Àskériàn followed Ace down the corridor, passing more doors and statues of the other knights, Seraphina, Pai, Knight and so on. Two doors, opposite each other, however, were missing their statues. He wondered what their purpose was.

As they approached the end, he noticed a set of double doors. Unlike the rest of the hallway, this door resembled the radiance of the main portion of the palace. The doors were mahogany, set in golden framework. Instead of crystal knobs, there were golden knockers shaped as flames. The circlets that connected them to the wood were round and shaped like overlapping feathers.

Ace strolled up to the doors and with one hand, used the knocker a few times.

Àskériàn wondered if he wanted to know what was on the other side of the door. For several heartbeats, there was nothing and then a slow creak sounded as both doors opened, ever so slowly before stopping at an angle.

Àskériàn casted a quick glance at his new companion, Ace, who gestured with his head towards the vague room. With that Àskériàn strode in, hand on Moria's obsidian pommel.

The room was dark with the soft glow of kelp-green light coming from holographic screens and keyboards that were structured into the walls.

The large screens lined the walls on all sides of the enormous room, that Àskériàn could have sworn was the same size of the ballroom, just with a lower ceiling and it was square not round.

Quartz podiums rose up in certain places, holding strange objects. One of them held up a crystal bowl with a flame dancing in it. Something about it felt familiar.

Renfred Bedivere sat at the far end of the room, cloaked in dark green as always, their face obscured by the cloak’s shadow. Renfred sat upon a bar-stool-like bench made of mahogany. Everything wooden in the realm was mahogany.

The monitors before Renfred displayed certain parts of the twelve islands, even the two uninhabited ones. A security system of sorts?

Lady Zoe stood beside Renfred. Àskériàn and Ace caught her attention and she turned to them; her green eyes full of approval. "Welcome Àskériàn. I see he did indeed pass his test Ace?"

Àskériàn grunted at the familiar laugh. He marveled at the enormous amounts of technology that dotted the large room. "What is all of this?" He asked, curiosity in his voice.

"This is the Celestial Realm's research department headquarters." Lady Zoe explained.

"It's impressive." Àskériàn replied. "One would think this to be the security room."

"Very perceptive." Zoe commented.

"Thank you for the compliments dragon knight." Renfred said, their focus still trained on the monitor. "Built it myself."

Àskériàn didn't know what to say to that. It was astonishing how much technology Renfred accumulated. It was no wonder the department was hidden away deep in the castle. Suddenly he understood why they had Ace guarding the entrance. "Umm Lady Seraphina sent me down here to assist you with something?"

"That's right." Lady Zoe said. "We need you to guard this." She said holding out a crystal. It was the size of a large pebble and it glowed against her leather covered palm. It pulsated with different colors from within.

" What is it exactly?" He asked, his voice full of curiosity.

"This is a star crystal. We recently did an experiment to see if we could store things in these. We achieved to do so." She explained.

Àskériàn stared at the glowing object, mesmerized by the rhythmic display of color. "Why do you need me to guard it?" He asked.

"You see," Zoe began, "this crystal in particular must never be broken."

"Why so?" He questioned once more. She gave Renfred a puzzled look.

Her andriodic companion nodded their head. "Go on." Renfred assured. "He is one of her protectors now, he can know."

Zoe nodded, her multi-colored hair falling over her shoulders. "It houses Lady Ardent's memories." She confessed.

A moment passed before her words registered in his mind. "It what?!" Àskériàn exclaimed, shock taking over him. There was no way that was possible.

Ace pulled on Àskériàn's black cloak. "Mr. Tall knight," He said. "It was for her own good." He explained, giving the man a pleading look. "The memories are damaging her soul. We all feel it. During the sparring match with you while she was distracted by you, we sealed her memories inside that stone, not all of them, just the bad ones."

Àskériàn was appalled as he gawked at them. How could they? How could they do things like this to the queen? Did she have any idea? Probably not. He thought to himself.

"It's more like dulling them." Renfred explained, focused glued to the monitors.

Àskériàn began to wonder if Renfred always avoided people's faces when talking. "It's to ease her mind so that she is not pushing herself so hard to get out of the realm." The cloaked figure finished.

"Please Àskériàn," Zoe pleaded "the damage done to her soul was extensive. She needs time to heal. Easing her mind is the best way to help her do that. We cannot risk anymore damage further, if she were to die, this realm will also die. It stays intact due to her life-force."

Her eyes filled with tears. "The queen...she.."

"Is very important to us." A familiar voice spoke up, startling them. They glanced at the door.

Lady Storm walked in, garbed in her ever present gray cloak. Her hood was down, just as it had been during the banquette. "What?" She asked as they stared at her. "I am a part of this department." She said, stalking passed them to observe the bowl of fire.

"Àskériàn, we do all sorts of experiments down here, sometimes those require living hosts. In this case the host is the queen, however, none of the experiments hurt the hosts. And they are mostly done in secret, with the approval of the Ardent Table of course."

Zoe shook her head. Refocusing on Àskériàn, she said, "Please guard the crystal at all costs, if it breaks, then her memory will be restored."

Àskériàn's expression softened. He thought back to the day he had met Ardent. He remembered something had pulled him to the spot in the forest. Nothing in Gaia had that kind of allure. And what he found was a dying angel. Even though it was her own doing. "I'll do it." He said finally.