Lenoria and the rest listened carefully as Caesar told the tale of his grand adventure in the Realm of Dreams. Apparently, this adventure involved visiting multiple dreams - not all of them his - and how he dreamed he was back home. He kept his past vague and simply told the group that he lived in a small town that faced its own issues with violence. They wouldn't understand, he thought, if he revealed he was from some far away planet and he was reborn in this world after he died from hypothermia.

  Once Caesar finished recapping his tale, he went on to explain what Luno had told him. She planned to raise an army with his help, and all she needed was his consent, and with it she could also win over the pirates' consent since they loved their leader so much. Cecilia backed him up on this claim, as she personally witnessed Luno showcase her power by pulling a character from her dream and made him real by molding him with water from a small pool of water.

  Caesar also had a theory that keeping a Soulstone active before going to sleep would allow the wielder and spirit to reunite in the dream if a similar fate would befall them.

  "I guess that's why I couldn't reach ya," Beckett said. "It makes sense. But how did you come up with this theory, lad?"

  "Well..."

  The conversation had to be put on pause after Wulf growled. "You're one of the Blue Jays who had the kids the other night..."

  Wulf's statement put the rest of the pirates on high alert. Caesar instinctively stood in front of the children, blocking them from Quincy's line of sight. The big man could only gulp in anticipation.

  "Hey, Lenoria," Caesar asked, "why is he hanging out with you? Is he threatening you?"

  Lenoria made sure to stay in front of Quincy. "No, you guys got it all wrong; Quincy was part of the Blue Jays, but he's promised not to hurt anyone anymore. He feels bad for what he's done," she said as she turned to him, "right, big guy?"

  "Y-yeah," Quincy confirmed. "Lenoria said the boss is bad."

  "Uh...huh." Caesar relaxed his shoulders. "Well, it's not like we saw him do anything bad. He was just standing as a lookout the first time we met him. What say you, Al?"

  I don't fear demons, but I know how dangerous they can be if left unchecked. That's why I shall grant you permission to exterminate any Blue Jay that you find. No, consider it an order.

  Alistair sighed. He had not forgotten Demetrio's order. "I promised Lenoria no harm would come to him unless he hurts any of us. But there is something I need to say: Lord Demetrio has commanded me to kill any Blue Jays that I meet."

  Lenoria scratched her head. "R-right, you mentioned that..."

  "I trust Lenoria's judgment and will believe Quincy will make good on his promise not to hurt anyone. Besides," Alistair adds, "I think we have more pressing concerns."

  The girl in question wanted to leap with joy and pounce on her beloved, but she had enough sense to know this wasn't the time for that. "Thanks, Al..."

  "Your friend explained everything on the way," Solveig said. "I heard about these forest guardians. Their duty is, as you can guess, protect the forest they live in. I know Goodsprings has Hildi, the giant boar, and Rosewood itself is said to be protected by a dire ape. I'm not familiar with the others, much less the moth that's behind this plot. I just know that, to these creatures, the well-being of their forest is their top priority. Everything else is secondary."

  "Everything else..." Caesar repeated almost absent-mindedly. "Luno is someone trying to protect her forest. She's going about it the wrong way, but," he added through gnashing teeth, "...I understand how she feels."

  "Hold on a sec, Cap," Cecilia interjected. "You don't seriously think we should still help her, do you?"

  "After everything she's done to you. To us..." Wulf's retort lied atop a calm fury.

  "We know she had you trapped in a dream," Vanessa said. "She had us all trapped."

  Charlie nodded. "And while we enjoyed our dreams, it wasn't fair to lollygag while you were in trouble."

  "How...did you know I was in trouble," asked the captain.

  "A cat. She used a magic stone just like yours, Captain," Temuulen confirmed. "She said you were in trouble, and was letting each of us know before she returned to you. She said we were also trapped in a dream, and the best way to wake up from it was to endanger ourselves."

  "She...must have done that when she ran away the first time..." Caesar could barely keep his composure. "Precious...so you also were chosen by a Soulstone, after all..." He straightened up with his head held high. If he 'died' in a dream and woke up right after, then Precious must have woken up after she was 'killed.'

  Forget about me! I promise we'll see each other again. I don't know how, but if we both carry our Soulstones, then we're bound to run into each other eventually.

  Feeling hope that, maybe, Precious was alive somewhere in the world, it was harder for Caesar to stay angry. "I understand. I even told Luno I would never forgive her for what she's done. But-"

  "But you still want to help her," Cecilia asked.

  Anger still boiled within Caesar. He debated if it was genuine or if he simply forced himself to stay angry out of principle, but a lot still remained. All the suffering he faced while asleep, his crew left in a vulnerable state, leaving the children unprotected...that was all Luno. He could not trust anything she said after she took advantage of his offer to help her. If anything happened to her, she would have no one to blame but herself.

  Yet, while there were some stark differences between the two groups, Caesar could not help but draw a parallel between the demons and the gangs that plagued his old neighborhood. Both were unwelcome presences that festered like a terrible wound wherever they went, hurting innocents if that got them what they wanted. All Luno wanted to do was to protect her forest and her babies, and with the demons around and no one to help her, she turned to drastic measures.

  "Let's just say she and I have more in common than you know." Caesar settled for that excuse in the end. He hoped his crew would understand, but realistically speaking, he expected a mutiny or at least an argument that would make him abandon his current objective. "But that doesn't mean any of you have to suffer. I'm going to face her alone."

  "Like hell you are." Closing the gap between them, Lenoria poked Caesar on the chest. "You know the sort of problems we faced trying to find you? I almost died!"

  "Uh..."

  "I don't want to hear it; you're not going in alone, and I'm not in the mood to argue."

  "Lenoria's right," said Alistair, "letting you go alone would make everything we worked for blow up in smoke. As a paladin of the Hammer, I should be the first to march into peril, not let my comrades do it."

  "That makes two." Caesar had already embraced the idea he wouldn't be going in alone. "Anyone else?"

  A big meaty hand picked up Aquamarine by the collar of her sailor suit, carried her over to Alistair, and dropped her on the ground. Proud of herself, Solveig said, "Take this one, too. I'll stay here and check on your pirate friends. And keep an eye on Quincy," she added the last sentence with a whisper.

  "You big meanie!" Having landed on her rear, Aquamarine took a moment to pat herself until she stopped hurting. "You could have just asked me to join them, you know."

  "I know, but this was funner."

  "Alright, people, let's settle down." All eyes were on Caesar. As he was the one leading the charge, everyone else just tried to follow his lead. "Cecilia, are we ready to raise anchor?"

  The halfling grabbed her Soulstone from her pocket, surprised that its vibrant glow had returned. "Yes, Cap. The Argo Navis is ready to depart at any time."

  "Good. Then grab the wagon and take it outside. Load everything and everyone up; we're giving Luno one last chance."

  Everyone present was confused.

  "May I ask why," asked Alistair.

  "I don't think Luno will let us escape that easy. She has command over the forest and she's the one who sealed it up in the first place," Caesar explained. "I plan to talk to her into waiting for reinforcements, and if we succeed, then we'll have an easier time leaving here. I'm sure someone in Thule is willing to help."

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  "What about Rosewood," Aquamarine asked.

  Solveig shook her head. "Doubt it. Each forest in Rosewood has its own guardian protecting it. You could probably convince a few druids to help out, but they typically have places to be and biomes to take care of."

  "We could handle it ourselves, but with the Order of the Blue Jay involved, things could get complicated. And there's no telling just what the demons' numbers are." After some thought, Alistair had an idea. "I could send a missive to the Church of the Hammer here in Thule. I can't promise much, but it is our sworn duty to combat all that is evil, including demons. If we can assess the danger level and deliver an honest report, they might send a force great enough to wipe out the demons and, perhaps, save the forest."

  "Not a bad idea, Alistair," Solveig said.

  "I like that idea." Aquamarine agreed.

  "Great, let's do that." Lenoria smacked both fists impatiently. "We ready to go?"

  "Yeah." Caesar faced his crew one more time. "Don't you worry about me. I won't let her get me again. I promise to come back soon, so get the Argo Navis fired up and get ready to set sail."

  "Yes, Captain," the pirates shouted back. Everyone got to work, with Solveig, Quincy, Chestnut, the pirates and the children loading up the wagon and getting ready to leave while Lenoria, Alistair, Caesar, and Aquamarine marched forward to the next destination: Luno's lair.

  "A cat with a magic stone..." Lenoria turned to Pearl. "You mind explaining that?"

  "I'm not familiar with any Soulstone that allows the wielder to visit people in their dreams. If a Soulstone wielder did enter the Realm of Dreams, then they must have had some outside help. And you say it was a cat; is it really that surprising, Lenoria? Let's not forget your murderer was also an animal wielding a Soulstone."

  How could she forget? A brush with death like that wasn't something people forget over time. But she had forgotten that the Soulstones awakened the minds of any animal that would make a potential partner; awakening, in this context, meaning that the animal gained a higher level of intelligence. The animal would no longer operate on instinct alone but also make conscious decisions before taking a course of action.

  Lenoria was glad that at least one animal decided to do the right thing with its new intelligence. Looking back one last time, she waved to Quincy. "Do what they say, okay? And let me know if they were mean to you when we come back!"

  ***

  "No. No, no, no!"

  Sand seeped through Luno's hands. She wept as her legs sank to the ground until she was kneeling, desperately clawing through a pile of sand for something that wasn't there. Unable to find what she was looking for, she flew to the next mound. And the next one, then the next one after that.

  Lenoria hurried to the chamber, followed by Alistair and then Caesar and Aquamarine, side to side, with all four forming a upside down T formation. The moth woman ahead of them did not even notice their entrance, giving Alistair time to grab his mace and shield.

  "Is that her," Lenoria asked. "She's pretty."

  "I know, right?" Caesar smiled drily. "You should see the human form she used to fool me."

  "Will you two stop admiring the monster for a second?" Alistair kept his eyes on the moth woman. "She hasn't noticed us. What's your plan, Caesar?"

  "Let me take point," the captain whispered. "I'm the one she wants. I won't let her convince me to go along with her schemes, but...I just can't leave her like this."

  The moth haplessly dug through each mound of sand. As Caesar drew closer, he could see that she tried to mold the sand just like kids would make shapes out of snow. In this case, however, sand did not stick together when it was dry, and it all escaped through her fingers.

  "Luno..."

  "Go away." Tear drops landed on the cold, hard cave floor. "You got what you wanted. Just leave me alone..."

  "I never meant to hurt you," Caesar explained. "You saved us from the demons and we even offered to help you. But you can't be mad that we tried to escape from you when you acted up; it isn't fair."

  Luno glared at the man that had approached her, the very same man who had ruined her plans, but the need to fight him had subsided for the moment. She sat on the hard cave ground and raised her knees to her head. "I...I know. Just...leave me. Leave this forest and let it burn."

  "We plan to leave, make no mistake about this." Caesar closed his fists. "You kept me and my crew trapped in our dreams and in this damp cave. You crossed a line I don't think you can ever come back from. But I can also understand why you did it."

  Feeling safe enough to do so, Caesar sat next to Luno. The rest of the band grew alert, but one reassuring look from Caesar was enough to calm them down.

  "I understand how it is to live in fear of something that could kill you in a second. You peeked at my memories, didn't you? So you know I'm not lying."

  Luno nodded. The fur around her body and a pair of arms suddenly disappeared as her features slowly became more human-like. Her arms and legs took on the appearance of fleshy skin while her exoskeleton took the form of a black overall dress with a simple white blouse underneath. Her compound eyes disappeared, replaced by humanoid eyes, and the rest of her face and head gaining ears, a cute button nose, and soft lips. She smiled awkwardly at Caesar, her wings fluttering for a moment.

  This was the Selena Caesar met in his dreams, though her appearance was a lot older than before, perhaps an indication to Luno's true age.

  "Caesar was right," Lenoria commented, "she's even cuter than before."

  "I owe you an apology, Caesar." Luno stared at the sand, her soft, demure voice audible by hearing for the first time. "I fooled you into thinking you had a friend when you were young. I know I manipulated things to my liking, but my friendship wasn't a lie. The truth is, I don't have very many friends, either. We moth people keep to ourselves and live solitary lives. It was nice to meet someone who shared my love for other moths. I was actually hoping to talk to you longer as I siphoned an army out of your dreams."

  "We could have helped you, you know. We...still can." Caesar looked above him. A thin stream of sand flowed from above, making the mound bigger by the minute. "That's a lot of sand."

  "Yeah, that comes from the cocoons." Luno sighed sadly. "Whenever one is destroyed, it slowly turns into sand. I don't understand the process behind it, but the silk makes good bondage for the astral and ethereal, at least until it's destroyed."

  "!" Pearl left Lenoria's side to investigate the rest of the room. Seeing that the sand flowed from the ceiling, she flew to the source and reached out to it with her hand. Traces of silk remained on the ceiling, and after taking good look, she discovered a damaged cocoon. The silk slowly transformed into sand in her eyes, just as Luno said. She grabbed a handful of it and inspected it closely before flying back to Lenoria.

  "Lenoria. Cepheus," Pearl called out to the girl and the kingly spirit. Not long after, the spirit of the King Stone appeared before her, bowing politely before greeting her. "Take a look at this. Can you confirm what this is?"

  "It's sand, like the moth said," Lenoria concluded hastily.

  "It's more than that," the kingly man said. "It's Dream Sand. I don't believe it..."

  Lenoria tilted her head. "Dream Sand?"

  Pearl nodded. "It's sand found exclusively in the Planetarium, the realm where the Smith resides. Sand from the Planetarium is an invaluable resource because it can be made into anything. Only the locals know how to fully tap into its secrets, and sadly I wasn't born there."

  "Hold on," said a concerned Lenoria, "if it's from your master's home, then what's it doing over here?"

  "I've been wondering that, myself," Pearl answered. "Ever since we arrived, I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity. It's hard to explain, but...I feel like we're at home."

  "Truth be told," Cepheus interjected, "I share a similar feeling."

  "Same here," said Owen all of a sudden.

  "I, as well, Lady Lenoria," said Mr. Horsey.

  "You, too?" Beckett was the last to answer, having observed the events unfold without so much as a word to Caesar.

  Lenoria raised her hands with frustration. "Awesome. When were you all going to tell me?"

  "Don't be surprised, lass; the Planetarium is where the Smith created the Soulstones. I feel like there's a gap between our previous lives and the time we arrived at the Planetarium, but all of us were happy while he crafted away."

  A place that made the spirits feel at home. Sand that could be made into anything. It felt like Lenoria was getting to the bottom of this mystery. Were the moths magical by nature, then? It would explain why Luno insists on protect her 'babies' aside from personal attachment. But if not, how did they produce the silk?

  One way to find out. "Luno, right? What do the moths eat? Your babies, I mean."

  Despite being puzzled by Lenoria's question, there seemed no reason for the guardian to deny the scientist her answer. "I feed them the phosphorescent fungus that grows in the cave. Why do you ask?"

  Eureka! The young scientist bowed with gratitude and exited the chamber. Not far from it, she spotted a cluster of fungi with a bright blue color. She pointed at it for Cepheus to look at, who only needed a glance to confirm Lenoria's new theory.

  "The fungus was cultivated here, but it is not from this world." Cepheus's words of confirmation were music to Lenoria's ears. They were finally getting somewhere.

  "From the Planetarium, right? Does this mean Luno is from there as well?"

  "Doubtful." Pearl was quick to correct Lenoria. "If she hails from there, then she would have raised her army a long time ago and would not have needed to cast anyone into deep slumber." She scowled. "No, this cave was carved with a purpose. Someone else lived here before Luno occupied it; someone from the Planetarium."

  "Do you think she killed them?"

  "Based on Cecilia's account, it's unlikely. She was more interested in keeping her ruse than silencing anyone who discovered her true nature. And none of the pirates and children received any injuries during their stay." Pearl stared at fungi clusters pensively. "I'm more ready to believe someone from the Planetarium was careless enough to leave our secrets here."

  "She didn't hurt them, then..." Psychological trauma notwithstanding, none of the children or pirates had physical wounds on them. Out of all of them, only Cecilia was hurt, but only because she was unlucky enough to stumble into El Buitre's group. There was no excusing what Luno did, but had she wanted to hurt anyone in the cave, she would have done so already.

  "The moths eat the fungus, and use that energy to make silk..." She was so close, she could feel it. "The silk turns into sand when damaged. And it can be used to mold anything. Come on, Lenoria; think, think."

  Sand was sand. By itself, it was just millions and millions of grains with no function. But it could be used for a lot of things, such as construction and creating glass. It could also be used for fun; she fondly recalled the days she lived at the Plateau and would sometimes visit the beach. The first time she saw sand was when she went with her older sister, Ami, when Lenoria was only about five years of age at the time. They would spend their time swimming, looking for harmless wildlife, and making sand castles-

  "Wait a minute..." Sand alone could not be molded on its own. But... "Pearl, what happens when you apply water to Dream Sand?"

  Pearl gave it some thought. "If I had to guess, it would do the same regular sand does. Why?"

  Lenoria had an idea. It was a crazy one, but if it worked, perhaps there would be some benefit to Luno's crazy scheme, after all. But she didn't plan to place any of her friends in danger. For now, the least she could do was discuss the plan with her team and go from there.

  Pearl watched as her partner ran off like a madwoman. "Water and sand," Pearl said to herself. "Did she figure out the secret to Dream Sand?"