself in a pyramid, elbows resting on the low table between herself and Iris where an undoubtedly fake crystal ball sat. The woman surveyed Iris with a detached sort of interest before quietly speaking on a sigh.

"So you have come, Chosen. I knew you would. The stars told me."

She waved her hand indicating at the ceiling. Iris blinked in confusion, trying to answer without seeming to weirded out and failing spectacularly.

"Uh..That's good for you, I guess?"

The fortune teller didn't seem put off by Iris's attitude and instead smiled brighter, a smile emboldened by Iris's reaction.

"You sound uncertain, Chosen. Do not worry, all will become clear soon."

For some reason that phrase didn't sit right with Iris and neither did the fact that woman knew her name and kept her calling her "chosen". Chosen? Chosen for what? This was  getting a bit ridiculous. Crossing her arms over her chest, Iris looked the woman in her jade eyes and bluntly told her.

"Lady, no offence, but I have no clue what you're talking about. Anyway, aren't you supposed to "tell my future" or something? And why in the name of the Solar system do you keep calling me 'chosen' ?!"

Instead of being upset or offended, the woman merely laughed again. Okay, this was seriously beginning to creep Iris out. She shivered. Her instincts were warning her to be careful. That was it: she was leaving. The fortune teller suddenly grabbed Iris by the hand and the girl's vision dimmed replaced by flashes of images: 5 shadows, a symbol she'd never seen before glowing gold, blond hair, a strange looking her and then Iris was back in the present. Taking deep shuddering breath's Iris collapsed back on her seat, but scooted back from the woman until she was out of arm's reach. Trying to regain at least a semblance of balance, Iris choked out.

"What did you just do?!"

Madam Ailli merely smiled and when she spoke she obviously was avoiding Iris's question.

"My, you are a peculiar one, indeed. Very well, since you so desire knowledge, I shall give a hint to you:

A creature not from Sol has risen,

Five of Terra it has bidden.

Five from all corners of the world,

Shall have to lose all that they dear hold.

A loss of mind, a loss of body, 

A loss of feeling, a loss of paths -all unavoidable.

Prepare, oh, chosen child, prepare for there's no escaping

It's deep rooted snare."

Iris stared at the pleasantly smiling genie lady for a few silent moment before rising to her feet mutely. No, she couldn't handle any more of this creepiness. The woman called out to her.

"Are you doubting my word, Chosen?"

Iris didn't turn around and simply answered.

"No. I'm leaving. Goodbye."

The woman chuckled, sending Iris's skin crawling.

"Very well, goodbye. You would do well to heed my advice though."

Iris left, unable to stand another minute within the tent. Something about Ailli set off all sorts of alarm within Iris's head. That lady had something wrong with her, she was almost inhuman. Iris wanted nothing to do with that. Even as she went off to look for Aster, who'd predictably disappeared, Iris's bad feeling continued to build. Something was drawing closer to her and she couldn't see what. 

***

Aster was a master of disappearing, Iris would have to give him that, but it was stupid to wander around this late at night alone even on the school's ground. Huffing in annoyance, Iris clicked on her wristband. A holographic screen projected. Wristbands were something that most people had, at least in Eastbridge, Berkshire. Wristbands were fashioned as small bracelets on a coloureds strap with a holoprojector and a screen. In essence, they were universal mini-computers that had replaced phones and that shared a live connection with the medical network, one's PC and tablet so work could be done on the move. They had first appeared on the market with an anonymous designer the same year as when Eastrbridge had finished being constructed - 2020, 19 years ago, but now they were fairly widespread. Iris quickly pulled up her brother's contact info and fired off and irritated 'Where are you?'. She waited a full half a minute before her wristband pinged and Aster's cheerful reply of 'At the bonfire with Carl :)' popped up. Huffing and closing down her wristband, Iris moved in the direction of the heat source. That boy was in for a lecture of a lifetime. Their older siblings were bound to have her head if he got lost and that was not mentioning their parents. Iris was so wrapped up in her own thoughts and frustration with Aster, that she didn't notice as she bumped into an older lady. She looked up, quickly apologising, to see that she had brushed against their elderly headmistress- Ms. Luna Tase. Despite her age, she was a tall woman with an ageless sort of beauty about her - curling grey locks of hair and startling grey-blue eyes. Nodding in passing to Iris, the headmistress kept going on her way, muttering something Iris only vaguely caught a few snatches of:

"Damn Ailli...Messing with my students...Can't keep to herself... Time is close...Must hurry..."

Frowning before shrugging and dismissing it as nothing, Iris continued on her way her thoughts drifting to their headmistress. Ms. Tase was the sole founder of the Liberta Academy which had been built along with the rest of Eastbridge back in 2020. She'd presided over it ever since. Due to the school's early appearance some belived that their headmistress had some connection to the founder of the city, though of course there was no proof. 

   Eastbridge was not an ordinary city. It, to be frank, was the technological capital of the UK. Eastbridge was a very young city, built after the total annihilation of Windsor due to Impact Zero, but it was a very strange city nonetheless. In the countryside county of Berkshire it stood out like a sore thumb: a futuristic city among the rolling fields and woodland. No one minded that now though. Eastbridge was really like something from a sci-fi novel: a city with tall, towering office buildings, smaller houses towards the outskirts, a silent electric railway that went through the tops of the city instead of underground - it was in some ways the land of technology, but amongst that technology there were beautiful parks and woodland areas all within the city. It seemed like an utopia sometimes. Add that to the fact that ,by some miraculous feat, the people of the designer had built this entire city in only a year and it was something like a legend. A lot of people thought that unrealistic too, but Eastbridge stood there as living proof. The speed at which the large city had been built wasn't the only mystery - no one knew the name of the man or woman who had funded the whole project, designed the entire city and then vanished. Only his or her initials remained: 'T.S.E.' Eastbridge was no ordinary town, that was for certain.

  Iris was abruptly jerked out of her thoughts when unexpectedly a burning pain erupted in the soles of her feet. The pain was unbearable, it felt a strange though her feet had been set on fire. The world around her seemed to mute. Iris didn't even hear her own cry of pain as she feel to her knees on the ground. People rushed to the teenager's side, they were all saying something she couldn't hear - their voices were blurred, some pulled her up to stand and they tried to make her walk. Iris absently found her foot taking a step... 

   Iris snapped back to full consciousness to find herself standing in an empty classroom, one of the older ones. What had just happened? She'd just been outside and now she was here? How? The pain in her feet was gone also (not that she was complaining) ! Her kneecaps stung as she'd scraped them when she fell, but other than that it was as though no pain had ever existed. Iris's bad feeling came back in full force and her mind whispered 'It starts now.' What started now? What was she thinking? How could her own mind know something she quite obviously didn't?! Iris's frantic thoughts were cut off, when out of thin air four other people materialised. They all seemed as out of it as she had been, but just like she had, they quickly regained clarity. Iris didn't bother trying to hide her shock and neither did they. The teenagers simply surveyed each other in stunned surprise. Just what in the universe was going on?!

August, Year 2019

Humans, as Luna Tase (that was her chosen name this time around) came to realise rather quickly, were not known for their ability to be silent. Truly, their incessant twittering could get extremely annoying, although that could just be an attribute of the current company she was forced to keep. They were all women at the table, ranging from as young as one barely touching her legal adult years (by the human's incomprehensible standards, of course) to the one who's current date of birth they were supposedly celebrating albeit five decades later. She would never truly understand humans, they were such a troublesome bunch. She had come to this party as a guest, as an impartial observer, invited by the guest of honour herself, but if the woman known as Isadora Ravenswood made one more comment about how lilac differed from violet and why it was so important then Tase wasn't responsible for her actions. Great Stars above, it was the year of 2019 by the humans calendar! Couldn't they have come to their senses a little more?!

   The celebration was something the humans had referred to as an "informal tea party" and it was currently being held here in London, in a high class socialite club known as "The Rooftop Garden" just as the hands of the clock brushed past the fifth hour after midday. Her friend had informed her that it was a long standing tradition on the British Isles to drink tea at the seventeenth hour of the day. How true that was still remained to be seen. It was as she was entertaining such idle thoughts that Tase realised that the emotion she was experiencing right now was what these people would have referred  to as boredom. Tase glanced to her side to see if any other guest of Lady Margaret Deboreigh was experiencing such an emotion, but, to their credit, if they were, none were showing it. Typical Homo sapiens behaviour... Tase was abruptly jerked out of her thoughts as she heard the lady of the hour speak.

"And how are things progressing down in Berkshire? What of Windsor? Have any efforts towards it's reconstruction been made? It's been five months since 'Impact Zero', they ought to have made some progress by now."

Tase looked up, her interest revived by the shift in topic. Yes, 'Impact Zero'...She wondered what these over privileged ladies thought of the aftermath of an event they had probably never even laid eyes on. 'Impact Zero' - that was how the humans had come to refer to the calamity that had occurred five months prior, in the beggining of March, when a rather small asteroid came hurtling down from the sky and despite the humans best efforts it landed in the British Isles, reducing the historic town of Windsor and all of it's inhabitants to nothing but rubble and ash, burying them in the crater and mountain of stone it had created. Miraculously, the rest of Berkshire had remained unharmed if a little rattled. The asteroid had broken apart into a mountain of stone, standing as a silent monument and reminder to the people of what they could and could not control. Tase could barely hold back a scathing comment as Cynthia Farrell, an older member of their gathering, spoke up, voice dripping with false sorrow.

"No, I'm afraid they haven't, Lady Margaret. They say the goverment itself is at a loss of what to do. They have merely quarantined the zone and continue to search for any possible remaining survivors even now. It is such a tragedy, is it not? Ah, how I wish I could do more than just donate shares of my fortune to the organised charities and restoration efforts..."

The younger ebony-haired and blue eyed woman, known as Isadora Ravenswood, nodded her head in agreement, a mask of grief that she honestly didn't feel an ounce of on her face.

"Oh, as do I. Are you aware that I had a thrice-removed great uncle there? He was an honourable man and according to the will that was read after his passing he had left his wealth and estate to myself. Oh how I grieve! I would eagerly wish away all the money in his will and his estate if only to have him back!"

Tase struggled to hold back a snort as she picked up her teacup to avoid looking at Isadora's dramatics. Oh sure, she believed that just as she believed the fact that humans had wings. Unsurprisingly, the other humans, with the exception of the youngest, rushed to console the frantically (and falsely) sobbing Isadora, whispering words of comfort that most humans appeared to use. Tase wondered if they actually worked. It took another good quarter of an hour for them to calm Isadora down (Tase was impressed she could keep up the act that long) during which their teapot had been replaced by a steaming new one by the efforts of the service staff. As Tase absently watched the clouds drift by overhead in the sky, wishing with all her might that she had not encountered Lady Margaret that day in the Royal Opera House a week ago, a question sparked in her mind and her grey eyes lit up. Yes, this was curious. Leaning her head to the side a fraction, Tase looked at the other four women sitting at the deliacate tea table.

"Ladies, I wonder, who do you think responsible for 'Impact Zero'?"

They all looked at her in confusion, unsure of her meaning. Tase suppressed a sigh: as quick as humans were to assign blame, they could be dreadfully obtuse at times. She adopted a polite smile as she clarified in only a half-serious tone.

"Do you believe it could have been the rumoured visitors from outer space?"

Oh, the sweet irony. If only they knew the truth. The ladies continued staring her uncomprehendingly for another moment (all but the youngest one as Tase noted) before they broke out laughing. The youngest one didn't laugh, she merely looked curiously at Tase. Hm, yes, the barely 18 year-old wife of Theodore Knight named Luceille formerly of the Carlton line was perhaps the smartest one here. Through her chuckles, Cynthia managed to ask:

"Surely, you jest, Ms. Tase?"

Tase cast a glance at Luceille to see the girl's sapphire aura flare brightly with specks of silver before it was awash in magenta. She had something she wanted to get off her chest, did she? Well, Tase would give her the opportunity to. Smiling as if nothing was amiss, Tase responded swiftly:

"No, I'm perfectly serious, Mrs. Farrell."

The three older ladies turned to stare at her again. They seemed to enjoy indulging in that particular pastime frequently. Was that another human quirk? Unexpectedly for everyone, but Tase the young blonde spoke up in a timid voice:

"Well, who is to say Ms. Tase's theory doesn't hold merit? After all none of us have anything other than baseless speculation either. I agree that an external force was responsible, everything was too meticulously arranged for it to have been simply the Earth's gravitational pull at work. Why was only Windsor destroyed? Why has not one centimetre beyond it's borders been touched? And why does the mountain of the asteroid's remains hold no harmful elements to humans? It seems far too convenient to my mind."

All the eyes shifted to her. Tase moved to conceal her shadow of a smile with her teacup. Yes, she had been right after all. The young woman with hair that looked like it had been made of the sun's rays, eyes the colour of fresh summer leaves and skin as rosy as the spring rose was indeed a curious one. However, it wasn't Luceille's apparent beauty that had caught Tase's eye, no, it was the bursts of pure silver her aura carried. This was something only her people could perceive - it was a sign that she would guide or raise one with a great destiny, a destiny beyond anything the humans could conjure. Of course, only a sparse few still believed in destiny now as the two thousandth and nineteenth year drew slowly to a close. That held no importance, Luceille Knight was someone Tase would be keeping an eye on. A harsh voice directed Tase's wandering attention back to Lady Margaret who was now fuming at the object of Tase's previous' thoughts:

"Luceille, still your tongue lest you forget the nature of your precarious position."

Luceille's thoughts flashed back to her unstable, newly obtained marital status and her cheeks flamed, forcing her to speak as she lowered her head in shame.

"Yes, Lady Margaret."

Lady Margaret nodded in approval and turned her focus towards Tase who held her gaze coolly. Lady Margaret shook her head,

"Ms. Tase, now where did you get such a preposterous notion in your head? Only young adults and children who still attend our education facilities have pliable enough minds to even accept such a notion as a possibility."

As swiftly as the topic had been broached it was closed, but Tase was no longer paying attention. Whether intentionally or not, the words of one Lady Margaret Deboreigh had sown the seeds of a brilliant plan in Tase's mind and she was watching them grow in awe. Yes, what was it that had been said... 'Pliable minds' ? Yes, she could work with that, but first a foundation needed to be laid, a strong one. Abruptly Tase stood up from the white iron-wrought table, drawing all attention to herself and away from the debate about the values of current education:

"Pardon me, ladies, but I'm afraid some business of an urgent nature just came up. Lady Margaret, I once again congratulate you on your 50th birthday. Mrs Farrell, Ms Ravenswood and Mrs Knight, I bid you all good day. May we meet again. Pardon me."

With those parting words Tase took her leave, glancing back and resolving to keep an eye on Luceille and any of those who had connections to her once more as the sapphire aura shimmered with silver. Still, Tase's mind was overwhelmed with the new idea she had been given. Tase smiled as she hailed a standard black cab from the busy road of Kensington Hight Street. Yes, she could do this. After supplying the driver with an address, Tase pulled out her smartphone and dialled a number, settling comfortably into her seat. After two rings she heard a click that signified the phone being picked up. Not waiting for an acknowledgement, Tase announced triumphantly:

"Fnoyemiri, I have a plan..."

"Iris, you fiend!"

Rang out the shout of a young boy as he raced across the rather large back yard, chasing his older sister who was cackling manically as she dashed away. The young boy was sopping wet and pieces of a blue balloon stuck to his striped T-shirt. Now that he thought about it maybe having a water balloon fight with his 17 year old older sister was not the best idea he'd ever had, but then again she had started it. Iris turned around and stuck her tongue out at Aster childishly. A nearby voice laughed and the two siblings turned to see their older sister, Heather, watching them with amusement from the front porch. Iris lifted her eyebrows over her blue eyes:

"You want in, Heath?"

Heather shook her head, trying to stifle her laughter:

"Nope, I'm good. You two can still be so childish though."

Iris and Aster exchanged a look and a nod before both launched a pair of water balloons as the girl. This was an act of war. Heather spat out a bit of water, moved her short wet brown hair out of her eyes and narrowed her grey eyes at her siblings:

"Alright, bring it on."

"Um, Heath, you don't have a weapon."

Aster pointed out bluntly to which Heather replied by flashing them a devious grin and pulling out a water rifle filled to the brim. Exchanging another, now wide-eyed look with each other, Iris and Aster started running away from their older sister. Heather dashed after the two.

"Oh no, you don't ! You started this war, cowards!"

Iris was quickly shot in the back by Heather's rifle to which she responded by launching another water balloon at the older girl's head. Aster decided to take that as his chance and ambushed both girls by jumping down from the tree and pelting both with his own water-filled missiles. Both rounded on him:

"ASTER!"

The 13 year old boy struck a victory pose before sprinting off as he yelled back:

"You snooze, you lose! Later, suckers!"

Iris cast a look at Heather and held out her free hand:

"Temporary truce?"

"Truce."

Heather grasped Iris's hand and nodded. Iris ran off left while Heather decided to corner the fiend known as Aster from the right. A redhead poked her head out of the second floor window, balancing a small child on her hip:

"Iris!"

"Yeah?"

"Mind keeping it down a bit? I'm trying to put Wendy back down for a nap. You idiots woke her up."

Iris took a look at her niece to see the small two year old looking at her with curiousity shining in her big green eyes, beneath a curly blond mop of hair:

"She looks wide awake to me, Ivy."

The mother of the child sighed tiredly:

"Yes, that's because you dolts woke her up."

"Well, does she want to sleep?"

Unexpectedly, Wendy decided to speak for herself:

"No!"

"See? Problem solved!"

Ivy pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand and shook her head before casting an exasperated look at Iris:

"Aren't you a bit old for this?"

Iris cast a scandalised look at Ivy:

"Ivy, I expected better of you! I thought that you of all people would understand that the art of the water war is something that one can never outgrow, it is a sacred tradition of the Fawners family passed down for generations and as such it is played on the last day of summer so--"

Wendy cut her off with a laugh before grabbing her mother's shirt excitedly:

"Play,Mummy! Play!"

Ivy looked between her daughter and her sister who was 5 years her junior.

"You are determined to drag me into this, aren't you?"

Iris shrugged. "Well, Aster and Heather are already playing and Ren went off to find his own pistols while Dad's taking a time out and getting scolded by Mum for nearly killing her petunias so...Yeah, I am. The whole family is going to be playing soon."

Ivy sighed. "Family tradition, huh? Where's Daisy and Michael?"

Iris grimaced at the mention of her third older sister and her husband. "Hiding in the house like a bunch of chickens, but we'll get them out. Before you ask Ren's kids and wife are gonna be here soon too so you and Wendy should really join in. It is the Fawners Family Fun time."

Wendy clapped her hands excitedly. "Fun! Fun! Mummy, fun!"

Ivy raised her free hand in a gesture of surrender. "Ugh, fine. We'll join in. This munchkin doesn't look like she's going to back to sleep anyway. I swear this family has the craziest traditions. Why on the last day of summer?"

Iris chuckled and ran off without answering and Ivy went back inside the house. Her gaze landed on Aster's handmade calendar and she chuckled when she saw the current date circled in red marker and labelled 'LAST DAY OF FREEDOM'. Oh, that was right - school started up for Iris and Aster tomorrow again. This was how they'd always celebrated their last day of freedom. This was was when they showcased something they called the 'Art of the Water War." Too bad everyone in the family ended up sopping wet every single time. Oh, well, it was a fun activity anyway.

A/N: Not my best piece of work, but hopefully it's acceptable. 

The last time he saw her was when she placed her hands on his shoulders and smiled. She had been as radiant as ever and the fear in her eyes was nowhere to be seen, replaced with grim determination. She knew she was marching into the flames and that didn't scare her a bit. She had always been brave. However, the last time that he saw her....Well, she hadn't truly been like that. He could feel how her whole body trembled and he could see how that smile was forced, how she was trying to lie for both their sakes. It broke him inside. The night before, when she had assured her parents and friends that all would be alright, that she had a plan she had been faking that happiness. She feared her next actions. That's why he had told her that he would go with her, into hell and back. She had refused. He hadn't listened and neither had Dream. They would never abandon their closest friend - Fate Existence. She was more to them than she would ever know.

   And now, when he could feel the numbness taking over his body and he knew he was dying, he didn't regret that descion. He didn't regret his words when he had last seen her. And more than anything he didn't regret finding her and seeing her. He was content. The last time he had seen her she had been with him and that was enough. 

As she walked away with that same look on her face, Jayden clenched his fingers into fists and punched the wall. He had never been a able to articulate his feelings or emotions well, but this time he'd prayed he'd be able to tell her. He hadn't been able to and this was probably the last time he'd ever see her. His heart hurt and he felt like crying. She...The person who had become everything to him, who had made him live again, who had given him back love and hope...She was gone and he couldn't tell her. Damn it! Why? Why was he unable to tell her how he felt, how much he owed her, how her smile had saved him? She was his world, but he had let her go without telling her the most important thing. Fate had always hated him and loved ripping whatever he held dear away. This time he had hoped it would be different...No, that was not permitted. His final conversation with her replayed in his head and he finally fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands. 

"Alana...I wish you knew exactly what I meant..."

Jayden Callen's heart was pounding as he quickly parked his car, undid his seatbelt, stepped out of the car, locked it and quickly walked towards the town's library. He had recently gotten a message from his childhood best friend that read "Please pick me up. I'm at the library. In our usual spot." Jayden frowned as he reread the message over and over on his phone. Something had to have happened for Alana to ask him to pick her up. He'd instantly dropped everything he'd been doing (which had been struggling to get through a blind date his mother had set him up for) and rushed over. He knew that Alana had had a date with her douchebag of a boyfriend, Kyle, today so if she was asking him to pick her up something must have gone wrong.

  Jayden quickly entered the library and wordlessly walked up the stairs which led to the young adult's section of books. When he reached the second floor and turner right after the stack of Harry Potter books he found his best friend sitting on the window seat and crying her eyes out silently. His heart dropped. He hated seeing her cry. Ever since they'd been little she had always been the one with a smile on her face that was as bright as the sun, she'd always been the one to cheer him up, but the few times he had seen her cry...Well, it would suffice to say he was shocked and wanted to punch the person who made her cry at least a dozen times. She hadn't cried in a long time now or at least it been a long time since she'd let him see her cry. Quietly, he approached her.

"Alana..."

Her name fell from his lips quietly, but it was enough for her to hear it. He sank down into the window seat beside her and gently wrapped his arms around her trembling form. She was 22 now and yet right now she seemed so small to him. She buried her face in his chest and continued sobbing quietly. Taking a deep breath, he quietly probed.

"Was it Kyle again?"

Alana nodded against his chest and he hugged her tighter. She'd been dating that jerk for a year now and periodically she'd end up depressed because of him. Jayden had suggested that she break with him, he couldn't stand to see her get hurt any longer, but she'd just smiled and said these things happened and Kyle was an amazing guy - he was just stressed. Yeah, Jayden didn't believe that excuse for a second. Maybe his attitude towards Kyle was so negative because he was the one his best friend, the woman he loved had picked. He been in love with her for years now, but he'd never mustered up the courage to tell her. Eventually, he resolved to just watching over her - as long as she was happily smiling every single day that was enough for him. This- Kyle hurting her- was not okay. Not okay at all. Barely audibly, choking on her sobs as small spasm wracked her entire body, Alana whispered.

"He accused....me of cheating on him. He said I needed...to get my priorities....straight. That he was...my boyfriend...and that he should be enough...He said that I was cheating on him...with you..."

Alana sobbed, her hands clutching his shirt as she cried. Jayden felt that urge to punch Kyle's teeth in rise up again. He! How dare that jerk say something like that to Alana?! The most loyal and kindest person he knew! She had forgiven Kyle for every one of his supposed outings with his "cousins" and he had the nerve to accuse her of cheating?! The gall of that man! He was her best friend since childhood - wasn't it natural that they'd hang out?! Was he planning to deprive her of her friends!? Alana deserved better than him!! Jayden sighed as he stroked her head gently.

"Haaah. Alana that guy is a jerk and doesn't know what he's talking about. Come on, let's take you home."

Alana nodded weakly and Jayden carefully pried her away from him. As she stood up she swayed a bit on her legs. Jayden shook his head and crouched down in front of her.

"Get on. I'll give you a piggyback rides just like I did when we were little. I know you always liked those."

Alana gave a watery chuckled and climbed on. Jayden easily hooked his arms under her knees and stood up. She was much lighter than he remembered her being, but she was definitely bigger. Alana leaned her head against his shoulder. Thankfully, she's stopped crying. Jayden ignored the odd looks they got as he carried her to car. Quietly, she whispered.

"Thanks. You're the best. I'm such a crybaby. Kyle--"

"Was wrong completely. Alana, you're the most loyal, loving and faithful person I know. If anyone was cheating it was that bastard."

"Those were just his cousins..."

"Yeah, because we kiss our cousins all the time. And that guy has at least 12 cousins! And I know for a fact that both his parents were only children."

Alana sighed and closed her eyes. A few minutes passed before she mumbled.

"I'm an idiot. He took me for the gullible fool I am."

"You are too trusting, but you're not a fool. Here."

Jayden let her down and she got in the passenger side of the car. After Jayden slipped into the dodgers seat and as they drove away, Alana leaned her head against the window. The car ride was silent for a few minutes before Alana spoke quietly.

"I guess hoping the Kyle really did like me was too much, huh? I really am no good to anyone after all. I ruined my parents life, my best friend's and here I am ruining yours too. I'm a walking disaster. My grandparents were right all along."

Jayden frowned and clenched the wheel tighter in his hands, keeping his eyes glued to the road. If there was anyone he hated more than Kyle it was Alana's grandparents. Just because she had been born out of wedlock that didn't mean she was worse than anyone else. Her parents loved her, but she always said that she had ruined their lives. Jayden shook his head, objecting to her words.

"No. You're not ruining anyone's life. Yes, you messed up with Kira, but you were just 12 and now look at Kira - she's happily married and has her dream job. Your parents love you and are happy and proud of you. Kyle's an absolute asshole so he doesn't matter. And me? Alana, you could never ruin my life for me. Never ever."

"Even when I'm selfish and ask you for things?"

Jayden lips quirked up a bit. He shrugged.

"Name one outrageous thing you've asked me to do."

"Um, go shopping with me?"

"Not a problem."

"I dragged you away from your date today to pick me up."

"Eh, it was way too boring and awkward anyway."

"I wake you up in the middle of the night by calling you when I have nightmares."

"I asked you to do that. I don't mind."

"I keep having you pick me up when I'm drunk."

"That's a rare occurrence."

"I asked you to help me move in and didn't give you anything for it."

"Yeah and you don't have to - we're friends."

"I come over at the weirdest of times and you let me stay over."

"I like having you around."

"I take your stuff when I'm cold because I underestimated the weather."

"I don't care. I want you to be warm."

Alana sighed and leaned against the window when she realised she wouldn't win this argument. Jayden was way too nice to her. He always had been and she had always taken that for granted. She looked at him silently before quietly musing.

"Kyle never does any of that."

"Because he's an asshole. Alana, you're an amazing person. You deserve better."

"What about you? I can't keep you from finding happiness because I'm always around."

Jayden smiled, but to Alana that smile seemed somehow sad. There was pause before he took a deep breath and murmured.

"Alana, your happiness is my happiness. As long as you're smiling and laughing every single day - I'm happy. All I ever wanted is for you to be happy. I'd give anything to make you smile."

"Why?"

"Because I want to,"

Jayden simply smiled and made a left turn, silently. Yes, as long as she was happy, as long as she was living life to the fullest every single day....That was all he needed. She deserved better than Kyle and she deserved better than someone like him. As far as he was concerned Alana deserved the best person in the world. To him, Alana was worth any sacrifice no matter how big or small. Gripping the steering wheel, her repeated.

"You deserve better."

Law turned to the young girl and held out an envelope silently. She blinked up at him, confused. Glancing at her brother, she saw him with a look of grief in his face. The only times when Destiny showed her that face was when this was connected to Horizon, the most monumental event in the history of Melidia and Terra - the catastrophe that happened twelve years ago. She was not reassured. Fate bit her lip, but took a step forward, her black cloak swishing quietly behind her. Law sighed.

"I did not take you for the uncertain type, Miss Existence."

"I am not, Sir Law. However, what is that?"

Destiny was the one who answered his twelve year old sisters question.

"That is a letter from the past you to you. We found it next you after Horizon. With it were instructions to give this to you should you ever start having nightmares about that catastrophe."

Law mutely passed the envelope to Fate and the child took it in hand, turning it over. Sure enough on the yellowed parchment she saw her name written in neat blue cursive script. There was no mistaking her own handwriting. Quietly, Fate whispered, her grey eyes widening.

"I wrote this...to myself?"

Destiny nodded, taking of his rimless glasses for a moment, his ocean blue eyes shining.

"Yes. It appears so."

Fate's grey eyes darted to him before switching to Law and a look of mistrust shadowed her young face. Destiny and Law lowered their heads. They had more than earned that look from her. She may have the appearance of a twelve year old child and she may have led the life of a child for the past twelve years, but the incident with the Wreckers two weeks ago had more than proved that she was still the same Fate that had laid down her future and essentially her life to protect humanity at Horizon. For the past twelve years they had tried to protect her from the truth, but now it appeared that that had done more harm than good. As those grey eyes bored into them both men for an instant felt as though the grown up Fate was standing there and glaring at them - she had never forgiven them when they lied to her. She may not have the same form, but the spirit remained. 

Fate sighed and sat down on the bed, her small fingers carefully prying up the flap. The silence in the room was only disturbed by the crackling of the fire. Slowly Fate extracted the yellowed paper and unfolded it. She was once again met with the words written by her hand that she had no recollection of. The letter read as such:

"To my future self,

As I sit here I know the battle approaches and I cannot help but feel uncertain. I know we are ready and I've went over the plan at least a thousand times, but this doubt gnaws at me. I know Dream and Nightmare share it too. We all feel like this is our last stand. Nevertheless, I shall not hesitate and I know neither shall they. We will protect the people we care about and we will make sure that the future exists and it is prosperous. I... I do not know what the future is like and maybe I am writing this to no one as I may cease to exist, but if I do survive somehow I doubt it shall be in this form. So, my future self I pray for one thing: "Please do not remember this.". Do not remember what led up to me giving my life, do not remember what happened before that and do not let Nightmare and Dream remember that too. Please, I beg you, do not remember this. I do not want my future self  to be the same as I am now. Please."

Fate's fingers began to tremble as memories of Horizon assaulted her mind. Tears forming on her eyes, she whispered.

"I am sorry, but I do remember. I cannot not remember that. I wish I didn't though."

Destiny picked up the letter that had fluttered to the floor and frowned when he saw the words repeated over and over again: "Please do not remember this". As he watched Fate cry, he couldn't help thinking : Please do not remember this, indeed.