The swirl of light broke to the Bright Hope library. The team was greeted by the glimmering moonlit windows, peeking out over the wintery darkness.

Alice groaned, "Oh shit, time zones." As she walked to the front of the group.

She exacted her gaze to Maxwell's desk. As she shifted through some files and books, Eary gasped, "What are you doing?" He said as he moved to Alice's side.

Continuing her search, she stated, "Duh, what does it look like I'm doing?  I'm snooping, bitch."

Eary protested, "We shouldn't be going through his things." Eary paused and recounted his vision from the previous night. "You know, maybe this isn't such a bad idea after all." He said as he began to assist his friend in her investigation.

Mote flew to the duo. Landing in a sparkling thud, he said, "Good idea, you twos. Let's fleece the joint while everyone's asleep!"

Eary hushed the moteling. "We're not stealing, Mote. We're just seeing if everything's on the up and up." He said as he pressed his unease about Maxwell down inside of him.

Decan approached. He placed his arm around Eary. Looking down at his partner and whispered, "You doing okay? You look like something is on your mind."

Eary smiled back, "I'm fine. It's just," he paused. As the events of his visions bubbled to his mind's center stage, he stated, "I saw Maxwell in a vision from the super gems."

The group, who had found seating and were conversing, stopped at Eary's confession.

Luke inquired from the sofa, "What exactly do you mean, you saw him in a vision?"

Eary peered past Decan at the invested gang. He shrugged as he shyly stepped out from Decan's shelter. "I did, or at least I think I did." He said as the eyes of his friends sunk into him.

Sakile asked from Luke's right,  "What exactly did you see?"

Eary recounted his vision of the small child and the man that looked like Maxwell. He was describing the scenery outside the balcony when Mote interrupted.

"That's the temple of the Claris! Sounds like your seein' visions of the past." He said, zinging up to Eary's shoulder. "And that place yous in sounds like the Aedish palace."

Eary felt a sense dread and longing as Mote spoke. Before they could continue, the light of the library blinded the group.

"The visions you speak of are indeed visions of the past." Maxwell announced as he walked into the library. "The Claris of the Nocopo are deeply connected to their kingdom and its history." Maxwell explained as he stood in front of the two snooping teens.

Alice coyly brushed the professor's glare aside as she said, "Hey, man. It's a good thing you showed up. Eary's seein' shit."

"Save it, miss Pickering. I've been here, in the stacks, the whole time." Maxell sighed as he addressed the Earhart. "According to my research, your shard comes from the Aedish kingdom. So it would stand to reason you would see visions of that kingdom's history."

Eary nodded, "But professor, the man in my vision looked a lot like you." He said as he gazed at the professor suspiciously.

Maxell chuckled, "Is that so strange? I, myself, am a descendant of the Nocopo." He brushed his golden blonde hair from his forehead, "It states that the Aedish were fair skinned and blonde. That describes many people on our planet." The group agreed as Eary shrugged off his suspicion.

Mote stated, "Still. I think you must be seein' from the time right before the collapse of the Nocopo."

Eary turned his head and asked, "How do you know that?"

Mote replied, "I was there. I met that kid in your vision, I think. Sounds like the last Nocopo Claris."

Maxwell interjected, "What do you mean you were there?"

Mote exclaimed, "Yeah, I saw it all. Ilia sent that kid somewhere. Then she bound the Aedish Scion beneath the palace. Garden variety hero stuff."

Maxwell scoffed, "Indeed." He turned to the rest of the group, "So did you come all this way to discuss Eary's visions?"

Sakile replied, "No." He explained the developments with Sasha. The professor showed notable shock when Sakile informed him of the attack on the moteling sanatorium.

Maxwell stated, "This is ominous news indeed." He paused, deep in contemplation. "They seem to be collecting repositories of the power that was weilded by the ancient Nocopo."

Alice folded her arms. "What do you mean by that?"

Maxwell replied, "First, they were after descendants of the Nocopo. Now, the motelings. Both radiate with magical light."

Mote nodded, "I am pretty damn magical." He said as he levitated off of Eary's shoulder. "We already concluded that they was draining the other descendants. Logical jump to assume they was gonna do my people that way." He said, voice trembling with anger.

Eary asked, "You alright?"

Mote waived his hand dismissively, "I'll be alright, kid. But that motha fucker and me gots a date we do." He stroked his long bat ear slowly, "He put his mits on my Anu, Eary. I've killed better for less."

A chill shot down Eary's spine as he gazed upon Mote's cold stare. "A-alright buddy,  we'll get 'em." He said nervously.

Alice chimed in, "I'm with Mote. The sooner we take care of this Russian nut job, the better."

Maxwell interjected, "I may have a way to give us an edge." He made his way to his desk. Gesturing for the teens to move, Maxwell drew a key from his pocket and began searching his bottom drawer.

Stepping back, he extended his arm to Eary. In his hand was a shadowy orb, swirling with a maelstrom of darkness. Maxwell smiled, "Johnathan  Tiddle's shard. The Claris orb of the Leoht people." He said with a proud tinge to his voice.

Eary examined the orb. A felt a strange resonance with the globe. He fixated his gaze on its center. As he lost himself in the swirling miasma, a quick jab and a voice harshly calling out, "Kid!" Swiftly snapped him back to reality.

Mote stated, "You was just starin'. Did ya hear a thing we said?"

Eary looked at his friends. "I'm sorry I got a little distracted." He said as he shook himself free of the orbs glow.

Mote shimmered up to the corrupted shard, "Looks like all that evil is suckin' ya in, kid." He said. Leaning in, he fixated his gaze upon the center. Scratching his chin, he said, "Yep! That's the culprit, alright. Got a demon lodged right in the heart of that baby."

Eary leaned in to inspect the source of the orb's corruption. Mote snarled at him, "Hey! What's the big idea? You got hearing disability, kid?"

Mote snapped his fingers. Two motelings appeared with a blindfold. They quickly tied it around Eary's eyes and sealed it with magic.

Mote chuckled under his breath as he spoke. "There, now ya blind and deaf. Now, no lookie loos for you." He said, half scolding the boy, half impressed with his own power.

Eary tugged at the blindfold in vain, "Mote, take this off right now! I'm fine." He protested as he continued his struggle.

Mote snarked back, "You obviously ain't in no shape to be around the shard. As a Claris, yous more susceptible to corruption than the rest of thems."

Eary shrugged, "But how am I supposed to do this Claris stuff if I can't even be around a corrupted shard?"

Mote replied, "We's gotta get ya some gear, Eary. And not just any gear. Cool, celestial gear. Stacked to the 9s. How does that sound?"

Eary beamed behind the blindfold, "That sounds super awesome, Mote! When do we start?"

Mote replied, "Tomorrow, which means ya need to go sit ya ass down. Seeing as we ain't got no celestial gear that you just have to have."

Eary was about to protest again when Mote gestured for Decan to guide Eary over to the seating area.

Mote scoffed, "Kids, always tryin' to get into everything, am I right?"

As Mote finished speaking Eary could be faintly heard saying, "Fuck you, you little asshole." To which Mote grinned mischievously.

Maxwell asked, "So is there a way to purify the Claris shard?"

Mote waived his hand dismissively, "I think we need to go upstairs." He stated matter of factly.

Alice winced, "You mean back to your office with the slutty chthulu monster receptionist?"

Mote shook his head, "No, I mean upstairs." He said pointing to the ceiling.

Alice retorted, "We're going to heaven?"

Mote nodded, "Kinda. It's more like the Celestial shopping district. Which is past the pearly gates and right after McDonald's."

Alice giggled, "There are McDonald's in heaven?"

Mote scoffed and waived his arms dismissively, "Bitch, it's heaven. They got everything." He said smugly. "We's going to a cosplay convention up top. The biggest nerds of all time are up there. On account of most of 'em bein' virgins."

The group laughed as Maxwell inquired, "Why a cosplay convention?"

Mote stated, "They make real magic shit. Those dorks get so bored that they make all the best stuff from myth and legend. And of course, a ton of video games and anime crap."

Alice replied, "Sounds kinda cool." The group agreed enthusiastically as Alice continued, "But all the younger kids have school in the morning."

Maxwell announced, "And don't forget, you have studies back here at the Star Gazer Institute. You could all use more training."

A quick groan could be heard from Calvin and Decan. Mei and Eary cheerily exclaimed their excitement for class, while their boyfriends glanced at each other chagrined.

Mote scratched his long ear, "Then i guess we will have to make this an all-day thing. We will have to make a stop after we leave here." He said. Mote buzzed to the professor, "That reminds me. Ya got some extra room here at the Star Gazer?" He asked.

The professor raised en eye brow, "Why do you ask?"

Mote continued, "My people are homeless! We can't go back to the sanctorium. So I was wondering if ya got any more magic caves around?"

The professor smiled coyly, "Lucas, could you come here for a moment." He said, staring confidently at the hovering moteling.

Luke rose from his seat and made his way to the professor's side, "Yeah?" He he said.

Maxwell continued, "Earlier today, a brilliant technopath by the name of Beverly Lewis." His mouth squinted into a faint grin, "We asked her here to assist a promising young technopath. You." He said, pointing to Luke.

Luke chuckled, "I don't know if I'm that good. I just fiddled with a few things in the basement here."

Maxwell nodded, "I understand your reluctance. But I performed a scan on each of you when you received new powers." He paused and glanced to Luke, "You have grade five technopathy, Luke. No one at NATO is that grade, and the only other known grade five technopath on earth is Sasha."

Luke paused, his face washed in suprise and confusion. "What does that mean?"

Maxwell explained, "It means that you are our best bet at beating Sasha to the punch. His company has been replicating high-grade Nocop technology. But he has limited access to the ruins that the most advanced technology resides." He glanced back to Mote, "The bulk of the ruins is protected by a magical barrier. All attempts to navigate past the barrier have proven useless for us. And no doubt to Sasha as well."

Mote scoffed, "So ya want me to take the barrier down, eh?"

Maxwell shook his head, "Not exactly. We wanted to know if you knew of a backdoor. A way in that would keep the barrier intact." He said.

Mote scratched his ear, "Not exactly, but I think I could get us in. We's gonna have to get a few things first."

Maxwell inquired, "What kinds of things?"

Mote grinned, "Some magical do-dads Ilia and I scattered around after we sealed up the ruin." He said as he raised an eyebrow and looked at the professor suspiciously. "Lots of demons and monster types in there. Why would ya wanna open it?" He said.

Maxwell explained, "We need to develop the highest grade tech before Sasha does. Or he will have a strangle hold on the world. Luke is the only person on the planet with the power to replicate the highest grade tech, save for Sasha."

Mote waived his paw dismissively, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's a garden variety arms race. Now, what about a magic cave for my people?"

Luke said, "Maybe I could replicate the one from the garden."

Maxwell nodded, "My thoughts exactly. So, Mote. Do we have a deal?"

Mote nodded as the two shook on it. The crew departed on to the gates of paradise. Eary felt a mix of excitement and uncertainty as Mote opened another portal. Taking a deep breath, he bravely stepped through.