I called an emergency meeting.
Cole was still out searching for Claude, so we were short one leader—but this couldn't wait.
I stood at the head of the table and told them everything.
The hidden message in my mother's letter. The capitalized letters. The word they spelled.
Illuminati.
"When I was a child," I said, "my parents were running from something. I never knew what. Now I do."
The room was silent.
"The Illuminati are the oldest known organization in existence," I continued. "Older than Mazza. Older than the Casters. And far more dangerous."
Flake crossed her arms. "How dangerous?"
"Dangerous enough that my parents spent my entire childhood hiding from them."
That was enough.
The Law
We drafted legislation that night.
Anyone found working for the Illuminati would be charged with war crimes—punishable by banishment or death.
We signed it unanimously.
By morning, the law was posted across the city—markets, shops, message boards, even delivered by mail.
If the Illuminati had agents in Forsaken, they would know we weren't hiding.
The First Letter
That evening, I returned home.
Another letter sat on my doorstep.
No return address. No sender name.
I opened it.
"This letter is to the leader of Forsaken—Zero, the Dark Magic Knight.
This message is from a power far greater than your own. In short: this message is from the Illuminati.
We are issuing a warning.
If you—or any other ancient-powered being—attempt to tamper with realms beyond your own, we will be forced to rewrite the world's population and eliminate every source of ancient power.
This is not a threat. It is a warning.
If you tamper with realms that are not yours to touch, you will be the cause of the apocalypse."
The paper ignited in my hands.
It burned to ash in seconds—then the ash dissolved into nothing.
I stood frozen.
Tamper with realms.
Then it hit me.
When we last fought Mazza—when the blue knight pushed us through that portal—we escaped the realm of the dead.
And we never closed the gate behind us.
Containment
I couldn't let this spread.
I wrote letters to every leader explaining what had happened. I gave them to a messenger with strict instructions: hand-deliver only.
The next morning, we convened again.
The situation had worsened.
We had no choice.
We closed the gates.
No one in. No one out. Goods and providers only.
Citizens protested. Some filed written complaints. Others simply didn't believe us.
But we couldn't risk exposure—not with something this dangerous.
The Second Letter
Hours later, another letter arrived.
Again—no name. No origin.
I opened it with trembling hands.
"This message is from the Illuminati.
To Zero, leader of Forsaken—this is a personal letter from the leader of the Illuminati himself.
Someone has opened a portal to the realm of the dead. We told you to keep this under control.
Now the timeline is being tampered with. Things are crawling out—things we have no power over.
We are beginning the apocalypse. NOW."
The letter burst into flames.
I dropped it before the fire reached my fingers.
And in that moment, I understood.
This wasn't us.
This was Mazza.
The Plan
The other leaders had received the same letter.
We gathered immediately.
"We need to draw them out," I said. "The Illuminati. If we can make contact, maybe we can explain—"
"How?" Jax interrupted. "They're not exactly sending us invitations."
Cedric stepped forward.
"I learned something a long time ago. From my teacher. It's more myth than fact, but..."
"What?" I pressed.
"The Illuminati were said to be non-earthly beings. They arrived here thousands of years ago. And they have one weakness—or rather, one trigger."
"Which is?"
"You have to provoke them. Do something they can't ignore. Something forbidden."
"Like what?"
"Summoning gods. Resurrecting the dead. Contacting spirits." He paused. "Crossing realms."
The room went quiet.
I paced back and forth, arms crossed.
Then I stopped.
"What if we crossed realms—and came back—without bringing anything with us?"
Jax shook her head. "That's insane. We don't even know if that's possible without causing damage."
Flake looked at her. "We don't have a choice. We die if we don't try."
Cole nodded. "I'm in."
Jack agreed.
Jax hesitated—but eventually relented.
The Ritual
The four of us—the Dark Magic Knights—stood in a circle.
We closed our eyes.
And channeled our magic together.
The energy swirled between us—black and green and blue and gold—merging into something that looked like the night sky. Stars. Nebulae. Colors I had no name for.
The portal opened.
Wind howled around us. The ground shook. The moon above turned blood red.
We stepped back, holding onto each other.
Hands reached through the portal—pale, rotting, desperate. But the containment spell held. They couldn't escape.
Thunder cracked across the sky.
A flash of light—
SPARK.
The In-Between
Blinding white.
Nothing else.
Then a voice.
"You were warned. And now... we cannot say what will happen to you."
Energy flooded through me—raw, overwhelming.
The light grew brighter.
Another SPARK.
The Forest
I woke on the ground.
Leaves beneath me. Trees above. A sky I didn't recognize.
Everything looked normal—but something felt wrong.
I stood and started walking.
Minutes later, I heard a voice. Yelling. Familiar.
"ZERO!"
Cedric.
I ran toward him. We met in a clearing, breathless.
"What happened?" I asked. "Where are we?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Another land. Maybe another world."
Jax and Flake found us shortly after.
But Cole and Jack were still missing.
We searched for hours.
The Grasslands
Eventually, we left the forest and reached open plains.
We made a fire. Rested.
Jax pulled out the locating map—and frowned.
"It's not picking up anything. It doesn't know where we are."
Flake stared into the flames. "I don't think we're just somewhere else."
"What do you mean?"
"When we transported... I heard a voice. It said, 'You'll be visiting another time for the time being.'"
We looked at each other.
"We're not lost in space," I realized. "We're lost in time."
The Goblin
We decided to find a town. Ask questions. Get answers.
We hadn't walked far when something rustled in the tall grass.
I stepped forward cautiously.
A head popped out—small, green, and shiny.
"Hello, travelers."
We all jumped back, startled.
The creature crawled out fully. It was short, gangly, covered in moss-like skin.
"My apologies," it said cheerfully. "Many people react that way."
"What are you?" I demanded.
"Me? I'm a grass goblin." It tilted its head. "And you are?"
"Z-Zero. Where are we?"
The goblin smiled.
"Not from here, I see. This is the Land of the Great Gods."
"Who are these gods?"
Its mouth opened to answer—
SNAP.
The Illuminati
We were back in the white void.
All of us—Cedric, Jax, Flake, Cole, Jack.
And standing before us: five figures.
Tall. Radiant. Not human.
One of them spoke.
"You have caused many problems for us. Why do you insist on tampering with things that are not meant to be touched?"
We couldn't move. Couldn't speak.
I forced the words out.
"It wasn't us. Not the first time. A wizard named Mazza opened the portal. We only did it a second time to get your attention."
Silence.
The figure stepped forward.
"I am Juumaa. Leader of the Illuminati."
His presence was suffocating. Ancient beyond measure.
"Mazza, you say." Juumaa's expression darkened. "He seeks to draw more power. But we cannot stop him. He has reached our level—and we are forbidden from interfering directly."
He looked at me.
"But you are not."
The Mission
Juumaa raised his hand.
"We will send you back. Five minutes before you opened the portal."
White energy flowed from his palm into each of us.
I felt it surge through my veins—warm, electric, alive.
"You have been given a fraction of our strength," he said. "Use it wisely."
The void began to collapse around us.
"Stop Mazza. Before it's too late."
SNAP.
Return
We stood in the same room.
The same moment.
Five minutes before the ritual.
I looked at the others.
They felt it too—the power humming beneath our skin.
"We need to find Mazza," I said.
"Now."