At the end of their tale, Arshtat had her back turned to them, her voice resounding in the chamber as loudly as you could hear a pin drop in a completely silent room.

"I see…" she spoke. "The people of that town still cling to that dried-up land, living out their pathetic existence…"

Suddenly the Queen let out a mirthful and somewhat sinister laugh.

"Arshtat?!" Sialeeds said in disbelief.

And perhaps even fear.

"Well, I'm afraid all I can say is this…" The Queen turned around to face them with a satisfied smile on her face. "…it serves them right."

"Your Majesty!" Lyon sounded shocked.

"…" Frey couldn't bring himself to speak.

"Arshtat!" Sialeeds protested. "Have you gone mad?! Those people are suffering!"

The Queen turned to them fully, crossing her arms at her front. "Hmph! I've hardly gone mad. Their offense was reprehensible, that's all." She then shook her head ruefully. "For generation after generation, the Rovere family of Lordlake had been our most loyal subjects. That's why for many years, I had complete faith in them. That's why I looked upon them with such favour." Then her voice changed into that of a fierce tone. "But on that fateful day two years ago, they betrayed me in the worst possible way!"

The four of them hung onto Arshtat's every word, still frozen at the complete transformation of their Queen right in front of their very eyes.

"They banded together and began a savage uprising, plunging the nation into confusion!" Arshtat rambled on. "They ravaged the East Palace and even stole the Dawn Rune… One of the Three Runes, the very symbols of the Falenan royal family!" She narrowed her eyes in indignation. "Such lawlessness! Such treachery! Such savage behavior! How could I possibly forgive them?!

"And so I, Arshtat, the Queen of Falena, brought down my judgment and vengeance upon them by the will of Providence! With the power of this! The Sun Rune!"

As soon as the last phrase escaped her lips, a glowing light engulfed the room, temporarily blinding them by its intense brightness. Frey, Lyon, and Sialeeds covered their eyes with their hands and stepped back slightly while Georg turned his head away, closing his lone eye for a moment.

"So, you see, no matter how much Lordlake may continue to suffer, they got exactly what they deserved!" Arshtat remarked, the glow of the Rune attached to her forehead slowly fading out.

Lyon only hesitated for a brief moment before stepping forward, her posture bent and her hand laid on her chest. "W—With all due respect, Your Majesty, you have every right to be angry, but in Lordlake, the damage extends to women, children, and the elderly! People who had nothing to do with the uprising!"

"Yes, Mother! That's right!" finally spoke Frey, who had a strong expression on his face.

"Silence!" Arshtat said indignantly, causing Lyon to flinch. "Do you DARE tell me I was wrong?!

"I do not MAKE mistakes! The Sun Rune always lends its divine protection to the just! My path is the path of righteousness! My will is the will of heaven! To defy me is to defy the sun!"

"Your Majesty!" a voice boomed.

In an instant, Arshtat's anger disappeared, replaced by a shamed expression that fitted its way over to her face. Her eyes had widened in what seemed to be realization as she turned to her husband.

"Oh… Ferid…?" Her voice was like a strangled whisper.

"Your Majesty, everyone is tired from their long journey," Ferid said, his tone much softer now. "Perhaps we should adjourn for now and let them rest."

"O—Oh… Yes, I suppose you're right." The Queen still looked as if she was about to stagger in her steps, but she straightened herself slightly as she turned towards the four who had frozen in their places. "I will… hear the rest of your report later… For now, you may go and get some rest."

• • •

Once they were outside the Audience Chamber, Lyon spoke up hesitantly.

"Her Majesty has… changed, hasn't she?"

Sialeeds sighed. "Yeah, I'll say…" She flipped her head slightly and turned to them fully. "Well, what are you going to do now?"

Georg unfolded his arms. "Guess I'd better make an appearance in the guard room."

"Well, look at you, turning into 'Mr. Serious' the second we get back to the Capital!" Sialeeds remarked.

Georg gave the tiniest of smirks. "You know me."

"Sheesh…" She turned towards the teens. "What are you two going to do?" Then, as if just remembering something, she gave a brief chuckle. "Heh. Like I need to ask. You'd better go see your little sister. Bet she's waiting for you."

Frey gave a small smile. "Yeah, I guess I'd better."

"Princess Lymsleia sure loves her big brother," Lyon said happily. "We should go see her, Prince!"

"You two go on ahead," Sialeeds said. "Your aunt here will be taking her sister's advice and getting some rest."

"Good idea," Georg agreed. "Little ol' aunties really should go easy on themselves after all." Then he walked away, leaving Sialeeds almost gawking at him.

"What did you say?!" Immediately, she began to follow him. "Hey, Georg, get back here! Get back here right now or I'll… bah!" she said, giving up.

"Is everything all right?" Erza and the others approached the two who were left behind. "I was hesitant to go over to you earlier because it seemed that you were having a serious conversation."

"Oh, it was no problem at all," Lyon said, somewhat forcing a smile. "We were just about to go visit Princess Lymsleia. You can come with us if you like," she invited.

"We thank you from the bottom of our hearts," Erza said formally, bowing respectfully to emphasize her point.

Frey gave a nod, his small, serene smile still in place. Lyon guided the three mages towards the western flight of stairs, giving the impression of a tour guide.

"So who's this Lym-whatever person anyway?" Natsu brought up casually, leaning the back of his head against his folded arms from behind.

"Oh, she's the Prince's sister," Lyon supplied helpfully.

Natsu immediately stopped in his tracks, sweating profusely at the unaffected faces Frey and Lyon wore and also at the death glare he could feel Erza giving him at his right side.

"Natsu…" Erza drawled ferociously.

"Ack! I'm sorry! I didn't know that Lym-something is your sister!" Natsu apologized, bowing multiple times, half the reason why because he had to appease Erza's anger before it was too late.

Unfortunately, it created the opposite effect.

"Ugh. You're really hopeless," Gray muttered exasperatedly from behind him.

Natsu turned around to face him, bristling. "What was that, you droopy-eyed bastard?!" he growled.

"It's all right," Frey interrupted before things could get worse — Natsu looked ready to claw Gray's eyes out, the latter had a triumphant look on his face, Erza looked ready to give them hell, and Lyon looked like she wanted to intervene but was too flabbergasted to do so.

"H—Huh?" Natsu looked like a gaping fish.

"It's all right," Frey repeated softly. "I appreciate the casualness you bring to lighten our moods, so please do not hesitate to continue to treat us are mere friends. I fully realize that you do not mean anything rude by your informal address of my sister, so please, relax."

Natsu blinked, and in seconds, his posture slackened, though his mouth was still slightly open. "Whoa," he breathed out, looking amazed. "That's the first time I've ever heard you say so many words!"

Erza looked positively irritated at his disrespect, but let it go when she heard Lyon's twinkling laughter and saw Frey's unfaltering smile.

It seemed that they had made the right decision after all.

—hours earlier, after the inspection of Lordlake—

It was a sunny weather when Erza came to her senses. She could practically feel the scorching heat pierce into her armour, nearly suffocating her in its intensity.

"Hey, where the heck are we?!" Natsu's voice roared shrilly. He was already up and about, the heat of course not bothering him in the slightest. He was a fire mage after all.

Gray, on the other hand, had reflexively stripped off his shirt.

"Gray," Erza coughed slightly, getting up. "Your clothes."

"Huh?" It was then that he noticed his lack of garment. "Ack! How did that happen?!"

As Gray scrambled for his clothes, Erza took the time to survey their surroundings. The land they were in looked like a desert, with withered trees planted around the area and crows landing on some branches. She could see some beasts prowling from afar, and she was sure that she could take care of them in mere seconds, but the question still lingered in her mind: where were they? Because this certainly wasn't Magnolia.

Erza knew that they were purposefully brought here. Perhaps this was one of the worlds which had been unreachable by nature, a parallel dimension protected from others by time compression itself.

Before they were whisked away into this world, they had been in Magnolia, doing their own business. Erza was on a mission, Gray was in Fairy Tail, and Natsu was out looking for Igneel in Hargeon. Erza had one-sidedly exterminated the huge monster that was causing a disturbance in a faraway village and was about to return to the guild when suddenly a portal appeared out of nowhere. It looked similar to a black hole in the galaxy, ready to suck her in without further ado.

And it did. She couldn't even fight against it. It was as if she was frozen, rendered powerless by the sheer magnanimity of its capacity.

It was the same case for Gray and Natsu. Gray had been drinking iced tea when the portal came up behind him, so he never knew what hit him when he was instantly absorbed inside. Natsu, on the other hand, was riding a train when he got sucked in. He had clutched onto Happy for dear life while still on the verge of puking, bringing the winged cat along with him.

The four of them already knew that they were brought here together. Whether it was because of a malfunction or with a purpose, it didn't really matter at that moment. They had floated inside a sphere-like place that seemed to stretch on for eternity, the walls not solid but instead that of swirling atoms and molecules that were shades of violet and black.

"I see a town up ahead!" Happy announced, flying over to them after finishing his patrol.

Gray squinted at the place Happy was talking about which was meters north of them. "It looks like it's in bad shape, though," he remarked. "You sure some people live there?"

Happy nodded in affirmation. "Yup. I saw them. I didn't see any water anywhere, though…"

"They don't have water?" Erza inquired, incredulity taking over her expression. "Gray, can you—?"

Gray shook his head. "I can't. I can feel something preventing me from using my magic."

Erza's gaze lowered to her hands as if inspecting for some sort of defect in them. "You are right, Gray," she murmured. "My magic power is not depleted, but I cannot certainly use it at the moment."

Natsu gave a loud cackle. "What?! That's nothing! Let me try!" He then clenched his hands into fists and channeled power into them.

Nothing happened.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT?!" he cried out.

Gray face-palmed. "Idiot."

Natsu turned to him instantly. "What was that, Ice Prick?!" he hollered.

Before Gray could counter with one his snarky remarks, Erza's deep, authoritative voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Be quiet, you two," she ordered. "Someone's coming."

There were four shadowy figures that could be seen from afar. Erza motioned for the two boys to lie low and squinted to see the people a bit more clearly. Meanwhile, Happy hid himself inside Natsu's vest, suddenly feeling tired.

Erza wondered if she should go get help from them. It would be the most obvious thing to do, but she wasn't sure if she could trust them. They were strangers in this world, after all. What if those four people were actually criminals of some sort? What if they were accomplices of the one who brought them here? It was too risky.

Erza was still concealing herself behind a cluster of withered trees, Natsu and Gray being quiet for once and observing the four strangers as well, waiting for Erza to call their next move.

Frey, Georg, Lyon, and Sialeeds were walking back to where their ship was boarded by the nearest wharf. Frey couldn't stop thinking about Toma's words. It was natural for a son to deny negative things about his mother, but it was too glaringly obvious that Arshtat had a hand in obliterating Lordlake, consequently leaving a mark on it and rendering it of scars for probably a lifetime.

It was at that moment that Erza made her move. She slowly revealed herself to them and relaxed her stance, careful not to show even a hint of aggression so as to not alert them of danger.

Lyon immediately had her fingers lightly grasping the hilt of her sword while Georg went slightly rigid but only watched Erza with a guarded eye.

"I come in peace," Erza explained. "If it is not too much of a hassle, can you help us?"

The four of them looked at each other, seemingly hesitant.

Georg was the first to speak. "What kind of help?"

Erza motioned for Gray and Natsu to come behind her. "These are my comrades. We come from another world, in Magnolia, where we have a wizard's guild called Fairy Tail. I am Erza Scarlet."

"Gray Fullbuster," Gray said simply.

"Natsu Dragneel!" Natsu grinned, showing sharp, white teeth.

Something flew beside him from his back. "I'm Happy!"

Four of them looked shocked.

"What kind of creature is that?" Sialeeds asked curiously.

"I'm a cat, aye!" Happy exclaimed.

"Aaw," Lyon cooed slightly. "You're so cute! And you can talk, too!"

Happy nodded. "Aye!" he said proudly, his fatigue momentarily forgotten.

"So," Georg began, folding his arms across his chest and relaxing his stance, "you want us to help you go back to your world — something like that?"

"Yes. If your grace permits it," Erza said politely.

There was silence for a minute before Sialeeds spoke up hesitantly.

"Could you… give us a moment? We would like to discuss this privately."

"Of course," Erza said.

When the four of them were at a respectable distance, Georg asked, "So, what do you think?"

"I think what they're saying is legitimate," Sialeeds voiced. "Although it is a bit farfetched, I couldn't detect a hint of dishonesty in their words."

"I sensed that, too," Lyon agreed. "But how can we help them? I don't think we have the resources available for that kind of problem."

Georg turned towards the young prince. "What do you think, Frey?"

"I think we should help them," Frey said softly.

"Hmm…" Georg looked thoughtful. "Doesn't seem like they're bad guys, but you can never be too sure…"

"How about we bring them to Ferid?" Sialeeds suggested. "Maybe he'll know what to do."

Georg nodded. "Sounds reasonable to me."

Even at this distance, they could still hear Natsu's cry of: "Heeeeey! Then how come Happy can use magic?!"