Prologue

         The kingdoms of Imagina bathed in unsettling shadow, storm clouds hanging heavy above its once happy lands. Every creature hid from the oncoming storm in fear of what it may entail for them. Each soul had found a hiding place somewhere within the frightened arms of the ones they loved, clinging tightly to one another as if to never let go, because the air carried danger on its lips, and death lingered lost on the wind that swept in from the north where the clouds hung darkest. Silence filled the void as all the kingdoms waited for the storm to pass. Every eye lay upon the horror that was befalling the north. Even Illumina castle was hushed by the storm, where things were known for being bright.
     But even in such silence there were a few small voices in the castle that dared to speak, even though they were nearly silenced by the thunder that was ripping through the skies as if it were nothing more than a sheet of paper protecting the Earth from the glimmering stars.
     At the highest point of the blinding white castle, a small girl stood patiently upon a grand balcony, gazing at the fires that tore through the dark kingdom in the north like a rampaging beast. She appeared to be not much beyond the age of seven years old, and yet she was older than the very land she walked upon.  Her hair was a gradient of sunlit shades and cascaded in loose curls just past her shoulders - but her face was hidden away behind a white veiled mask that had not once left her face in the presence of her people, conveying an everlasting happiness. In fact, not one creature in the land knew what she looked like without it. For the most part, she would have appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary girl in a strange place hiding behind a mask, if it hadn’t been for the two vast angel �" like wings that protruded so delicately from the space in between her small shoulder blades. The Queen of Illumina stared at the flames engulfing the kingdom of Noct, watching as the innocent were turned into monsters before her very eyes, and yet did nothing to stop it. Even from as far away as she was from the source of such evil, she could still feel the might of its power. She did not dare interfere. Such a power was far too strong for her to manage. If she had tried to face its might she would almost definitely fail; her kingdom left in a state of vulnerability.
     The Queen set her dainty hands upon the banister, directing her eyes painfully away from the nightmare she was bearing witness to. With effort she drew in a long, shaking breath. Water droplets finally began to fall from the haunted sky, pattering soft against the grounds, and yet the Queen could not be disturbed by them. She merely watched them fall, leaving their dark speckles of wetness across her balcony, and as she watched she pondered if it was due to the severe evil in the neighboring kingdom that had brought upon such an unfriendly rain.
     From behind the Queen, two large and grandly decorated golden bay doors opened with a soft creak. Behind them stood a rather lanky young man in a strange, brown, butler-like uniform. His coffee colored hair was unkempt, and from atop his head two rather large rabbit ears twitched at the hint of danger. The young man’s bright eyes fixed themselves on the queen expectantly. She of course could sense he was there, even without turning to see.
     “Your majesty,” The man began, calling over the wind. “The rain has begun to fall. I advise you bring yourself inside at once - at a time like this we cannot afford for you to fall ill again. You know your body cannot handle such disastrous weather!”
     The Queen did not respond right away. Already the rain had turned itself into a downpour, but the young girl was still unfazed. She raised her hand to rub her chest, feeling her small lungs ache as they were beginning to feel crushed by the power raging so near.
     “I can feel him.” She replied, her back still to the visitor. The rabbit butler looked at her with great patience, listening intently to her words. When she said nothing more, he too stepped out into the storm by her side.
     “Your majesty?” He questioned. The Queen still clutched her chest in pain. He touched her shoulder gently for support. “What exactly do you mean, ‘him’?”
     At last she turned to the rabbit man, who must have only been in his early twenties at best. Her bright eyes fixated onto his features from behind her mask as if his was the last she’d ever see.
     “I can feel him. The darkness, polluting Noct with unspeakable evil, conjured into the form of a man that is not what he seems,” Her gaze returned to the hopelessly falling kingdom. “and I can do nothing to save them...those poor innocents…those poor families…”
     The rabbit and the queen stood together for a moment in silence, drenched by the storm.
     “I’m afraid we cannot always save them all, my Queen…” Sighed the rabbit man.
     “Whatever it is…wherever he came from, he won’t stop there.” The Queen concluded, her eyes vacant as she stared into the distance. “ This I can assure you, my dear friend.”
     “What happened to the royal family? Why have they not fought back?”
     The small queen shook her head in dismay. Her rabbit butler stared at her in shock, understanding the gesture.
     “Even the prince?”
     “No one knows what happened to him…rumors say he vanished just before the fall, and no sign of him has been seen since.”
     “But what about his betrothed? Was she…?”
     “He had left her behind…I can’t say if she’s still alive.”
     The butler shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Rain continued to fall, increasing in momentum as it plummeted to the earth like miniature meteors, drenching the two of them to the bone. “What do we do to stop it?” He asked over the sound of rain. The young Queen looked up at him without reply, lost and afraid, seeming much more like a regular child now with such a look dwelling in her eyes. The rabbit felt uneasy. Seeing his queen at a loss for solutions always made him nervous. He fought the fear away.
     After many moments had passed, the Queen raised her small hands up and outstretched them toward the heavens, the shallow sleeves of her dress falling down the length of her arms. From her fingertips a soft, illuminating light began to glow.
     “I don’t have enough power to protect the whole world from this evil, but I certainly know we cannot save the rest of Imagina if we ourselves are not safe. At least this I can manage.”
     From her fingertips the heavenly light began to spread around the outer edges of Illumina like a golden liquid, forming a force field that instantly became invisible around the entirety of the light kingdom. It was obvious to the rabbit man that this act of magic was taking a great deal of energy away from the Queen, who promptly fell to the balcony floor in exhaustion as soon as the force field was finished. Alarmed, he helped her back to her feet, lending his body to her aid. The rain still fell through as if the force field didn’t exist at all.
     “No matter what happens, we must protect our people at all costs, and in doing so we must do what we can to save others.” The Queen huffed, trying to catch her breath.
      Suddenly the Queen pulled away from her butlers care and turned toward the double doors, a weak march to the protection of the inside.
     “My Queen?” The rabbit man called over the rain.
     “I have only one chance to stop this. One hope. One way.”
     “And what would that be?” The butler replied, scurrying in behind her and closing the balcony doors in a rushing effort to keep out the storm.
     “Simple.” The Queen said firmly, turning once more to face him. “We find the one who can face the darkness �" the one that can become stronger than me.”
     The rabbit man stopped short of his next step, taken aback by such a remark. He couldn’t think of anyone that was stronger than his tiny Queen, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet the one that was.
     “But your majesty, how will you ever find someone whom can harness such ability?”
     The Queen did not answer him. She continued to stride toward her throne room focusing on the matter at hand. She hurried from her chambers through hall after hall and stair after stair, until she reached a brilliantly decorated set of gilded double doors, adorned with white, pearly swirls dancing across its surface. Pearl angels were also carved into its beauty, arms outstretched and reaching their way eternally toward a shining sun. The small Queen pushed them open, gliding elegantly into the throne room and down the stairs that surrounded the golden hierarchy chair.
     The throne room was the largest room in the castle, having doubled as a room for grand balls and parties. The most noticeable part of the room was indeed the throne itself, which was oddly set high atop a pillard structure like a perch for a bird. The chair was made from a gold that could not even be found in all of Imagina. It was embedded with the finest diamonds and resembled the sun. The cushions were of the finest material available, and from the bottom of the royal seat white veils fell. Stair cases descended around the throne in a way that almost mimicked a set of wings, framing the place where the queen was most seen. A smaller set of stairs led from the throne to a tiled floor that was shiny enough for one to perfectly see their reflection, and a long yellow carpet lead from the foot of the chair to the wide double doors separating the room from the brilliant courtyard outside. Wide, roman pillars swirled their way to the top of the cathedral like ceiling that was adorned with more angelic carvings. In the center of the ceiling was a wide, glass dome that revealed the dark clouds pouring down on them from above. Taller sections of the castle could be seen rising in the distance, but were currently faded out by the storm.
     The room was filled with frightened subjects, murmuring quietly to one another under their breath. Most of them had a set of angel wings folded behind their backs like great birds, each set proportionate to each individual body size. Usually the Queen’s subjects would be out flying around the kingdom able to do as they pleased, but none of them dared be out in such an ominous storm even as their wings ached for the sky. Each subject noticed the tiny Queen at once as she glided with ease down the many stairs, her abnormally large wings sweeping behind her steps, but she did not stop to address them. Without hesitation she crossed the large room and met with a large man that stood away from the rest. Like the Queen’s butler, he had strange ears that protruded from his shoulder length and dirty blonde colored hair, but his resembled ears of a wolf. He didn’t turn to face her. Instead he continued to analyze the kingdom’s silk flag that hung on the wall. The edges were gilded with gold in the form of gentle swirls and the crest was a sun with wings. Even the bottom of the flag was designed to look like wings. He shook his wolfish head at it.
     “You’ve really got to do something about all this angel crap.” The man said to his Queen. “It becomes really boring after a while.”
     The Queen looked at him from behind her mask, unfazed by his laid back attitude and lack of respect. Her butler gave him a parental-like, but not surprised look that clearly expected better of him.
     “Commander,” The Queen said patiently. Even though she covered it well, the Commander still detected the fear in her voice. An ear twitched. One of the many aspects of being part wolf and part man included having instincts that other creatures could not match. There was very little others could hide from him, even the Queen, who had known him the longest in Illumina. He instantly looked down at her, and then crouched to her level. The commander was young, about the same age as the butler, and yet his face was already hardened from years of uncharted pain and torment. His piercing, sky blue eyes hunted for the Queen’s beyond her mask. A wolf hunting for a butterfly.
     “What is it?” He asked her with concern.
     The Queen graciously took his gloved hand that could easily engulf her own, holding it tightly as if it were a lifeline.
     “My dear Commander…all this time you have been so misunderstood by those surrounding you, but today my friend, you have finally received your chance to prove that they were wrong. Please, follow me. We have very important matters to attend to, and I’m afraid they mean both life and death for not only the lands we share, but for all of Imagina itself.”
     The Commander gazed deeply at the tiny Queen, his usual sarcasm and attitude gone altogether. He wasn’t sure what she may have meant, but it was clear she needed him more than usual. Seeing as how he owed his very life to this small girl he was compelled to do anything she asked of him, and no matter what it was he was always happy to oblige. The Commander nodded and rose back to his normal height, glancing at the butler. They shared eye contact for merely a moment, as if to share a silent greeting with one another before following their Queen to the highest point in the castle.

     The storm raged on like an infuriated lion, its mane made of water droplets and lightning for its claws. In the northern kingdom of Noct the fires continued to lick at everything in their path, hungry for life and thirsting for desolation. It seemed that even though this was one of the heaviest storms Imagina had ever had, the fire was of some sort of magic origin and could not be quelled by the rain. The strange trio stood drenched at the highest point of the castle on another balcony. This one was high enough for the clouds to drift past like a fog, as if it were a landing pad. They all watched the fire in dismay. Nothing else could be seen through the storm, which had reached an almost painful velocity.
     “My Queen, whatever it is that you have planned on this dark day I must insist that you do it with haste. I do not want to see you fall ill in a time like this!”
     “What are we doing out here in this goddamn storm anyway?!” The Commander called over the roar of rain.
     “We’re catching a ride!”
     The Queen ran to the edge of the strange landing pad, lifting her tiny hands once again into the air. This time the magic eminated from her palms. Bright disks of light emerged from them as she waved her hands like searchlights amongst the clouds. The Commander looked at the butler confused, but the butler could not make sense of it either. Suddenly, from beyond the clouds a glass Pegasus the size of a train car descended from the sky, a great golden carriage that resembled a small one room church attached to its girth by harness. With ease it landed in the center of the landing pad balcony, the sound of chimes coming from its footsteps. The great Pegasus bowed before the Queen.
     “There you are my dear,” The Queen said to the see �" through horse. From a hidden compartment in her dress she fished out small chunks of what seemed like diamond, feeding them to the creature who took them happily. She stroked its glass mane with care. “My payment for such trouble.” Once more her attention returned to the two men. “Dear butler, please, I ask that you stay here. In order to keep our people safe, you must pretend that I am still in the castle. The barrier should keep you safe, but just to be sure we should not let my departure be known.”
     The butler nodded with understanding.
     “As you wish, you majesty." he replied
     “Commander, please step up to the carriage.”
     Hesitantly, the wolf man obeyed, his long white cape dragging sopping wet and heavy behind his feet. The small girl met with him at the carriage doors. He attempted to open the doors like a gentlemen for his Queen, but they would not budge. Confused, the Commander felt his cheeks begin to burn with embarrassment.
     “I apologize, but I’m afraid only Seraphim kind can open this carriage.” The Queen said to him. He relinquished its handles as the Queen opened them with ease, a soft light coming from within. She turned a final time to her butler. “Please, protect them in my absence. I know you are stronger than you pretend to be,” and with that she crawled inside the vessel with her Commander close behind.
     Inside the carriage it seemed unlike a carriage altogether. There were elegant couches meant for relaxation at the front and back of the vessel, with red velvet cushions and intricate golden edges. A beautiful hardwood coffee table sat between the couches. On top of its surface sat a radiant teapot that never went empty with tiny teacups to match it, and plates of small snack cakes and cookies of every sweet flavor a sweet could have. At the head of the carriage was a bar that functioned even without a bartender, and half of it was also a coffee station built for early mornings. At the back there was a built in refrigerator with an inside as big as the throne room and an oven that popped out fully cooked food in less than a minute no matter what you asked for. Next to the oven was a small hallway that led to a rather large bathroom with a shower and hot tub included. A fireplace was settled in the wall opposite of the doors, and a grand chandelier hung from the high ceiling. The Commander stopped in awe at the sight of it, confused as to how something with this much room could have been compacted to look like nothing more than an ordinary carriage. Granted, it was bigger than most carriages to begin with, even on the outside, but on the inside it was big enough to be a small castle of its own. The Queen motioned for him to sit at the couch opposite of her. As he walked to the place where she wanted him not only did he realize there was a very detailed carpet embroidered with an image of heaven underfoot, but his entire body and uniform had become instantly dry upon entry. Star struck by the beauty of the carriage, he sat, knowing this was a place he didn’t belong in. The Queen sat too in all of her elegance and prepared to delicately snack on a small strawberry flavored cake.
     “Uh…" The Commander twitched an ear at her, still unable to stop looking at everything in the room.
     The tiny queen examined the small cake and proceeded to eat the strawberry off the top of its pink, whipped icing surface. Her eyes met his through the mask with all of the patience in the universe. The Commander awkwardly stared back at her.
     “I know this is a lot to handle right now, but I assure you it is unavoidable.”
     The wolfish man merely blinked at her, trying to process her words.
     “What are we doing my Queen?” He asked, lowering his ears just as an uneasy dog would have.
     The young girl took a bite of the cake, as if contemplating how to answer, but what came next wasn’t an answer at all.
     “Please, try a cake. They are the best thing you will ever eat, I promise.”
     The Commander simply glanced at them, uninterested. She sighed.
      “My explanation will come soon.”
      Silence crossed them.
     “Tell me why you are afraid.” The commander asked directly.
     After a moment the Queen set down the half eaten cake on a delicate, lace napkin. ”I don’t know what will happen.”
     “Nothing will happen to you on my watch, I swear. You know better.”
     The Queens focus returned to the cake.
     "And that is why I chose you."
     Moments of silence passed between them again, until at last she spoke once more.
     “We’re here.”
     The Queen’s Commander looked at her confused. The carriage had in fact not moved at all, or at least he hadn’t felt it move. But sure enough, the Queen stood with grace and crossed the area, opening the doors to reveal a place made from bright, sunny clouds instead of land. They must have traveled far above the storm, if not straight through it. With hesitance the Commander followed her out.
     The air was clearer here than it was down below, cleaner, as if there was no cleaner air that existed, and the temperature was perfect. The glass Pegasus snorted and settled itself into a resting position as it waited for the condensation from the storm to evaporate off of its body. Beyond the carriage were magnificent clouds in the shape of grand canyon-like walls, and up ahead was a set of golden gates that would not budge open no matter the effort applied. The Commander nervously tested the safety of the ground made from clouds with the end of his silver boot before attempting to slowly stand on it. He was not very fond of heights. The Queen of course, had already swept ahead, cloud dust swirling up around her dress with every elegant step. Abruptly she stopped a few yards away from the gate as the Commander caught up to her side. As he did so, she lowered herself onto one knee, and in turn the Commander followed suit.
     All at once the cloud walls seemed to begin to crumble. They shifted and they shook, delicate whirlwinds of beauty forming their way into something new. As the two of them watched, the whisps of cloud formed into thick, giant, cumulonimbus guardians with a shoulder width that matched the length of football fields. The giant that stood on the left resembled the form of a man, his counterpart resembling more of a woman. Each of them were armed; swords with blades of thunderstorms and shields made from flattened tornadoes. The two of them stood on either side of the gate with their weapons drawn, and turned their bulky heads in the direction of the tiny beings below.
     “Who…wishes…to…pass…through…the gates…of heaven?” They droned in unison.
      “It is I, the Queen of Illumina, and I wish for an audience with lady Astra!” The small girl cried with all of her might. “It is of great importance for not only all of Imagina, but for our world and the heavens alike!”
     The two cloud giants looked at each other as if to question the Queen’s truth. After a moment of consideration, the male giant put away his weapons and bent toward the Queen, offering a large, outstretched hand. The Queen stood and politely stepped upon it, dragging the Commander behind.
     “Hold on tight!” She said.
     Before the Commander had a chance to respond, the giant was already rising and going on his way, causing him to almost fall off at a fatal height had he not hastily wrapped his arms around the giants thumb. The Queen was holding onto the giant’s ring finger, and could not do much to help as the Commander failed to squirm back into its palm. His waist hung wildly over the edge and it took everything the Commander had to not be knocked free by the giant’s heavy footsteps. Seeing his struggle, the giant repositioned him on a safer part of its hand just in time for the Commander to see the golden gates close behind them. The female giant stood on the other side, guarding the gate alone.
     Even though he knew he shouldn’t, the Commander allowed himself to peek over the edge of the giant’s palm at paradise. Down below there were endless fields and forests to roam, wolf children running around playfully fighting with one another. There were shady spots and sunny spots and beauty beyond belief at every endless corner, with happy homes and golden roads and training grounds that were always busy. There were bars with food and ale that never ended, fresh cooked meat and beautiful women galore. In the distance was a large oak tree, with a family of wolf people having a picnic underneath. There were two parents that he thought he had seen before, and a small boy with blonde hair being loved by them even though he was a bit unruly. The Commander looked at it as if it was odd, and turned to question his queen who merely smiled at him.
     “Heaven is different for everyone. After all, if it was the same for everyone, it may not be heaven to someone else, now would it?”
     The Commander looked down at his own heaven again, and saw how she was right. His heaven must not have been nearly the same as his Queen’s.
     “What do you see?”
     The Queen giggled, almost embarrassed by the question.
     “I see an endless land made of candy and sweets.” She admitted. The Commander laughed, shaking his head.
     “Typical.” He smiled and turned his attention back to the familiar looking family, who were now packing up and getting ready to head back home to wherever they lived. The father picked up the child and squeezed him tight before lifting him playfully into the air. He watched as the boy’s mother hugged him too, kissing the boy’s father lovingly as he set the boy down. The Mother and father worked together to pick up their things and stood on either side of the boy, holding hands as they departed.
     Something in the Commander’s heart winced, and he turned away from the scene. It was strange, why did they seem familiar? The Queen could feel the essence of his pain, but said nothing.
     As the two of them rode on in the palm of the giant, paradise slowly vanished into nothing more but cloud again. There was nothing now but a grand castle floating high above the cloudy lands in the distance, a galaxy of stars as a backdrop even though the sun was still glinting off of its surface from behind them. The Commander stared off at it through the giant’s fingertips as they headed toward its elegance. He had never seen another building more beautiful than this - or as vast as this - not even the grand Illumina castle, which had always stood as a ray of hope throughout all of Imagina’s lands.
     The giant approached the area beneath the castle in all of its selective silence and came to a stop as his passengers gazed up at the castle in the sky. Without fear nor question, the giant uttered words in a heavenly tongue and continued on its way, stepping upon a staircase of stars that formed with every step.
     When  the group reached the top, the Commander noticed the castle was made from a pearly sort of gold. Swiftly the giant crossed a courtyard so grand it must have spanned the length of several football fields, and as he left the giants grasp at the castle doors and stood much higher than any of his kind had ever been he felt mildly light headed. Breathing in deeply the air of otherworldly kind, he pondered if this is what touching the stars might’ve felt like. Even so, if it wasn’t, they certainly were close enough. His ear twitched at an unnamed wind without an origin.
     “Thank you, Nimbus.” The Queen said gratuitously to the giant, nodding in its direction with appreciation. The cloud giant placed a hand over its chest and nodded politely in return. Once again it stood, and silently began his return to his post at the gates. “Come,” the Queen beckoned, breaking the Commanders star stricken trance, “we do not have much time left to falter.”
     The doors to heaven’s castle automatically drifted open as the two of them approached its proximity. On the inside, the castle seemed to continue on forever, as if it was its own universe designed to be a building. The whole castle seemed to do nothing but rise within itself, almost like a mountain of hallways and rooms that all rose up to meet in one specific place that couldn’t be seen from where the Commander stood with his Queen. There were staircases that rose so high they disappeared from sight. Even the ceiling to the castle couldn’t be seen, for it was so high that there was its very own atmosphere blocking it from view. Perhaps a ceiling didn’t even exist at all. Strange, seraphim-like beings bustled back and forth. The surface of their skin were odd, bright colors that seemed to shine with a weird sort of glow. They rushed to places of unknown importance as if this castle was nothing more than a huge office, unaware of the new arrivals. Everything glittered like pearl and gold dancing together beneath the embrace of the sun, and even here, clouds swirled like a gentle fog across the floor. The sickening sensation of feeling small swept over the Commander.
     The Queen hurriedly guided the Commander across the largest room he had ever set foot in, if it was even a room at all rather than a large field that merely resembled a room, and to a set of breathtakingly beautiful double doors that were of equal, unbelievable size, miles above their heads. Upon their glossy surface was the most elegant portrayal of a galaxy of stars. Looking closer, one would realize in fact that this galaxy was actually in motion �" swirling in slow spirals, forever stuck in perpetual movement. Again, the doors opened at their approaching presence. On the other side was a long hallway lit by floating orbs of unknown material, and at the end of a long purple carpet underneath their feet stood a black spiral staircase that led to the top of a very tall and dark tower. As they moved, the orbs followed as if they had a curiosity about them toward the visitors.
     After what seemed like forever, the Commander finally stood at the top of the stairs with the Queen. He took deep, labored breaths. The orbs that had lit their path drifted lazily around them, as if happy for company. In front of them was yet another set of galactic double doors, but these did not open at their arrival. Instead, they simply swirled patiently. There were no handles to grab them by.
     Having caught her breath much faster than the Commander, the Queen politely knocked, and from the other side they heard the echo of a woman’s gentle voice.
     “Please come in, whoever you are. Just please mind your heads upon entry.”
     The doors swung open.
     Before them now was a dark blue room surrounded with a real galaxy, constantly shifting and changing into different realities and worlds. The orbs of light retreated as they entered. Directly above them hovered tiny stars that provided a soft blue and purple light to the entrance, forcing the Commander to duck just a little as his Queen merely trotted through. He wanted to touch one as they passed, but decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to touch a burning star.They crossed a glass bridge that led to a large, golden sphere with various astronomical symbols etched in. On top of it stood the strangest creature the Commander had ever seen. He found himself staring at her.
     Standing on top of this golden sphere stood a woman who must have been nearly nine feet tall, manipulating small, transparent screens and reading different star signs from different galaxies as if it were a control panel, but it was not her height, nor her actions that had caused the Commander to stare. No, in fact it was her hair, which never stopped moving, swirling mesmerizingly all the way down to her heels. In her hair were even smaller galaxies and constellations, hues of purple and pink and blue. Even her skin sparkled with the essence of starlight, all of space humming beneath her glowing lavender skin. She looked over her shoulder at them and smiled with the night sky on her lips and the moon in her eyes.
     “Oh! It’s you!” She exclaimed at the sight of the Queen. “How long has it been my dear sunshine?” Hurriedly she tapped the phantasmal screens, and the constantly shifting space around them slowed. Gracefully she dismounted the Atlas sphere to greet them. An orb that had snuck in attempted now to hide in the Commanders cape.
     “How lovely it is to see you again after all this time, Queen of Illumina. I’ve been so dreadfully lonely for all these years in this room.”
     “Hello Lady Astra, it is quite nice to visit with you again, but I’m afraid I did not come for a cup of tea and chatter.” The Queen frowned. “There is disaster threatening to overtake our world, and I fear it doesn’t plan to stop there.”
     The expression on Lady Astra’s face changed quickly from happiness to fear. She looked at the Commander, questioning.
     “I have brought the Commander of my army with me, in the hopes that I can ask a favor of you.”
     With dismay, the star goddess sighed and nodded. “Whatever you need, old friend.”
     “I’m afraid I do not have the correct strength to face this threat…so I am in need of sending him across the astronomical planes to find someone who does. Someone who has only kindness in their heart and cannot be tainted by the impurity of the dark’s intentions.”
     “But how will he find such a person out of all these deminsions?”
     “With this.” From the hidden pocket in the Queen’s dress she pulled a small glowing form of aimless, white matter. It floated in her palm as if it were dye floating through water. Immediately Lady Astra looked at it with recognition, but the Queen still explained for the Commanders benefit. “This is purity, in its raw state. Before it touches the heart of anyone, before it heals any broken soul. A gift to our people from the king of heaven himself, and when it was so graciously bestowed upon my ancestors, we were told that if our light is ever about to die out, use it to find our salvation.”
     The Commander looked at it with confusion. “But why you, and not any other kingdoms?”
     “The residents of Illumina began as soldiers. Twelve Guardians were sent to Imagina by the heavens, to see if creatures of heaven could reside on a mortal plane. However, the more time that past, the more even those touched by heaven fell into sin, and so Heaven’s King was forced to abandon the idea. The event was titled "The Heavens Fall", and the seraphim that came from it were nicknamed "The Heavenfell" - a name meaning those that fell from grace in an effort to expand the glory of light. Over time, we decided that the name sounded saddening, a desperate way to cling to a plane we no longer belonged to, and so we changed it.” She frowned. “ Though despite The King being forced to turn the few guardians on Imagina mortal, he was kind enough to not only give us semi-longer life spans than normal creatures and limited access to heaven, but he had also given us a single fail-safe.” She looked at her Commander patiently. “We are the descendents of his direct warriors."
     “But how will this gob of glow-ie, swirly, "Heavenfall" angel dust help us get anywhere?”
     The Queen sighed once more. “It is also said, throughout some stories and speculation, that over the decades of our life on a mortal plane, that there was one descendant of the Almighty who managed with forbidden magic in Imagina, crossing demensions. There are rumors that say she had a child with a mortal man, and blessed her with angelic touch so that she may not be tainted by mortal hatred. A descendant who is both seraphim and human, and yet can face darkness without being tainted by it.”
     “But how? Why can’t you?”
     “Every living being in our land is affected by this evil…even I cannot stop this. Already I have begun to feel it weighing on my heart. It’s slowly diminishing my powers, and I’m sure I’m not the only one already feeling it happen. Creatures and beings all around our world are being weakened as we speak…unless they are of dark origin.” She looked the Commander over in dismay. “I would expect that your…alternative abilities, are beginning to enhance from this dark energy, which is plenty good for our side as long as we keep it under control.”
     Lady Astra looked at him in silent question. The Commander avoided her stare, providing no explanation as to what his Queen meant. She continued, “If we are able to find a being of light in another land, we may stand a chance. This, ‘Heaven-fall-angel-dust,’ will be able to locate them, if that person really exists."
     She brought the pearly matter to her lips and whispered.
     “Please, I beg of thee…find us our glimpse of light in this forboding darkness.”
     Immediately the matter shot like a rocket into the air, twisting and fighting wildly. As the form of it began to change the entire room began to shake, the stars beginning to flicker.  It was as if an earthquake had begun. The room began to fall apart from the force of the matter's energy. A chunk of the ceiling fell dangerously close, but the Commander pulled the Queen safely out of the way. He sheltered her with the bulk of his armored body as Lady Astra crawled back onto the wavering sphere, rapidly tapping screens and desperately trying to regain control of the room.
     “What the hell is going on?!” The Commander bellowed over the noise. Below him the Queen was frightened and equally confused.
     “I don’t know!” Lady Astra cried. “I don’t have control of the astronomical planes anymore!”
     Around them the room spun and shot through clusters of stars, whizzing past and driving on it’s own to an unknown location. Suddenly, the stars around them went out and at last there was silence.
     From behind the Commanders cape the orb drifted out, providing light to the room. Hesitantly the Commander uncovered his head and helped his Queen to her feet. Lady Astra was now fighting to reboot the system and regain control, but nothing worked.
     In the center of the room, a small necklace with a silver heart-shaped key on it floated suspended. The Commander looked up at it.
     “What in the hell is that?”
     “It’s the purity. It must have taken a form.” The Queen said softly, still shaken.
     Abruptly the room lit up again, stars igniting back into life. The walls changed from nothing into a single galaxy. The Queen rushed over to Lady Astra.
     “Astra, where is this?”
     “I-I don’t know, I didn’t do this.” Hurriedly she tapped and brushed her screens, searching for information.  “According to this, it’s called the “Milky way” galaxy.”
     From above them the key shot down to the control panel and smacked against something, forcing a portal to the dimension to open. Before anyone could react, it flew through and vanished.
     The Queen panicked. “Commander! You have to go after it!”
     The Commander blinked. “How the hell do I do that? No one knows where that portal goes! This could be exceptionally dangerous!”
     “Which is why it has to be you! Please, Seraphim kind are not meant to leave Imagina, and you are the best tracker that I know. You are the only hope our world has. The only hope I have!”
     The Commander looked into the Queens frightened eyes and frowned. He was hesitant, but she was right.
     “Well when you freaking put it like that…” He straightened up and gave her his bravest face, even though inside he was scared too. “Don’t worry…I’ve got your back.”
     The Queen smiled and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Thank you, Commander. I swear I will be sending help as soon as things become more stable.”
     “Oh, whatever. You know I don’t need any help.” With effort he crawled on top of the golden sphere with Lady Astra. “Move over lady, there’s a hero comin’ through.”
     Lady Astra gave him a look, but let him by. “I must warn you, wolf man. Crossing dimensions can be…surprising. In order to fit into whatever dimension you are entering, certain parts of you may change to fit the requirements of what the world allows. Occasionally, your body may have to be partially reconstructed. Be prepared.”
     “Wait, what?” He asked in alarm, but before he could get an answer from either of them he slipped from the round object and fell directly into the portals spiraling waves.
     
     Being thrust through dimensions was unlike anything the Commander had ever experienced. One minute it was like diving into the middle of a whirlpool made of space and time, feeling as light as a feather floating in a helium balloon, and the next he was hurtling down through an atmosphere on fire like a falling star. The flames that encased him flickered across the surface of his skin. He could smell the fabric of his cape burning into flecks of ash - felt as the metal of his armor melted away. Even though the flames didn’t burn his skin it seemed to feel as if the smoldering heat was melting through his soul, tearing at his wolf features. He cried out in immediate agony at the night sky wishing desperately for it to stop, but it only continued until he finally blacked out from the combination of severe pain and velocity from entering the Earths atmosphere.
     A few hours later, the Commander woke up in a crater that must have formed around him when he landed. He sat up and groaned in pain, greeted immediately by a migraine. As he held his head he wondering how he was even still alive after such an experience. His body was covered in blackened ash, still smoking. After a moment, he brushed his hair back with a shaky hand and immediately noticed the change that Lady Astra had warned him about. His wolf features were gone all together, along with his uniform. All that remained from Imagina’s realm was the white dress pants and the celtic earring in his left ear. Noticing the earring was still hot he hastily removed it, and to his surprise the wolf features had been changed into human ones. He was human here. The Commander touched his new ears embarrassingly fascinated. Secretly he had always wondered what it felt like to not be seen as a threat; to be normal.
     Eventually he stood. His thoughts were fuzzy, and he was dizzy, but he breathed the night air in nonetheless in search of the key’s scent, which must have smelled like the Queen.  He was surrounded by pine trees, having impacted into a field's clearing. To his surprise, he quickly found a hint of the scent drifting on the wind. He may have looked different, and the strength of his wolf sense reduced, but his senses were definitely still heightened. Carefully he crawled out of the crater. There was no way to tell how he was going to get back home, but that problem could come later. He had a pure soul to find.