A burst of black smoke explodes from the ash that litters the ground. Out of the smoke falls Shade, sweating and breathing heavily. Her mouth falls open as she coughs up pools of crimson blood which splatter bellow her, turning the blackened ash into a scarlet paste. She clutches her chest before straightening up and wiping her mouth clean. Ahead of her is a massive wooden door covered in runes and carvings, depicting glorious wings that reach to the broken sky. With an almighty creak so loud that it makes the ground tremor, the doors slowly swing open and out walk three men, treading light footprints into the ash like the first steps on freshly fallen snow. One of the men walks forward further than the other two, who stay back beside the door. The two who stayed back wear tight fitting leather body armour, the kind that allows for the maximum level of protection possible while still allowing for optimal mobility, and they each have a Bo Staff strapped to their backs. The man who stepped forward looks to Shade, his long blonde beard flowing down over his robes, stopping at his ankles. His robe glimmers in the dim sunlight that manages to pierce through the broken sky and reflects that light around him, giving him the visage of a being of pure sunlight himself. Shade turns her face slightly, enough to show her distain but not too much as to anger the man. He looks her up and down, taking her in with his eyes before his mouth finally opens to speak. "After all this time, I thought I may never see you again." His voice is croaky, as to be expected of a man who looks so old, but still rings with an air of authority, one that many would find hard to resist should he give them a command. "I see that the work is always complete, but after you fled, I feared that your work may be all we have left of you. Truly, it is good to see you Spectre."

Shade turns to face him slightly, but only to show her distain in full. The words she spoke were spiteful and short, as if speaking to the man was an insult greater than any other. "It's Shade."

"Ah, the name given to you by the Firmies, I see not why you take it. You walk amongst the angels here, do not desecrate yourself alongside the imps."

Shade turns fully to face him, a flame of anger burning its brilliant red in her eyes once again. She takes a few steps towards the man, before suddenly collapsing to her knee, coughing up more blood and spitting it onto the ash below her feet. She looks up to the man, now looming above her showing a mix of concern and intimidating calmness on his face. "You know nothing of angels Sylas, nothing of imps and certainly nothing of Fermies." Shade tries to gather the strength required to stand, clutching her chest as pain shoots across it. "An angel is a creature of beauty and grace, a moral creature who saves those in need. Two centuries I rotted in that cell Sylas, where was my Angel, my saviour when I needed them."

Sylas looks forward, over Shade, towards the bleak horizon. "I worry about the work you do. The circumstances in which you do are your choices and therefore none of my concern. I made you a promise in that, one that I intend to keep."

"You're really pretentious." Shade manages to stand, steadying herself and once again wiping the blood from her mouth.

Sylas' concern grows again as he sees the blood flick from Shade's fingers down to the ground beneath her, his eyes following the droplet as it traces its way through the air. "You're weakened. Is it possible this is the reason you finally decided to escape your cell?"

"How about that, you looked down across the tip of your own ego long enough to notice someone other than yourself for a second. Yes, the two things are connected, and it means we are in a whole lot of trouble."

"Follow me Shade, we shall discuss this more inside." Sylas leads Shade through the large door and is followed through by the two men who were standing guard. Behind the door is a courtyard, completely segregated from the outside world by a large stone wall. There isn't any evidence of the ashen state beyond the wall either, with beautiful flowers and lushes grass blooming across the courtyard. More men dressed like the two guards are posted across the area, some gardening, and some standing guard. Sylas leads Shade towards a building in the centre of the area, taller than the wall with spires winding their way up to twisted peaks high above the ground. The bottom of this building is layered with gold and silver, and the bricks used to construct it seem to be marble in nature. Over the door there is a stone statue of three girls from the waist up, looming over the door. As Sylas approaches the door the two men accompanying him open it, bowing to him as he enters. Shade follows behind Sylas, but is offered no such bow. They both enter into a beautifully varnished main atrium, filled with lavish golden structures. The atrium isn't very large and leads off towards other doorways. The doors are embellished with signs alluding to what's on the other side, with books drawn on some and beds drawn on others. Sylas stops at a table in the centre of the room and picks up a crystal tumbler and bottle. The bottle contains a transparent brown liquid which Sylas pours into the glass. He replaces the bottle onto the table and takes a sip of the liquid, letting it run past his lips before turning to face Shade. "We can discuss this problem in my personal library." Sylas leads her towards one of the bookshelves.

Shade looks around the room, the familiarity of it washing over her. "It seems pretty empty at the moment."

"I sent your sisters out some months ago to complete a very special task. They should return soon, but I do not know exactly when. I have had no direct contact with them since they left, only knowing they are ok through the completion of their work, even when they are out on the field." Sylas reaches for a book on the bookshelf and takes it from its position, revealing a small keyhole behind it. He takes a key from around his neck and places it in the slot, turning the key. The bookshelf comes away from the wall revealing behind it a room full of shelves, a fireplace against one of the walls and leather chairs placed around it. Sylas takes a torch from the wall and lights the fire, its orange glow illuminating the room. Above the fireplace, the orange light licks at three portraits, each one of a girl of a different age. The middle portrait is of Shade, though much younger. Her hair is shorter and the red streak in her hair is not there. The other two portraits are of different girls. The one on the left is of a girl with darker skin and seafoam green hair that lofts down towards brown eyes. She is wearing a green and blue dress and is holding what seems to be a stuffed animal. The girl on the right has a brooding expression on her face, as if she held the expression the whole time the portrait was being painted. Her hair is blonde and long, dropping far below her shoulders. She is wearing a skin-tight combat suit, similar to the armour worn by the guards, and her blue eyes pierce through the portrait itself and stare into the soul of its observer. She seems the oldest of the three, Shade appearing the youngest.

Sylas takes a seat on the leather chair directly in front of the fire, continuing to sip his drink. He gestures for Shade to sit in a seat near bye, and she does. He places his drink down on a side table nearby and looks to her. "So, tell me Shade, what is this problem that has weakened you so much that you have come back here, to the one place you said you would never return?"

Shade looks over to the fire, not looking Sylas in the eye as she speaks to him. "Have you ever heard of a sensitive being cut off from their realm before?"

Sylas takes another sip of his drink. "It does happen, though it is uncommon. Sensitives with a weak connection to a realm can find that they have been severed from it, but this problem should not affect you. You and your sisters have realm substance in your bodies, your connection strengthened by the training you have received. I would say that you three are one of, if not the most powerful sensitives for your respective realms. Why do you ask?"

Shade starts to describe the encounter she had with the boy. "I entered the Realm of Smoke like I have been trained to do. My hands were bound so I could only go there in mind and not body, but I felt as strong as I ever have. But there was this boy, he was resistant to my power, like he was creating some kind of feedback. The more power I put in the more power he gave out. His light grew so bright that I was forced to flee the realm and now I cannot return, both in mind or body. Now my powers are costing me far more than before to materialise outside of the Realm of Smoke. Transporting here cost me far more physically than I anticipated. I could barely move."

Sylas places his glass down on the side table once again, this time with a little more force than normal. As he stands the light from the fire illuminates the concern on his face. He turns to one of the sets of shelves and starts to rummage through the scrolls that are stored on it, before grabbing one that looks like it hasn't been touched in many years. He returns to his chair with the scroll and opens it, dust drifting from its ancient body. "When the two worlds collided 10 millennia ago, a member of this ancient coven had a vision. The vision was of a creature we had never encountered before, one that we later identified as the inhabitants of the other world. The vision shows that one of these inhabitants, the Fermies as they came to be known, would be born with the power of all three realms as their power starts to leak into their world. This, the most powerful sensitive ever conceived, will use this power to sever the connection between our worlds and destroy the three realms." Sylas closes the scroll and places it beside him. "When this prophecy was cast, we had little concern for it. No one knew how powerful these realms would become and how dependant this world would become on them. Over several generations the world started to tap into the different realms' powers, and even we here did not heed the vision and created you and your sisters as ways to enter and use the realms for our ends. It seems that this boy you saw is the person the realms chose to try and separate our worlds, and he has locked you out of the Realm of Smoke while he does. Your sisters work is still being completed as we speak, I can sense it, so he has not yet touched the realms of Balance or Radiance. If he does manage to sever these connections, the world we know may no longer exist."

Sylas stands, replacing the scroll on the shelf before leaving the library, beckoning for Shade to follow suit. He walks over to one of the guards and whispers something to him. The guard walks off through one of the doors, and Sylas turns back to Shade. "I need you to enter Ferma, find this boy, and eliminate him."

"But how, my powers are weakening. It near kills me transporting to Ferma through the Realm of Shadows when I am at my most powerful, and I am nowhere near my most powerful anymore."

The guard re-enters the room holding two small purple crystals which he hands to Sylas. "These are transmatter crystals." He holds them out and Shade takes them both. "They were developed by the Circle of Grulm, but your older sisters alleviated them of a few nearly two years back. They use the power of large crystals they call the World Anchors to transport people across our world through Ferma, the lucky side effect of this being that they can be used to enter Ferma quite easily. The downside is that coming back will transport you to one of these world anchors, the closest of which is a weeklong hike across Grulm territory before you enter the safety of the Broken Sky again. But should your mission be successful, your connection to the Realm of Smoke should be restored, and you should be able to use it to transport back here instantly, or transport wherever it is you wish to go."

Sylas and Shade exit out of the large wooden doors back onto the planes of ash once again. He places a hand on Shade's shoulder, kneeling down so their eyes are level. "To use a crystal, you must think of where you want to go, and then crush the crystal in your hand."

Shade takes a few steps back and holds one of her crystals in her hand, closing her eyes and picturing the boy she had seen, hoping the crystal will take her at least close to him. She crushes the crystal and purple blades of light engulf her. Sylas yells over the sound of the crystal doing its work. "Remember, the fate of this world rests on you. I believe in you Shade, don't let us down."

As soon as the lights appeared, they then stopped. Sylas is left looking at the empty plane of ash before turning around and re-entering the building.

Shade opened her eyes, she is in a dark room, smaller than her cell with the only light coming from a small slit under the door. She steadies herself before opening the door a crack. On the other side is a hallway, filled with people. The crystal worked, she made it.