Luckily for all of us, Aislyn doesn't rush us back to the castle immediately. We take in as much of our break as possible, relaxing in the warm sunlight and testing out the limits of Natrina's new powers.

"Alright... make a pumpkin!" I demand.

She closes her eyes and crouches down for a secord, and before her paws grows a large pumpkin, its vines wrapped around her paws. With a single shake, the vines retreat, leaving only the pumpkin behind.

"If we end up on a hostile dimension with no food, this should be really helpful. As for combat situations... I'm not so sure." Vivian tells us.

"Weren't you the one who said we could weaponize anything?" Natrina asks her.

"True enough." she consents. "Now... weaponize it!"
"Just going to make demands and then give me no hints. I see how it is."
"You could make Firefruits." Aislyn points out.

"If you could make plants grow fast enough, you could encircle your enemies in those vines and then feed them poisonous berries." Gash suggests. "It's a little harsh, but it should work."

"Grow a tree over top of them!" I say cheerily.

"Fly traps the size of a tree!" Vivian calls, outdoing my request, probably on purpose.

Natrina closes her eyes and sets to work on our requests, wisely avoiding trapping anyone within her large vines or actually creating a fly trap the size of a tree.

"Oh, so that's a fly trap." she muses as she looks at the large mouthed plant, which snaps viciously at her approach. "Nasty little thing."

"You didn't know what it was?" Vivian asks.

My sister shakes her head with a resigned sigh.

"How did you make it then?"

"I just... knew when I began working on it. Whatever creates these powers knows far better than I ever could."

"That's not very reassuring, knowing something else is using these powers through you."

"It's a Terreskian." Natrina says.

I shift my own petals, looking at them in a new light. "How do you know?"

"I remember what Aislyn showed us. Feeling their bodies, their forms, their energy... all of that felt a lot like this. That's why I had those weird flash forwards of hearing Gash talking about the rope bridge before the song. That's why Lotus and I saw a shooting star before we met Aislyn! All the Keepers, Aislyn's arrival, all our powers... they're behind all of it! We really are their heroes!"

"You saw the star too?" Gash exclaims.

"You heard voices before the song and didn't say anything?" I say, half annoyed and half amused we've managed to find ourselves in this situation again.

There's another silence and Natrina's ears lower guiltily.

Taking a deep breath, I tell her, "It really doesn't matter. Tell me more!"
"While you're at it, you still need to make that fly trap." Vivian points out.

"Could you work on some food, too? I'm starving right now." Gash says.

"One at a time! One at a time!" she tells us as we all pile on the requests.

I watch my sister close her eyes and the telltale vines begin spreading around her paws, amazingly fast. I close my own eyes and reach out to her. Her presence is so powerful, so warm and gentle, that I can sense it without trying. I want to hold onto her forever, even if I know we're only mentally touching. Opening my eyes, I see a garden growing around her. The four remaining Canis sit about enjoying the luxuries of this new and beautiful place. Taking a place beside Vivian, I sit down and watch the garden erupt with fresh fruit and plentiful bounty. The two of us curl up together peacefully. When Natrina finally finds us watching her in awe and crunching on apples and wild strawberries. Looking about, I can see that the sun is setting now, the bright spectrum of the sky visible in parts through the dappled trees. The whole thing is a stunning effect, and just seeing it makes me feel warm inside, though there's a sense of bittersweet and almost despairing resentment towards it.

This might be the last Dreamlandian sunset you ever see, Lotus. Take it in.

No! The more powerful side of me repulses the thought. I am going to live.

I repeat it in my head as we walk back across the bridge. No one says a word to each other and our group, fully formed into a family at last, is bathed in silence again. A month of progress for nothing.

I am going to live. I am going to live. I am going to live.

Taking in a shuddering sigh, I step into the back entrance of the castle.

Vivian's deep voice comforts me. "Lotus, are you doing alright?"

"I'm so scared, Vivian..."

"We're all right with you. Just breathe it out, okay?"

I nod quietly, my eyes large and wide (possibly filling with tears). My sister presses against my other side, her touch familiar, like the way the sun falls on your pelt in early spring, melting the snow and blanketing the drowsy world in gentle warmth.

As we cross the bridge again, the creakings that once sounded empty and almost bored now sound forlorn and sad. The whole experience makes me nervous, but it gets worse as we enter.

The throne room is open for us, draped with black banners that make the room look far more sinister. Almalia looks at us and sees my sister's new form. "I assume you're all ready."

"Yes, I think we are." Aislyn says, tail straight up in the air. She walks forwards towards the throne. "Where do I open it?"

"Here should do fine." Almalia says patiently.

"Wait, wait. What do we do exactly?" Natrina asks.

"I'm going to open the portal. I want you two to reach out to me and try to place all your energy into opening it. Do you think you can do that?" Aislyn says, serious once again.
Ignoring my shaking paws, I say, "I'll try."

"All I can ask." she says warmly. With that, she dips her head and lifts one paw to slice the empty air. At first, nothing happens, but slowly the slit in the air turns a dark black, growing fuller like an ugly black cat eye. Eventually, it's just a round dot which begins to grow larger and larger until one side is just above the floor. There's a terrible sucking noise that emanates from it, but the portal rapidly begins shaking. Dust flies in at a dangerous speed, and all of us are sucked towards it, skittering across the ground as we try to hold tight.

"Natrina! Lotus! Now!" Aislyn calls.

Trying to ignore my rising panic, I reach with all my mind out towards the portal and press it inwards instead of outwards. Fear courses through me instinctively, followed by guilt that I may have closed it by accident, but when I look up from the ground I can see that the portal is no longer shaking, held by invisible paws on either side.

Though the portal isn't moving, I can feel my whole body vibrate. Intense pain wracks me, fading to a gentle numbness, and as I stand in shock and terror of this awful void in reality itself, it begins to grow again.

"What do we do now?" I ask.

"You jump." Aislyn tells me. I can hear her voice buzzing in my skull. After all, all three of us are holding this thing open and we are standing next to a tear in the fabric of the universe. If nothing else, it's very impressive and very terrifying.

My whole body warns me to go back. Bestial instincts and Dreamlandian intuition both tell me that this portal, unlike the many others I've seen opened and closed, is something far more dangerous and far more wrong than anything I've ever encountered before. Despite this, I find my paws shaking as I slowly edge forwards, my eyes bright with the hellish fire of the portal itself.

"We're going to jump into that?" Gash asks.

"Yes!" Aislyn snaps. "I can't hold it open forever, even with help! You have to trust me!"

Gash's gaze narrows, and the Keeper of Trust, true to form, dives right into the portal. Vivian watches the three of us and lowers her head as her gaze meets mine. "If anything happens... see you on the flipside." She backs up, and takes a running start to plunge right into the portal.

Natrina goes next, her new form bright against the endless darkness as she is silhouetted for a split second before the portal devours her as well.

Realizing I have to go before Aislyn, I take several deep breaths and confront my fear. With one shivering paw I step forwards, and flaring my petals in defense, slam my head against it, leaping upwards to fall in rather sloppily.

Nothing.

Nothing, ironically, is the only word to describe the inside of a portal and the only way to describe that there is no way to describe the inside of a portal. My whole body no longer exists and in between a millisecond and an eternity pass in a dimension without time, my whole being compromised by the fact that I can no longer reasonably exist.

However, there is something. A heartbeat. A recognizable and familiar song, though it's not mine.

I recognize the slow, rhythmic pulse of a Terreskian, the starry creature leading me forwards as it pushes me out of the portal back into existence.

Light bathes me and I take a deep breath, my mouth open and my whole body heaving in agony. "I'm here. I'm awake." I yell, and see a creature the bright white of the sun, though I can't make out its form with my blurry vision.

"Where are we?"

"Welcome to Elysium. We made it!" From the creature's voice comes Aislyn's voice.

"Good," I say, and then I pass out.