"The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them."

- Elizabeth Gilbert

Present day...

"Long time no see, my Queen," came the Foreseer's hauntingly quiet voice from the shadows.

Aurora already regretted coming to this place at night. But she didn't have a choice. She needed answers.

"Can we forego the formalities? You know exactly why I'm here."

He stepped out of the shadows, and she had to crane her neck downwards to look at him properly. He was no taller than the parapet of a well, but his huge cat-like eyes, long braided hair, and jagged teeth compensated for the intimidation that his small frame took away.

The creature in front of her was blessed with eyes that looked into the future, and with a memory that could conjure answers by searching every event of the past, present as well as the future.

"Ah the Prophecy at last, I've not been entertained properly since your little...issue, eighty summers ago."

She felt her jaw clench, and her wrists curled up into a fist in rage, "And you failed to give me answers."

"You failed to ask the correct questions my Queen. I could give you answers now, but then you won't get any about the Prophecy."

Why was she even surprised that he knew about her intentions?

She looked down at her feet, knowing that she had to give up her hope for some actual answers for the stupid Prophecy.

"Fine, what do I do about this situation of The Sydan?" She asked him, hissing through her teeth. She hated being alone with the beast, but she had no other choice.

"Interpret the Prophecy," he said with a smile, exposing his horrible set of teeth.

She clenched her fists together even harder, "Could you help me interpret the prophecy?"

"Wouldn't it be better if you interpreted the prophecy with the group of heroes present here?" He asked.

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

He beckoned to her to follow him, before he hobbled to a room adjacent to the one they were currently standing in.

She had portalled here right after the Council managed to calm down the chaos at the Graduation party.

She wasn't even able to use her powers to create a portal. They were not there any more. She just wasn't able to sense it. They were simply...gone. She was forced to use one of those portal rings.

The Foreseer's den was right on the border of Mediocris on the shore behind the mountains, where it is separated by the sea from Drasill.

It was just a cave whose entrance was carved into the backside of the last of the mountains, and almost impossible to find in the dark.

She, along with Atticus, had the time of her life searching for the lever to his den, the only entrance. And the only source of light they had was a torch Atticus was carrying.

"I think you should call your tool inside too," the Foreseer said as Aurora entered the room. It was covered with maps of different provinces. And she could see different colours of lights blinking on the maps, indicating something that only the creature in front of her understood.

In the center of the room was a table with...something resembling a black hole. Except it was white. She could feel it pulling on her, like it wanted to suck her in.

Kept at the edge of a table was a huge silver and gold coloured opal which she had never seen before.

"General!" She called out, and a moment later, Atticus was standing by the door.

"Yes, my Queen?"

"Your presence is required as we summon the heroes," the Foreseer said as he walked towards the strange opal, and then turned towards her, "I need you to do this, take the opal in your hands."

She did as the creature said and took the opal in her hands, it's weight weighing her down.

The Foreseer began chanting in the ancient language of the Fae, and she was only able to catch a few words such as 'summon' 'Chaos' 'heroes' and 'danger'.

As soon as he stopped chanting, the opal glowed with a brilliant white light, blinding her slightly. When she opened her eyes, nothing in room changed except for the movement Atticus was making while rubbing his eyes.

She turned to the Foreseer who was giving her a toothy grin.

"Where-" she began when there was another flash of bright white light from the opal and when her eyes came back to focus, she gasped as she looked around, surrounded by portals of different shapes and sizes.

"Wha-" Atticus began but the Foreseer cut him off.

"Yes! This is some of the most entertainment I've had in centuries!" He said, clapping his hands, bobbing his body up and down, but the Queen focussed on the movement from one of the portals.

To her right, there was a flash of orange light after which a girl stepped out with blazing red hair and equally fiery eyes, which seemed to glow in the dark. She was clutching a fire opal in her hand, her birthstone.

"What-" the girl began, looking directly at the queen as she fully came out.

Aurora didn't have the chance to speak as there was a flash of green next to the girl's portal and this time a boy stepped out, tall and built with wild hair, as if he just got out of bed.

He was looking at the Foreseer first.

"Names?" Aurora asked.

Both of them snapped their heads towards her but the girl spoke first.

"A-Avalkyra, Your Majesty," she stuttered.

"Zarren, Zarren Morren," said the boy, bowing slightly, fiddling with his birth stone.

But Aurora didn't have time to register that as two portals glowed yellow directly in front of her and a boy and a girl stepped out at the same time.

The boy was tall while the girl was short. One had orange wings tucked behind his back while the other had purple wings. Both of them had their fists closed and in front of them. Ah they had their birthstones in their hands as well.

"Names?" She asked again.

Both of them bowed at once.

"I'm Mikaello Folksrule," the boy said, his head still down.

"I'm Rey Wolfe," said the short girl with the purple wings, standing up.

"Can someone tell me -" the boy, Zarren, said but stopped when there was another glow.

And that was when three portals to Aurora's left glowed, two of them green, one of them orange.

A short olive-skinned girl with dark eyes, a taller fair-skinned girl with dull green eyes, and a  short girl with very bright green eyes stepped out of the portal.

"Your Majesty, what are we doing here?" asked the girl with the purple wings.

She nodded at the girl, "You will get all of your answers. Can I get some introductions first?"

The dark skinned girl smiled at Aurora, "I'm Minakshi Kumar Your Majesty!"

Aurora didn't expect this much energy so late at night.

"I-I'm Coralline," said the moderately tall girl.

"I'm Arbor Evanges," said the last one, who was dressed from head to toe in green.

What Aurora had failed to notice was that some more of portals glowed and firstly, a tall boy with black-braided hair stepped out and just looked around calmly. The first one to not looked shocked out of his mind.

And then a girl in silver armor stepped out, more like stumbled out of one of the portals, her hands out as if she had been yanked out of the portal.

"What are we-" the girl, Coralline began but Aurora held her hand up to demand silence and faced the two water users in front of her.

"I'm Kaito," said the boy, bowing a little.

"Your Majesty," the girl went on her knees, "My name is Valerie Beck."

Another two portals glowed with an orange light and two boys stumbled out, as if he had been yanked though the portal as well.

One of them fell on the ground with groan while the other stood there staring at the fallen boy.

"And you are?" Aurora asked, yet again.

"My name is Dai Jing Yao, Your Majesty," said the standing boy who had unusual hair, light coloured in the front but fading into darker shades at the back.

"I-I am Augustine Solivan, Your-" the boy who fell began saying but stopped when the portal next to his glowed with a white light and girl flew out and landed right on top of the boy. They both groaned and one of the boys, Dai, was it? Helped the girl up and the boy stood up on his own.

The portal nearest to Aurora glowed and a short girl with yellow wings flew in and looked around at her surroundings, a wondrous expression on her face.

"Introduce yourselves," Aurora said with a sigh. She was getting tired of this.

"Y-Your Majesty," said the brown-haired girl who had fallen on the boy, "I'm Rachelle Douglas."

The winged girl bowed, "I'm Lia De Fayil."

"What is happen-" the girl Rachel began but was cut off by a loud scream as the final portal to Aurora's left glowed with a golden light and a boy flew out, clutching his birthstone with both his hands.

He flew directly across the room and landed right at Atticus' feet.

She turned herself to get a better glance, but then gasped as she beheld the boy's golden wings and birthstone.

It's bright golden glow was illuminating the entire room.

"Shit," she heard Atticus mutter.

"General?" The boy muttered, looking up at Atticus.

The General pulled the boy up and Aurora rushed to them.

"Hand me your birthstone," she demanded, holding her hand out.

The boy turned around to face her and she doubled back as she got a glance of his eyes...

No.

"Rey! A soul user!" said one of the boys behind Aurora.

"But, how?" came another girl's voice.

"W-What is your name?" She asked the boy with eyes identical to hers.

"It's not necessary," Atticus began but she cut him off.

"Shut up Atticus!" she shouted angrily, facing the boy who was also staring right into her eyes, probably astonished by the colour and the identical colour of their wings. Or because she just had an outburst.

"What is your name?" She asked again, desperate to know.

"Why should I tell you?" He asked uncertainly, his voice breaking slightly.

"Because I am your Queen and I'm commanding you to," Aurora replied, more harshly than she intended. His eyes widened at the word 'Queen'.

Behind her she heard the Foreseer chuckle, "Entertainment...So much entertainment..."

She heard mutters from the other children present in the room but she didn't take her eyes off the boy looming over her in his tall frame.

"I...am...," he looked at the General, who nodded gravely at him, "Augustus, Your Majesty."