Waiting was torturous. She knew full well that several days had passed in the realmis as she held it, twirling of stars and planets in dance. Periodically she'd look down to it to check on her little ones, and it broke her soul.

Chase wasn't the only one missing, so was Cody. Both of them. The Burns Family's youngest and one of her own children were taken against their will.

She was getting closer to the front, and the Elders all looked more than a little exasperated. The strand still clung to her finger, her only real evidence of who was responsible for this. She had heard her little ones call for her, but she wasn't sure whether to answer- not that she didn't want to, but rather that she did not yet have any answers for them.

Soon, she hoped. Soon, she'd have something to tell them.

"Whoa...!"
Charisma looked up and held her realmis closer as another anomaly in the group looked at it. "My apologies, I should know you'd be nervous about another being close to your realmis."

"M-My apologies also, Tsyn." Charisma nodded to her fellow student, "What about it, though?"

"Your worldlings."
Tsyn pointed downward to the realmis, catching Charisma's attention. "The orange one and the red one there... I've never seen worldlings do that."

Charisma could only assume she meant the way Blades and Heatwave's auras were acting. The auras had always surrounded them, but now they seemed to be solidifying, becoming denser and forming almost shells around their forms. Blades' had been slowly doing so for a while now, ever since the Energon Eater problem on Griffin Rock a few weeks before. Slowly but surely it the shell had been forming, but now it was almost completely enveloping the little light as he was presently heading from the island, and Heatwave's had started to do the same ever since Chase and Cody had gone missing. What was happening to them? She wished she knew. "Yes... I haven't either."

"You should ask about that when you reach the Elders. They'd know what they're doing."

"Right..."
Charisma held the realmis a little tighter.

The line was getting smaller, but the number of realmises affected grew larger as it went. By the time Charisma approached the stage, they had formed a solid ceiling over their heads, swirling and confiscated for the moment.

Elderess Symalos, the elder to have given her the new realmis in the first place, caught sight of her and groaned. "Oh dear... And it is the only one you have, too."

"Yes, Elderess Symalos..." Charisma held out her realmis, "Two taken, one of which was one of my lights. And..." She unraveled the strand and also held it out. "This was tied to it."

The crowd's chatter quieted significantly around her, though some lingering on the edges continued. All eyes were on the strand as Elderess Symalos took it and examined it.

"Hmm... Snapped. But we can find the source."

"First good news." Another Elder mumbled, "First clue to this mess."

"You can find them with it?"

"Not them, but we can find who did it."

Finding out who was responsible was a big first step. "Good."

"Take it back."
Elderess Symalos handed the realmis back to her, "You can watch one realmis, yes?"

Charisma nodded, "Yes."

"Obviously not."

Charisma tucked her realmis into her sleeve as she turned to face Ebros, "Is that a confession, Ebros?"

"You think I would be standing here too if I did it?"

"Every criminal needs an alibi. Who is to say that you and others are not swapping to cover each other's tracks?"

"Enough." Elderess Symalos snapped, "This will not fix things. Chrsmu, take yours and we will speak when we know."

"Thank you, Elderess... Oh! One more thing." She held out the realmis once more, "Two of my lights' auras are behaving oddly..."

"Hmm?" the Elderess looked over the pair, and then grinned. "My my... You really are a prodigy, Chrsmu. I've never seen such a young anomaly's lights pupate like this."

"Pupate?"

"Indeed... It's a realmis word, but they are changing into their true selves... Elementals in true fashion." She pointed to Blades, "Impressive that he has been doing so while active, not many are able to change without being in a sleep-state."

Charisma looked at the pair, "...The others will too, then."

"No doubt... Keep an eye on them. It is an amazing thing to watch."

Charisma nodded, and then carefully weaved her way to the edge of the crowd and then out of the crowded corridor. She held the realmis in her sleeve once more, out of sight from others as she passed them.

"Hey Chrsmu!" One passing by greeted, and Charisma rolled her eyes.

"Not now, Flux. I'm on a mission."

"Aww... You too? That sucks. My jumpers do it on purpose! Or at least, I think they mean to do it..."

"Flux, your realmises are hot spots for Chaos Energy. They literally run on lack of order and rule-following, and you think they jump dimensions on purpose?"

"Hmm... Fair point. The Sonics don't seem all that weirded out, so as long as they don't hop all the way to the next anomaly's cluster, I'm happy." She grinned, "You ever wanna borrow one of them-"

"I think my world's got enough trouble right now as it is, Flux..."

"Right, right... Eh, your orange light's kinda-"

Charisma looked back down to Blades, her eyes widening as the shell forming around him had fully solidified. A great amount of energy was still pulsing out as he moved onward towards the Mainland of the continent. He was still hurting, even now. She wished she could go down there and hug him, tell him things were going to be alright, but she couldn't risk diving into her realmis right now- she needed to keep all of her attention on making sure no others were taken.

"I'm doing the best I can, Darlings... I promise...!"

The shell remained for what seemed like only a few moments, and then... It cracked open. Blades' light had grown, not just in strength but in size. It was bigger in comparison to the others, and now it wasn't just a light... It had a form, it was a tiny, fluttering shape with wings.

"Will all of them do that?" Flux asked.

Charisma hummed slowly, "...I think so... The Elders were right... It is something to witness..."