"Felix! Is that you?" A loud voice reverberated through the market place.

Felix immediately tensed up, looking behind him and seeming to have gotten eye contact with someone. He then got Topaz to transform. The lionblitz did so without question, Felix hopping onto its back instantly.

"Only a small walk around town right? Well, let's get going to the ruins then!" He rode away, leaving me confused.

"Wait, what just happened?" Star echoed my thoughts.

"I... I don't know. But I guess we should follow him..." I turned back to where he had been, realizing that I had lost him in the crowd.

"Excuse me," a middle-aged lady approached me. From her voice, I could tell that she was the very lady who called Felix out from the crowd. "Do you happen to know a boy named Felix?"

I thought about the question for a while.

"Yea, I do. He's that racer on television, isn't he?" I finally replied.

The lady grumbled, clearly expecting a better answer. I studied her closely. She had curly brown hair tied up in a ponytail and blue eyes that glimmered with an expression I couldn't quite place.

"Ok, let's cut to the chase. Have you seen Felix?"

Mentally, I asked Star what I should answer the lady.

"Oh whatever..." the bird replied. "Just don't give him away no matter what you do. I don't know if we should trust this lady."

Not knowing how to answer, I decided to just take Star's advice. "Why would the great racer be here?"

The woman opened and closed her mouth like that of a fish's. In the end, however, she decided not to rebut my statement, walking away soon after.

"What's up with that woman? Winter questioned, seeming a little annoyed by the exchange.

"Beats me." I replied. "But now... how are we going to find Felix?"

"Leave this to me." Star replied, transforming into her true form. She grinned at me, beckoning me onto her back.

I climbed onto her back alongside Winter, and she took off into the sky.

"Nice new form." I remarked, glancing at her sparking tail feathers. They were gleaming with stars, unlike the last time she reverted to her true form. Her wings also had newly colored feathers, dark blue ones with the galaxy seemingly painted on them. The few dark feathers she had hid in between her usual brightly-colored yellow ones.

"Thanks, it is a sign of my experience. Even though it means that my final evolution is soon..." She shuddered. "It just isn't fair... I don't want to evolve. Even if I had a hundred percent chance to survive the evolution, I want to retain the form of a Glowstaride. Not one of a Dawnmorix or a Phoenixight..." she sighed, slowing a bit. I petted her head, trying to calm her down. "We better get down to finding that stone then."

Star nodded.

"I spy with my little eye, a blob of dark blue hair." Winter announced.

I looked down to see that she was right. Felix and Topaz were just a few meters ahead of us.

"Dive down Star, till we're roughly the same level."

"Roger."

Star dived, and we swooped down as fast as lightning to the same level as the unsuspecting racer. He got a scare, nearly falling off Topaz.

Maybe I should have asked Star to dive down gently.

"Emily you..." he stopped, noticing Star's expression. "It was your idea to scare me wasn't it?"

"Of course Mr Loinheart." Star replied.

He grumbled. "I'm really regretting tagging along now..."

Topaz laughed. "You chose it, not me."

Felix frowned, almost as though he could understood Topaz. He didn't say anything, however, and just continued riding forwards.

"We're going at quite a slow pace." I commented, realizing that we were going at a speed around ten kilometers a hour according to how fast the ground was passing us by.

"I know." Felix replied. "Didn't want to leave you too far behind." He continued, getting Topaz to accelerate to high speeds.

I spurred Star onwards, catching up with his new speed easily.

"We'll be at the ruins soon." Felix spoke up. "In fact, it should be coming into view about now."

I looked up, spotting giant stones positioning themselves in a circular shape. Around the main stones, smaller ones could be found randomly lying around.

I slowed Star, getting her to land as soon as we were close to the stones. "Here?"

Felix nodded. "These should be the ruins Professor Nightshade was talking about."

I frowned slightly. "How'd you know that the ruins would be here? She didn't specify which direction the ruins were from town. It could have been north instead for all you know."

My question seemed to have caught Felix off guard.

"I... I've been here before." He finally admitted.

We both got off our Spiritmals, them transforming back into their disguise forms once we were off their backs.

"Since you've been here before, do you happen to know that lady at the market?" I studied his expression, watching as it darkened slightly.

"Can we please not talk about that?" Felix looked away, clearly wanting nothing to do with that lady, whoever she was.

"I guess I shouldn't pry." I admitted, focusing my attention on the ruins once more. I walked Through the pillars of stone, noticing weird carvings situated on the stones themselves. Some of them seemed to be words, others seemed to be drawings, drawings specifically of the Glowstaride evolutionary line.

I looked left to see Felix with one of his hands on a stone with weird symbols on it. His eyes were closed, however he seemed to still be focusing on the stone. Topaz was beside him, looking up at his trainer while his tail swished from side to side gently.

He looked up from the stone soon enough, realizing that we were all looking at him.

"What?" He folded his arms.

"Uh... Nothing?"

Felix raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

I returned my attention to the ruins, looking at them once more. It seemed futile to read the symbols imprinted on the rocks. Symbols of an ancient language that I could not understand. I could only read the pictures, which weren't much of a use either as they didn't have much content.

"Heya Fels" An unfamiliar voice sounded. I turned around once more to see another man... probably in his twenties? I wasn't too sure. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and a bubbly aura seeming to surround him for miles to come.

"Richard." Felix returned the greeting. "How many times did I tell you not to call me that?"

"So... they know each other huh?" Star's words reverberated through my mind.

"I guess so..." I replied her with my mind as well.

Winter just looked on curiously.

"Fancy seeing you here Fels." Richard continued. "I never thought that you would return to your hometown so soon."

———————————
A few things about this chapter.

One, I know it's awkward.

Two, I actually haven't decided if I want the story to go in this direction but I know that my mind is really entertaining the idea right now...

If I change my mind, I'll just rewrite the book.

Three, this book may or may not be put on hold due to other commitments. You have been warned. (Hopefully it wouldn't come to that though)