Pasquinelli/Rise 465

They were in a forest -- sort of. One thing was for sure: it was definitely not the Humboldt National Forest that Jon remembered an hour ago; elm oak, maple, sycamore and a multitude of other trees were all scattered around. They were also not as dense as Humboldt, and the forest had a very distinct manicured look about it. The grass was neon green and mossy, short to the ground but vibrant. A gentle breeze gave the forest a friendly whispering quality that seemed to greet Jon and Ray, while pretty golden beams highlighted Ray’s hair, and Jon supposed his was too.

“When is this?” asked Ray.

“Must be in the future? I mean, all this stuff is so...perfect. Even the sky looks bluer,” Jon deduced. Indeed, the sky itself (which they could see clearly through the trees) was a deep indigo. “But look at that,” he said, pointing beyond the trees. “They get thinner.”

Indeed the trees were thinning out to east, not west like Humboldt, and the forest also thinned out much sooner than in Eureka. Jon and Ray were trekking through the thicket for almost an hour before they found the Gate. From here, it looked like they could reach open ground in just a few hundred feet. Jon doubted more and more that they were in a different time.

“I think we’re actually in a different place, not time. First of all, this is backwards, since the trees are supposed to be thin out that way,” said Jon, indicating what he thought was west. “Secondly, these trees wouldn’t be able to survive in Eureka’s climate, even with all sorts of new technology.”

“And the ground is different,” Ray said, jumping up and down a little. “It’s more springy here, and the slope is on the wrong side.”

“The manor...” Jon said, “should be west, not east, at least if my compass is right.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” said Ray. She took a deep breath and continued to stare at her surroundings. “Wherever we are, at least it’s pretty.”

“Yeah, it’s really...serene and very... pure,” said Jon, liking this new place more and more. “Where should we go?”

“It looks like the woods just get thicker that way,” Jon said, indicating what should be west, “so let’s go that way,” indicating the opposite.

Ray agreed and they began to make their way east. Jon was loving this new place. It seemed like a picture out of a storybook. Birds were chirping happily and they even saw a fawn gracefully prancing through the forest. Every time Jon looked up, a perfect Royal blue sky could be seen. The sunlight shining through the leaves on the trees continued to speckle the ground with golden dots and misshapen splatters. And the smell was like someone had created a cologne called “Mother Nature” and poured it all over the place -- an aroma of grass mixed with bark and leaves filled the area.

Finally Jon kept looking around so much he hadn’t noticed how far they’d walked or that they were out of the forest at the edge of a cliff overlooking an indigo, blue-green, aqua, and baby blue colored ocean that spread out further than he could even see. The forest cleared only fifty feet behind them, and it too was vast. It spread as far north and south as Jon could see without ending. The tree line was also a bit odd where Jon and Ray stood; right out of the spot that Jon and Ray emerged from, the trees jetted in like a perfect ‘V’ in that area, and then after that, the forest edge was just as sporadic as normal. It wasn’t something anyone might particularly take note of, but Jon did -- just in case they became lost.

The two of them continued walking until they reached the precipice that sloped into the ocean. And there they stood and marveled at it. The colors were so bold, striking and yet so delicate that Jon thought he was standing in a painting. There was no place in the United States that Jon had ever visited quite compared to where he stood now. Indeed, when he visited New York City, Central Park was such an oasis in the midst of such a huge metropolis, that that in it was a marvel. Humboldt National forest had it’s own mysterious charm and grandeur...still, there was nothing quite this breathtaking.

Ray broke Jon’s inner, silent homage.

“I gotta go pee.”

Jon let out a laugh in one breath. He didn’t think Ray needing to go to the bathroom was funny, he just thought in the text of where they were that it was a funny thing to hear on a cliff overlooking a vast ocean.

Ray trotted off back into the forest.

“Watch out for leaves of three!” Jon said.

“I have Kleenex!” she yelled back.

When she was out of sight, Jon turned back and looked up the coastline. The forest continued up the coast, but the ground sloped downward, and leveled off slightly to about fifty feet from the sea level about two miles to the north. Another surprise hit Jon while examining the coast. There was a huge city where the ground leveled off. It sprawled out for miles, and near the coast, there was a cluster of larger buildings, with one particularly large and tall one at the very tip of the cliff. He blinked, and suddenly could see it quite clearly. It was still far away, but it was certainly a large city, with an enormously tall structure at the edge, just a hundred yards or so away from the edge of a cliff.

“So what should we do now?” asked Ray’s rapidly approaching voice.

“Maybe we should go to that city,” said Jon, not taking his eyes off it.

“What? That? What if it’s a ruin?”

“I don’t think ruins are this well-kept.”

“How can you -- ew, stop that.”

“What?”

“Your eyes...they’re all red.”

“Huh?” asked Jon, blinking and turning to Ray; she looked perfectly normal.

“Well, they’re fine now. But they were all red a second ago.”

“What?” Jon said and looked back to the north. The city was more distant again. “I guess it was that Amulet again,” said Jon feeling slightly uneasy.

“I guess that looks like a live city,” said Ray, squinting and using her hand to shield her eyes from the sun.

They headed down the slowly sloping cliffs. The city became more distinct, and far more imposing on the landscape the closer they got. However grandiose, the city wasn’t necessarily intimidating either. The houses and buildings were all lightly and brightly colored, varying in heights and sizes. The general condition of the city from what they could tell was a feat to admire. Everything was very clean and pristine. But by far the most impressive feature of the cityscape was at the edge of the city, overlooking the ocean. It was a great castle with spires stretching into the sky. Rising above the whole city, standing more than thirty stories high. It wasn’t so much sprawling as it was tall. Pointed towers peeked into the sky at differing levels. The next tallest building must have been the capitol. It was Romanesque, complete with colonnades and a rotunda. It stood perpendicular and to the left of the great castle, but from where Jon and Ray stood, it looked like a small dome.

Jon and Ray entered the city through the massively tall (but open) wooden gates. They had no idea where they were going or who they were looking for, but it just seemed natural to be heading somewhere that would answer some questions.

As they stepped over the threshold, Ray said, “Okay, I agree. It’s a city.”

Jon laughed. “Yeah I thought so. I just hope I don’t look out of place dressed like this,” he said, and started tugging on his robes.

“You’re fine. I mean, look at this place; you fit right in.”

Indeed she was right, at least according to the architecture. The main street they were on ran straight through the whole city and appeared to end right at the castle on the cliff a few miles up. Everything looked whimsical with no hard lines, or rather, very few straight lines in any of the houses. On the main street, the businesses were also very gingerbread-house-like, with large front windows and more trim and architectural detail than you could shake a fist at.

“It’s cute,” said Ray. “But old.”

“I think we need to go there,” Jon said, indicating the castle.

“All right.”

It took Jon a moment to realize that it was Tuesday, or at least, Tuesday back on Earth. This was high time for people to be out, and out they were. A few people bustled past Jon and Ray without looking at them, and to Jon’s relief, they looked utterly human, and even spoke English. Clusters of people up the street dotted the sidewalks, and Ray tugged on Jon’s robes so he would look where she looked. A floating transportation device that looked like an stand up scooter was zooming down the street. It turned a corner, then another appeared, then another, then a large enclosed flying device flew by.

“Wow,” Jon said. “Hey look at that,” there was a sign at the end of the street by the gates that read, “HIGH STREET” pointing along one direction, “SHADY LANE” running perpendicular to High Street, and finally, a smaller, dingier sign that said “TWILIGHT BRIDGE” which pointed in one direction off to the right.

“Twilight Bridge, huh?” said Ray.

“We should really get up to there,” said Jon.

“Look, you don’t really know why we’re here, right?” Ray said.

“Well, no.”

“So what if this is where we’re meant to go?”

“I don’t think --”

“But what IF?”

Jon couldn’t figure out a way to reason out of it. He had dragged Ray all the way here, wherever they were. Jon supposed it couldn’t hurt to explore a bit. “Okay fine, let’s go.”

They turned down Shady Lane, which was a street that ran along the entire city wall. After a few blocks, there was another small dingy sign that pointed up a different street, which would have led them in the direction they needed to go anyway. Then another turn, and another until it seemed that they were walking down a length of an alley that was no larger than the one at Oak Tree Manor that led to the Glass Room. It finally opened up into a very different space. They were in a kind of Town Square that had very odd features. The floors were all white marble, and there were statues of people and animals in delicate poses, but it was unkempt -- several of the statues were broken, or had vines growing on them. There were leaves everywhere, and a pool in the very center of the square was the only pristine part. A very rounded bridge led up and over the pond to the other side. Jon found this odd because the pond wasn’t very large. He figured it was probably decorative. In front of the bridge was a sign that said, “THIEVES BEWARE.”

“Neat,” said Ray. “Why are there stairs there?”

Jon looked at the bridge again, and there was a staircase at the top that lead down into the pond.

“Why would there be a staircase there?”

“One way to find out,” said Jon, and he headed for the bridge. Ray was right behind him. As soon as they both stepped on the first stair of the bridge, the sun almost went out. The sky turned a deep purple, and there was light only along the horizon.

“What?” said Ray. They continued to the top of the bridge. “I don’t get it.”

From the top, they could look around and see more. Everything was bathed in a low glow of light. “Interesting,” Jon said slowly. Sound didn’t seem to change, only the lighting.

Ray went down the other side and stepped off the bridge. She and everything else remained low lit, but she looked wildly around. “Jon? What the hell? Where’d you go?” She took a few paces off the bridge and looked under it.

“I’m right here,” he called back. She didn’t seem to hear him, and kept looking around. He stepped down on the other side of the bridge and the light returned just as if he’d walked outside from a darkened room. Ray jumped.

“Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You disappeared!”

“No I didn’t, I was right up there where you left me.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Ray, and she went back to the bridge and stepped onto it. She vanished just as she stepped onto the first step.

“Now I can’t see you,” said Jon, a little impatiently. But Ray didn’t reappear and Jon couldn’t hear anything. After a few seconds, he was starting to get annoyed and really wanted to get back en route to the castle. They’d wasted enough time here. So he stepped back onto the bridge and had to cover his ears. Ray was yelling at the top of her lungs to him from the second step.

“Trying to make me deaf? Or make yourself lose your voice?”

“Totally awesome,” said Ray, a little more hoarse than usual.

“Lets go, this place is starting to freak me out,” Jon said. “It’s not like the rest of this city.”

“Okay, okay. Though I still wanna know why those stairs are there,” said Ray as the time of day restored itself once again.

“Somehow I think we’ll find out. Maybe one day.”

Using the posted signs again, Jon and Ray found the High Street again, bustling with activity. By the look of the sun and the people out, it was nearing mid afternoon in the foreign city. Jon checked his watch. It was six o’clock. “This place has to be behind Pacific Time,” Jon said. “It looks like it’s just after noon here.”

“Maybe it is...” said Ray distractedly. She was glaring at something, and when Jon followed her gaze, it was at a group of people, with mouths agape and pointing at Jon. Several looked absolutely enraged.

Jon stopped in his tracks, “Uh, Ray, come on...” he pulled her down a residential side street off the High Street.

“What was their problem?”

“Us, apparently,” Jon said as he led Ray more quickly along the houses.

“They should have been glaring at me then,” she said. “I was the one dressed all differently.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most of them had robes like yours on. You’d think they wouldn’t be surprised. Or maybe they’re just jealous that yours are prettier.”

Jon pulled Ray to a complete stop on the sidewalk. A child who had been playing with a toy a second ago, had frozen in place and stared at the two of them. The next second, she got up and ran inside at top speed, abandoning the toy.

“Wow, you’re not that ugly,” said Ray.

“And you’re not that evil, so what gives?”

“I dunno. I think your cloak really might be a little over-the-top for these people.”

“Hm. Maybe....”

“Let’s go back to the main street. Maybe we could just ask someone.”

“Okay, but let’s go up another block so we don’t run into that group again.”

“Fine,” Ray agreed, and they cut across another street, up one block. Once back on the main street a few blocks toward the castle than they were before, many adults had the same reaction as the child did. Several of them took one look at Jon and ran inside, terrified out of their wits. Some even screamed. This happened at least a dozen times, and they weren’t even in the dense part of the city yet.

After about ten blocks, Jon and Ray got to a large town square, and the people didn’t seemed to be frightened anymore. Quite to the contrary, they were acting more like the first group they encountered -- glaring and quiet. Hate was etched across all of their faces, and a large crowd was forming.

“Okay,” said Ray in an uncharacteristic whisper, “this is definitely NOT about our clothes.”

She was certainly right in that respect. All around them, people were dressed in similar cloaks and robes, much like Jon’s but somewhat simpler, and only Ray looked slightly out of place.

Finally, someone from the crowd shouted, “It’s him!” which made Jon and Ray stop dead in their tracks. Similar shouts of agreement from the crowd were erupting like wildfire.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” said Jon, now thoroughly alarmed.

Then came another voice in the crowd. “Fool! You think you could come into Norea in broad daylight with only ONE companion and not be thwarted?”

“Destroy him,” came another voice. Ray opened her eyes wide at that remark.

The crowd then did something very strange. Many of them all braced themselves as if trying to hold steady on a rocking boat, with their hands and arms pointed at Jon and Ray. They were almost entirely surrounded. A cold wind swept across everyone in the square and a storm-like darkness filled the area.

“Oh my god, they’re going to attack us,” Jon said under his breath. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Jon saw several of the people’s palms start to emit different colors of light in various colors, densities, forms and speeds; Ray lunged and instinctively put her arms around Jon for protection. Jon, in turn, bent his head down and put his hands behind his head in a protective motion and closed his eyes.

He thought they would be dead in a moment. He felt something hitting him all around, but it didn’t hurt that much. It was like someone was jabbing at him with a foam bat. He opened his eyes. Both he and Ray were encased in a bubble of fire. There were little lights that went off like fireworks that illuminated different parts of the outside of the bubble for a split second. Jon felt a physical jab to his body whenever one of the popping fireworks went off. But the jabs were getting stronger -- he was obviously generating this shield, and he wouldn’t be able to keep it up for very much longer.

It flickered off once, and just when he thought he would lose control over it entirely, a woman’s voice, much stronger than the rest of the crowd, said, “STOP!” Immediately, the jabs ended; they were not being attacked anymore.

Jon took his arms from the back of his neck. The fire shield dropped, and the crowd was now looking at Jon and Ray, but a striking woman dressed in a long white gown was walking down into the square. She had mousy hair that was pulled back tightly in a French twist and curly locks flowed down past her shoulders, and wore a golden crown on her head and carried a long gold staff as tall as she was. The woman was also flanked by what appeared to be guards dressed in all red. She had a stern look on her face, but it didn’t take away from her oddly soft features.

“Can’t you see this is not Ignus?” she demanded, walking closer. “Your anger has blinded you to attack two innocent people.”

“But Empress, he adorns the garb of the Dark Kindler. He looks --”

The Empress stopped and turned to him. “You doubt me?” she said without expression and with calm. Jon would have thought yelling at him wouldn’t have been half as effective. She spoke with such poise that it was hard to believe she yelled a moment ago.

“No -- no, of course not, Empress. My apologies,” he said and bowed deeply.

“You think with your heart and not your head,” she said. In love, this is admirable, but now you nearly put an innocent to his death. I hope you will not make this mistake again.”

The man she was speaking to sank into the crowd silently.

“Now disperse. I have matters to attend to regarding our guest.” She said this so gently that Jon thought it was like a mother speaking to her child.

The crowd immediately began moving away. Some of them, Jon noticed, actually flew out of the town square on flying crafts (some didn’t need aircraft).

“Come with me,” said the Empress and she turned around and walked to a very large craft that hovered a few inches from the street. Jon took a seat with Ray, in the hovercraft next to a guard in the red colored clothing who kept eyeing them suspiciously. The Empress sat at the front of the craft, speaking to one of her guards.

“I don’t think she’ll try and do anything horrible to us,” Jon whispered to Ray. “Because I think she may have just saved us from a painful death.”

“Took her long enough.”

The craft took off and everywhere up the street, people bowed to the aircraft and moved out of its way. Stopping at the other end of the High Street, they were just outside another set of gates, and as Jon and Ray stepped out, Jon saw the castle up close. It was incredibly tall, with a single tower protruding up into the sky, and at its base, met by a few more, then several more closer to the ground. It gave the whole structure the effect of looking like a very steep mountain. But the gates remain closed.

The empress raised her arms parallel to each other up to the sky, and the air around the group of them rushed about as the gates creaked open, then closed behind them as soon as they were all through.

“Ah, this is better,” said Ray as the guards began dispersing in small groups, leaving the empress with Jon and Ray. They were now in a shining courtyard between the walls and the castle. There were fountains that ran bricked streams and gazebos on both sides, and several statues with lanterns along the walkway. Aside from its sheer scale, the statuary and castle itself was a crisp off-white that gave the whole area an imperial feel and majestic quality to the space and buildings.

Still not having exchanged any dialogue with the empress since the Town Square, they reached the round castle doors. This time, two guards heaved the towering doors open.

A glittering hall met them inside the castle. The floor was entirely made of the same blue marble they saw in the Glass room back in Arcata, and great marble columns that rose to the cavernous ceilings for support and allowed the hall to be large and open, but also had extremely tall windows that let in much natural light. A deep red runner split the room in two, and Jon couldn’t decide what kind of decor the castle was -- it looked like a mesh of Baroque, Rococo, and Victorian all in one.

“This is...ornate,” Jon whispered to Ray.

“Yeah, reminds me of the old bat’s room. But bigger. And better put together.”

“Follow me,” said the empress.

She took them down the red carpet to the other end of the hall, and up a massive flying staircase that split several times on different floors. After five minutes of going down various halls, up and down several more staircases, Jon was completely turned around and had no idea where he was.

Finally, at the end of one of the halls stood an ornately carved dark wood door. She led them through that (she opened the door herself this time with her hand) and into an office. This was by far the largest and most ornate office Jon had ever seen in person or in pictures. Tapestries lined the walls, her desk with a thick gold “R” on it facing them looked like it took a hundred people a year of non-stop carving to complete, and the twenty foot tall window had a terrace that overlooked the ocean. Even the empress’ chair was overblown by anyone’s standards.

She beckoned Jon and Ray to sit down in chairs as the empress herself sat in the chair behind the desk, looking at the two of them without expression.

“Welcome,” she said, “to Iannis.”

“Iannis is here? I thought it was a person,” said Jon, recalling the names scrolled across the Glass room ceiling.

“Oh no, this is the land of Iannis. We are presently in the capitol kingdom of Norea.”

Jon and Ray remained silent.

“I am Empress Jotea of the Rosebridge line, ruler of this land.”

“And I’m Jonathan Kenneth,” Jon said a bit awkwardly. He didn’t have as impressive an epithet attached to him. “Sorry about my clothes...It’s kind of a long story.”

“I’m -- ” Ray began but Jotea interrupted her.

“Racine Cavitt? Of Toran Cavitt?”

“Huh? I don’t know anyone named -- oh wait...my great grandfather’s name was Toran, I think.”

Jotea smiled (the first time Jon had ever seen her smile). He thought it made her look more stunning, though he was a little uneasy that Jotea knew Ray’s name.

“Please accept this gift on behalf of mine and your people,” she said. Jotea then closed her eyes and her whole body began to glow. Jon, remembering what happened the last time he saw someone glow, edged back in his chair and gripped the arms of his chair.

She raised her hands and shining glittering object floated from them. It made a sound like Jon had never heard before, like someone was playing a hundred crystal glasses in perfect harmony. The glittering object floated over to Ray and entered her body. She glowed for a moment too and closed her eyes and gasped. The next second, she came back to her senses and shook a little.

“What did you do to me?” she asked furiously.

“I gave you back what has been dormant inside you for many generations.”

Ray just looked dumbfounded and angry with her.

“The Cavitts are Iannisenes. You came from a long line of native people here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Cavitts are one of the original families when Iannis was founded over a thousand years ago. Their family trait was shape shifting. You, Racine, are a Shiftress.”

Ray didn’t look angry anymore, now she just looked at Jotea like she was in the room with an absolutely crazy person.

“I came from San Francisco. I’ve never been here, and neither have my parents,” she said, although Jon wasn’t sure she could vouch for her mother and father that easily.

“Yes, the Cavitts left when Toran was born, just over a hundred years ago, when they wanted to experience something new and different. It has been prophesized that you would return.”

Ray just continued to look shocked and shook her head slowly.

“And Jonathan,” she said, turning to him. “You have come to us as well.”

“I guess you could say that.”

“You have also come to our aid. You should feel honored. You will be the most powerful Fire and Temporal Mage in all the land very soon.”

Jon didn’t feel honored. He felt almost the same as Ray did: that this woman might be crazy and this whole thing felt like a very elaborate dream that wasn’t coming to an end.

“I’m a fire what?”

“A Fire Mage. You have control over the element of fire. That, and time.”

“Really?” he said, on the verge of sounding sarcastic. “And how do you know all this?”

“Did you not start a wildfire in the forest on Earth only a few hours ago? And did you not extinguish a fire merely a day ago? That was no common piece of carved terra cotta you found in that Glass room. It is the Phoenix Amulet. And it is now yours.”

The disbelief was turning into uneasiness. “How do you know about those fires and that Room?”

“Your memory told me,” she said in perfect calm. “I have neglected to mention that I am a Mental Magess.”

“More like Mental Case,” said Ray.

Jotea’s expression did not change. “Your fear makes you lash out like that. You should learn to control yourself.”

Ray just stared at her.

“As I was saying,” Jotea continued. “I am a Mental Magess. I am empathic, telepathic, and psychokinetic. My position as high ruler amplifies my powers a great deal. I was able to sense your entry into our world, and I probed your memories in the square before stopping my subjects to make certain that you were who you purported to be. I was correct.”

“You would have let them kill us if we weren’t who you thought?” Jon said.

“Yes. You may have been spies.”

“And you probed our memories without our permission?” asked Ray, still angry.

“It was a mild probe. It was necessary.”

Remembering the “welcome” they received, Jon thought to ask, “Why did those people attack us to begin with? Did they think we were spies?”

“That question is tied with the reason you are here,” she said cryptically. “You have come to help us in our campaign against a threat to our nation. Sometime in the future, someone obtains your Phoenix Amulet and invokes its powers. Only, this person has been corrupted by the immense powers of the Amulet. It has been perverted and his fire is now black and dark. The entity and man are almost indistinguishable. He calls himself Ignus. He used his temporal powers to travel back in time, to this time period to gain control over Iannis. He traveled back to this time to use the element of surprise in more than one way.

“Fortunately, I, the Emperor, and his wife sensed him early on, and we have been able toward him off from Norea these ten years. He is unable to return to his own time because his temporal powers were severely weakened in the three-decade trip back through time. His goal is to capture Norea, then Earth.”

Jon and Ray just stared at her with mouths open. After about a minute of silence, Jon finally found his voice. “This Ignus person...wants Earth?”

“Yes.”

“So why doesn’t he just go through that portal thing we went through?”

“I have created a mental barrier around the Gate. No one can find it while that block exists. If he can gain control of Norea, or destroy me, he will search for, and find it once again. There are some, including myself and you, who do know of it’s location for security reasons. They are fortunately out of Ignus’ reach.”

“And how are you so strong?” asked Ray, with less sarcasm as before.

“I am Empress, and by that nature, I can draw on energy from the Crystal of Power.”

“What’s that?” said Jon.

“It is the most powerful thing on this planet, and possibly the galaxy. It holds all Mage and Magess powers together. The Great Commencers used it to maintain the planet and it is what stabilizes everyone’s powers.”

“Everyone’s powers?” said Jon.

“Yes. One out of every hundred or so of our citizens has abilities, or Charges, as we call them. Some can control, elements, come have talent with plants, others can fly, some can change shape....” she looked at Ray when she said that. “If Ignus can get the Crystal, he we bill able to reanimate the Gate’s location in real space, and get back to Earth. That, and many other...unspeakable things. Needless to say the consequences would be astronomical if he obtained the Crystal.”

“So...what about this Phoenix Amulet?” asked Jon.

“Yes. As I said before, you are a fire and temporal mage. The origins of the Amulet and Crystal remain somewhat unknown, but it is safe to say they came into being many many years before Iannis.”

“I can control fire and...time?”

“Yes, but not fully yet. When you set fire to that tree, it disappeared when you went unconscious. Your powers are minimal right now, but with a bit if physical and mental training, you will be able to match, indeed, surpass Ignus.”

This was starting to make Jon’s head hurt. How was he going to beat some hugely powerful, evil, and power-hungry man? This was seeming less like the paradise they entered a few hours ago, and becoming more like an eerie, very real nightmare.

“What about that glass room back at the manor? It had the Amulet in it, so... does it have something to do with this?”

“Yes,” Jotea responded. “The three persons who built that room for private meetings and also specifically for the purpose of housing the Amulet until the next recipient was ready to receive it. It was modeled after designs from an ancient room where Magi met back on Earth.”

Jon’s head was hurting more now that he started to think of how intricately everything fell into place for him to find that Amulet -- him choosing Humboldt State University, choosing an out-of-the-way dorm room, he and Ray becoming friends and happening to notice that room.

“I still don’t understand why those freaks out there tried to kill us,” said Ray.

“When Jonathan and yourself came into the city, Jonathan was and still is wearing the robes of the Phoenix -- and you and Ignus... resemble one another,” Jotea said, and her eyes began to drift around the room. She was deliberately avoiding Jon’s gaze.

Maybe it was all the magic in the air, or the Phoenix entity housed inside him, or just a new sixth sense he was developing from everything that had happened, but Jon could feel something wasn’t right. Jotea wasn’t telling him something. But Ray didn’t seem to feel it. She was still in disbelief. Jotea didn’t seem to feel (or didn’t pay attention to) the way Jon was now doubting her and feeling she wasn’t being honest.

“So you are here to help us. You, as a pure Phoenix, could grow to become one of the most powerful Mages in the world.”

But Jon’s skepticism was growing every second. “Since the townspeople mistook me for Ignus because we wear the same clothes, it’s the same Amulet, right?”

“That is true.”

“Then destroy it. Here,” and Jon tried frantically to take off the robes, but it didn’t work. He tugged and pulled on his collar and sleeves, but nothing happened. Only when he pulled on his chest where the embroidered phoenix was stitched did he feel the crawling sensation on his skin. He pulled harder, and his robes retracted and melted off him in liquid fire. Finding himself back in his jeans and T-shirt, he held out the Amulet and put it on Jotea’s desktop. “Go ahead.”

Ray glanced at him sideways.

Jotea stood up, gave him an annoyed look, and closed her eyes again, with her hands toward the desk. She glowed once again and a breeze ruffled her gown and made her hair float. An intense aqua colored light beam shot out and hit the Amulet. Jon and Ray had to cover their ears from the loud buzzing sound the ray made. After a few seconds of this, Jotea stopped. The Amulet remained in perfect condition. She sat down and stared at him as if nothing had happened.

“You see?” she said, now clearly annoyed.

“Can’t you get that Crystal of yours to destroy it?” said Jon firmly.

“No. I draw on the Crystal’s power. It I cannot destroy, and neither will the Crystal.”

“Where is this Crystal?”

“In the Sanctuary. I can’t tell you where it is exactly.”

“Why not?” demanded Jon, now becoming angrier.

“Because only I and one other person know where it is exactly. And because....” she started to say, but caught herself and stopped.

“Because why?” said Ray. Now Jon could see the doubt and anger spreading to her.

“Yeah. We might be the only ones who can save your world, yet you won’t show us its power source?”

“That’s correct,” she said, looking for the first time, frustrated and even a little nervous.

There was a moment of silence. Jon started thinking about what was happening. He had to stop an immensely powerful man that could have the same abilities as himself. The people even thought they looked alike. It would make it that much more difficult. Then, in the back recesses of his mind, a horrible thought struck Jon.

“Oh no...” he said. “He’s a temporal mage...he went back in time....”

“What is it?” said Ray.

Jon ignored her and turned to Jotea, anger surging. “What does he look like?”

“It’s too soon. Once you train, you will be able to....” she started feebly, but trailed off. She knew that Jon already knew. It was no use. She sighed, looked at the two of them, and took out from her desk a jagged-edged mirror the size of a piece of paper. She then placed it on the end of the desk closest to Jon and Ray.

At first, it just showed their reflections as they leaned over it, but as Jotea waved her hand over it, Jon’s suspicion was confirmed as the figure in the mirror became clear.

Ignus is Jon.