“Of course, I came.” The Pink Wizard shone her flashlight around, as did Cherri. They’d entered a classroom approximately twenty feet by thirty feet, a dozen rows of school desks arranged before them. The rows of desks faced a larger desk, presumably for a teacher, at the head of the classroom. The giant serpent’s eye floated above the teacher’s desk. A chalkboard stretched across the wall behind the eye. Petals lowered her flashlight. “I’m trusting that you know what’s happening and can help us stop it. Shall we introduce ourselves to each other, or do you already know who I am? I’d certainly like to know who you are.”

“I am the manifestation of secret honor in Darkentide,” said a voice emanating from the eye, hissing each sibilant sound. “You may call me Gondra. And yes, I know who you are, Flower Head. In Darkentide, you use the moniker Petals, but in the real world, you are called Justine. Your partner is the ashen worm hanging at the throat of the Moon Priestess. He is called Ash in this place, but his real name is Alfie. He is dying, as is your custodian, Greta. She is a minion of the one called Seth, the manifestation of blatant destruction, born in Darkentide as was I by Alfie’s mishap. Your two other friends here are Cherri, the Moon Priestess, and Elena, the Shooter in Camouflage, both being awakened NPCs.

“I do know how to help you. You and I have similar goals, to save your world and restore Darkentide to its intended state of friendly competition. If you agree to work with me and do exactly as I bid, I will tell you how to restore your friend Ash to health before his life slips entirely away. You may also wish to recover Greta, for you will likely need the help of everyone currently present if you are to save us all from Seth’s schemings. Whether you can trust his minion to help you against him is for you to decide. You may, of course, allow these two to die and respawn, but such respawning will occur in a place where they will never be able to rejoin you without you going to fetch them, wasting valuable time. How do you answer?”

Petals laughed, though she found nothing funny about the situation. “I know of no way to stop Seth. If you can instruct me in how to do so, I’m yours to command. And it would be best, as you say, if I could revive my friends without the need for them to respawn. So, what do I do?”

White text manifested before her.

I, Petals, aka Justine McAllister, swear fealty to Gondra of Darkentide and promise to undertake such quests as he may require in pursuit of the restoration of both Darkentide and the real world to normalcy, in exchange for the knowledge to revive Ash, aka Alfie Butcher, and Greta, minion of Seth. I enter into this agreement without reservation and with full understanding of its implications. Accept or Deny.

Petals stood to lose everything if she refused. She focused on the Accept option. The words Confirm or Cancel replaced the words Accept or Deny. She focused on the Confirm option. The block of text vanished.

“Good, good,” said Gondra. “Now, bow before the Moon Priestess.”

“Um, okay.” Petals turned to Cherri. “Priestess.” She inclined her head.

“Oh, Goddess,” Cherri whispered in awe.

Petals fought the urge to straighten. “What?”

“Your flowers have faces,” said Cherri, “surrounded by petals. They all look frightened.”

The Pink Wizard lifted her head to stare into Cherri’s eyes, searching for any sign of mischief. “You’ve got to be joking.”

The Moon Priestess shook her head. “I wish I was. I wish I could unsee it.”

“I saw it, too,” said Elena. “Bizarre isn’t even close to the right word for what’s on top of your head.”

Anger swelling inside, Petals spun to face the eye over the teacher’s desk. “How does this help anything?”

The eye didn’t blink. “Each flower in your garden can save one life. The flower must be plucked from your head and laid upon the one you wish to restore to full health. You must then count aloud from ten to one and then speak the name of the person you are saving. For Ash and Greta, you should hurry. In one minute, they’ll both expire.”

“Well, hell.” Petals bowed to Cherri again. “Pluck two of them, Priestess, and be quick.”

Cherri reached a hand towards the Pink Wizard’s scalp, but didn’t pluck a flower. “They’re all so scared. Some of them are crying. None of them want to be taken.”

“Do it or let Elena do it.” Petals was glad she couldn’t see what lived on her head. “Hurry, or Ash and Greta will die.”

“I’m so sorry, little guy.” Cherri pulled a stem loose from the Pink Wizard’s head.

Pain shot through Petals, and she gasped, her body spasming. It was as though she’d just lost a part of her own soul. “Take another one, quickly.” Another jolt of pain shot through her as Cherri complied.

The Moon Priestess offered the plucked flowers to the Pink Wizard, and Petals took them. Tiny faces stared with sad eyes at her from within the blossoms. Then one of them laughed, and the other followed suit. “Psyche,” the first one squeaked.

“Little bastards,” Petals muttered. She laid the flower that had spoken on top of Ash, who still hung around Cherri’s neck.

“Noooo,” cried the flower before bursting into squeaky laughter.

After counting down from ten to one, she said, “Ash.” The flower shriveled up and decayed in a matter of two seconds.

The little gray worm squirmed. “What the hell happened?”

“Ash! You’re alive. And you spoke a full sentence. Hold on, and I’ll get back to you in a second.” Petals hurried over to Greta and followed the life-saving procedure for the Green Warrior.

The flower whispered, “Goodbye, cruel world,” with all the drama it could muster, and then it expired like the first flower had.

Greta’s eyelids fluttered open. “Petals? Where are we? Why am I on the floor? Hey, I’m level four now. Sweet. Got another skill point.” She sat up and caught sight of the orb over the teacher’s desk. “Oh. I see we found the snake eye.” She climbed to her feet. “So, did you get what you came for? What are we doing now? Who is this doofus masquerading as an eyeball?”

White text flashed into sight before Petals.

Quest: Capture a shadow monster and bring it to Gondra. Quest automatically accepted and confirmed.

“Greta. Ash.” Petals nodded at the serpentine eye. “This is Gondra, our benefactor and quest giver. He’s going to help us restore normalcy to Darkentide and save Earth.”

The Green Warrior smacked her lips. “You mean he’s going to help you kill Seth.”

“I prefer he not be slain,” Gondra said. “Killing him will mean my death as well. He rather needs to be restrained. Indefinitely.”

Greta nodded. “Imprisoned for eternity. A fate worse than death.”

The giant eye turned on her. “It is my fate as well. He and I are twins. We share the same destiny.”

“I see.” The Green Warrior looked away. “And what will become of me when Seth is imprisoned?”

“That depends on you and those who befriend you.”

Petals took Greta’s hands in her own. “I need your help. Please. I can’t do what needs to be done without you. My entire world is under threat of extinction at the hands of your master. Even now, he could be out there laying waste to cities. Humanity is powerless against him. We need to stop him. Your greatest wish is to become human. You can’t become one of us if you’re willing to let us all die. Please, Greta. I’m begging you. Be one of the Color Guard in more than name only. Be one of us in spirit, too. It’s your first step to becoming a real person.”

The Green Warrior nodded. “You make sense. All right. I am your servant now.”

“No,” Petals said. “You’re choosing to be your own individual, one who is choosing her own friends. You’re choosing to help us of your own accord, not being forced into it.” The Pink Wizard stabbed the Green Warrior in the chest. “You’re no one’s servant.”

Greta grinned. “I didn’t mean I was literally your servant. I meant it metaphorically.”

“Are you sure you didn’t mean it figuratively?” Ash asked. He still wore the black wig and sunglasses from Cherri’s doll.

The Green Warrior turned a shocked look on the Gray Healer. “Ash? How are…?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I woke up, and suddenly I could talk right.”

“It was one of Petals’ flowers,” said Cherri. “She used one on each of you to keep you from dying. A dart exploded on you, Greta, and you both were caught in its cloud. I pulled the flowers from her head that she used to save you both. It was so strange. They have little faces in their blossoms.”

“What?” both Ash and Greta asked at the same time.

“It’s not important now,” Petals said. “You’re both alive, and we have a quest. We need to capture a shadow monster and bring it back here to Gondra.”

“What?” asked everyone in Color Guard except Petals.

“If we want to restore normalcy to both Darkentide and Earth, we need to do whatever it takes. And capturing a shadow monster is the first step in that direction. Are you all with me or not?”

“You know I’m in,” said Cherri.

“Me, too,” said Elena.

“I’m all for a return to normalcy,” said Ash. “I’m still having difficulty adjusting to life as an ash golem.”

All eyes turned on Greta.

She shrugged. “I already said I’m your servant, Petals. So what are we standing around here for?”