“Where am I now? How’d I get here again?” Tommy opened his eyes and found himself enwrapped around in the empty void of darkness, standing on what appeared to be an invisible floor. He trudged with his hands held up to make sure he didn’t bump into any walls.

Eventually, Tommy came into contact with a vision bubble, which depicted Maggie, Antonio, and the others standing and pleading in desperation. It looked like they said something, but he couldn’t hear what they said.

“Guys, I’m over here!” Tommy tried to call out to them. “Can’t you hear me? Hello?” There was no response. “Oh no, nobody can hear me.” If he didn’t do something fast, the others could get hurt, and Kira might force him to watch. “There’s got to be a way to—”

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a shimmering light. When Tommy turned around, he noticed a large gem attached to a small podium in the center of the room. Wondering what it could be, he walked forward to get a closer look. However, when he reached to touch the orb with his finger, a small shock emulated to hit his hand, causing him to jump back in agony.

Tommy rubbed his hands to soothe the pain when he heard some screams from outside the bubble. He rushed over to try and break out of it as quickly as possible, but couldn’t do it. Grinding his teeth, Tommy ran back to the podium to remove the orb from it. Electricity sparked around the globe, it hurt Tommy’s body, but he attempted to resist the effect and slowly lift the gem off.

“Stop it. You are hurting me.” A voice whispered.

“You stop it!” Tommy retorted. “You’re hurting everybody, so knock it off! And get me out of here! NOW!”

The orb came off, and Tommy fell back with it in his hands. A burst of energy poured out of the podium as the floor and walls transformed into visible purple and black checkered patterns everywhere.

“Stop. Give up. Don’t go.” A mantra kept going on, attempting to taunt and get into Tommy’s head.

Tommy massaged his temples and covered his eyes, trying to keep it together.

The burst had spread and grown to chase him down, changing into a form similar to Kira’s previous human form. Tommy turned and made a run for it before reaching the edge of the visible bubble.

“Let me out!” Tommy banged on the screen in desperation. “I don’t want to be stuck in—”

Before he could finish his sentence, he glanced down to notice a small glow on the square he stood on. The square rose toward the ceiling, which grew sharp spikes. Tommy’s eyes widened as he jumped off before potentially getting crushed and spiked.

However, more tiles appear to be rising to the ceiling and falling into the abyss. Tommy came across a gap with some tiles; he leaped, trying to reach it to safety. A dark pulse shootout to grab his feet, as it slowly dragged him down to the ground.

“I. Won’t. Let you. Leave. ALIVE!” The voice roared and glared at him with those soulless purple eyes.

No, I was so close! Tommy thought. He turned to face the darkness with glowing, piercing eyes. “Get. Out. Of. My. BODY!” He shouted as loud as he could.

Another glow of light formed on Tommy’s body as the dark energy let go of him and pulled back to avoid the impact of the bright flash.

The yellow light then evaporated out of his body as it chased after the darkness, causing it to explode. A powerful gust of wind pushed Tommy to force himself out toward the force fields as his mind blanked out.

.-.-.-.

As Kira struggled to maintain the body, the rest of the group watched over in confusion.

“What’s going on?” Antonio asked, his arms and legs shaking.

“Tommy’s trying to get out.” Papeht guessed.

“So, he’s fighting back?” Maggie questioned.

“Everyone, stand back!” Aehaby yelled out to the others. “This could be it.”

“Ok, hang on, we only got one shot on this...” Stels mentioned.

“I know,” Aehaby replied. “I just hope this works.” She took out the golden scepter and held it in the air.

Just then, the dark shadow emerged out of Tommy’s body as he fell to the ground along with the crown.

Ruth and Cedric rushed over to grab the crown before it fell and hit the terrain. The two threw it toward Papeht’s hands as he gave the tiara back to its rightful owner before stepping back.

“Oh no, I gotta get out of—” Kira tried to say but got interrupted. Stels and Papeht used their magic to activate and put down a force shield to surround, block, and prevent her from escaping.

Aehaby undid her hair by taking off the rubber band and closing her eyes to concentrate.

I’m sorry, Kira, but it’s time to say goodbye once and for all. She thought while getting misty-eyed.

Antonio looked over at the scene in horror. “No wait, please don’t—” He turned to Stels and tried to plead.

“Don’t get in the way!” Stels thundered.

A light beam popped out from the staff as the dark shadow got sucked back into the object. And just like that, Kira was no more, trapped into the staff with no way for her to escape.

“At last, it’s over...” Aehaby sighed in relief as she fell to her knees.

Stels and Paphet ran to check on their Queen, while Maggie and Antonio rushed over to Tommy as he rested on the ground.

“Tommy, are you all right?” Maggie asked.

“Yeah, I’m all right,” Tommy replied as he opened his eyes and slowly stood up.

“But wait, what—?” Antonio was about to ask.

Before he could pop the question, the layers shook. The sky fortress fell apart, and that they had to leave right away. Papeht and Stels weren’t sure how to escape since not everyone could fit on the Loch Ness monster, and if everyone tried to grab hold of the teleport crystal, the power would probably go into a magic overload.