Crystal Folly

A Sacred Plane

Back at the hotel, Ender was making sure everyone was there and accounted for before leading them downstairs to eat breakfast, which everyone, except for Luna, was content with. "Hey Luna, don't be so down about it. We do appreciate your cooking, but this time we really can't wait for it. It's almost noon, and we all follow that time rule strictly because of training," he told her when he noticed how much slower she was moving compared to everyone else.

"Oh, alright, fine. But no desserts unless I make them. That goes for everyone," Luna replied, picking up her pace shortly afterwards. Once they got to the bottom of the stairs, she summoned Starmourn so that she could walk around a bit.

"Ender, you saw something weird last night, too, right?" Johann randomly asked, hoping to get the answer he was looking for.

"You mean that place with all the mountains and caves? Yep, I saw it," Ender answered. "It felt like someone else was there that isn't related to us, though, but the presence felt like me. Maybe we've got more magic than anyone thought."

Milo was checking his notebook, making sure everything added up. "It sounds like a cool place. Maybe try going there while you're awake," he told them, his nose still deep in his notes.

"Well how are we supposed to do that if it's just a dream?" Ender joked. It took him a second before realizing that he was serious. "How much money do you think we have, Milo? We can't just go everywhere because of something we saw in a dream. You know that, right?"

Johann peeked at the notebook, almost doing a double take when he saw how much was written. "You plan on keeping this from us or..." he began before reading the top line. "The Kloud Plane? Why does that sound so familiar?"

"Because I've jokingly said it a few dozen times whenever I felt your magic was just that powerful," Milo answered. "Now that you brought up something about it, I guess it wasn't the best idea to joke about it. It's actually at least a hundred years old, so there's that." It was then that Ender snatched the book and read for himself.

So this is what that's been the entire time?! he thought. He flipped through the pages of Milo's book and was impressed by all of the details he put into it. "How did you even find out about this? Is there someone else speaking to you about this?" he asked, very confused about how he knew much more about something that's related to him and his siblings than they did.

"I've been having really strange dreams. A girl that looks kinda like me keeps telling me more information about it every time I have it and constantly reminds me to give it to you guys, but she's apparently from a different timeline than we are...whatever that means," Milo explained. "So after I woke up from each one of them, I wrote whatever Mina told me so that I wouldn't forget." As soon as he finished talking, Ender began to sit in his normal position, legs crossed and arms behind him, yet looked as if he was in a trance.

"Wait, you're going there now? Ender, at least let someone else see it with you! They just need to be in contact with you until you're both there," Johann shouted. Upon hearing that, Stella immediately jumped up and grabbed his left arm just moments before they both emitted a gas that looked very similar to the cosmos above them, covering them from view for a brief period. When it cleared, they were both in the same positions as they were previously, but looked more similar to holograms.

"What do we do now? Mina never said anything about this!" Milo's confusion was not only left to him. Everyone was panicking except for Johann, who still had the book in his hands, flipping through the pages.

You won't find it in there, Mina hasn't told Milo how to handle this yet, a female voice in Johann's head told him. You just need to keep the two of them safe, but you are the only one that can move them. Oh, and sorry for the lack of introduction, I'm Sten from the Delta timeline.

Wait, hang on, Delta timeline? And someone named Mina is there with you? Johann replied. How are you talking to me freely like this? You're not a Klouden, are you?

Mina isn't one, but she's good with her dream magic. Enderia and I can do this whenever one of you is in the Plane. We'll have to meet there to continue our conversation, Ender and Stella are about to return. With that final comment, her presence disappeared from the room as the two began to move again.

"I saw someone else there this time, Johann. Milo wasn't wrong, we aren't alone," Ender exclaimed.

Backing him up, Stella added, "I met myself from another timeline. It looks like there's more of us than we realized."

"If that's the case, we've also got more help than we knew we had in some situations. We'll probably need some later on, but the most we can do is have conversations with them about their timelines," Luna decided, surprising everyone. "How about we wait on Arthur to come back before we do anything else, since he's our main navigator?"

"Speaking of whom, I know exactly where he is. I'll be back later," Stella told the group before flying towards her sister's house. Johann stretched before he spoke.

"If that's that, we can go wait upstairs until later, I guess.