The golden glow of the Sound Stone had once again transported the four to another location after a quick rest. It had delivered them back to Metis Cove this time around. They had arrived at the other end of the village - near the ruins of the town hall. The clouds in the sky had gotten noticeably thicker.

“I suppose the next place we need to be is in Apoen’s cave…” Buzz Buzz buzzed off Tori’s shoulder and to the cave’s entrance. “Come on.”

Buzz Buzz took the lead as the four ventured into the cave once again. The torches flared to life and lit the way like the had last time. Down the long, empty rock hall they walked. The boulder that had blocked off Apoen’s room from the rest of the cave was still to the side. The torches inside Apoen’s room were still lit… but Apoen was nowhere to be seen.

Buzz Buzz warily flitted inside, followed by Tori, Gran and Leicra. The end of the room had four golden patches on the floor. They glittered despite the low light, and had a soft glow to them. That glow helped make the scroll laying in the floor more visible. It was Leicra who first saw it and pointed it out. Gran picked it up and opened it, and the four read what was written.

“To the four whom hold the Sound Stone,

“I wish I could be here to congratulate you in ending the Starman-Pigmask war in person. After the village had been destroyed, the Apple of Enlightenment told me of the futures that would come of Giygas’ successful invasion. One of which was the one that you are in. I used my power to keep myself alive as I waited for you to come. It slowly drained, and after I imbued the Sound Stone with my magic, I realised that the time would quickly come where I too would have to leave the realm of the living. So I wrote this to you, then used the last of my power to make the four portals at the back of my room.

“Those portals will lead you to the final destination of your quest, but they will also provide a test. A test not only of your PSI skills, but an emotional test, too. The Sound Stone will no longer teleport you to where you must go next. When you have finished your tests, you will know where to go for yourselves.

“I apologise for not being able to tell you all this myself. Good luck, and safe travels.

“         ~Apoen.”

Tori looked over to Buzz Buzz. A forlorn look was on his face.

“…Well, there’s nothing that can be done about that,” Buzz Buzz said. “Let’s go take those tests.”

Gran closed the scroll and set it back down on the ground. The four stepped over to the four portals.

Just before everyone was about to step in, Tori told them, “Good luck on your tests, guys!”

Buzz Buzz smiled. “You too.”

---

‘…Strange. Didn’t Apoen’s letter say that we would be taken to a test? Unless the test is in here…’

Leicra looked around as they fiddled with their bandana. They were in a near exact replica of their old room back in Autumns. Everything was in the exact same place when they last saw it - apart from the Apple of Enlightenment. It wasn’t even present. It had just… vanished from the room. Concerning.

‘Maybe the test… is finding the Apple of Enlightenment?’

A look over all the tablets and screens turned up no clue of where the Apple of Enlightenment may have been. Leicra concluded that it must have been nearby, and walked out of their room. The hallways were the exact same, as well. It wasn’t too long until Leicra reached the end of the hallways. The light outside blinded them for just a moment, and outside…

The sky was pastel pink, and the stars glimmered in it. There were tall towers, a brighter pink, all around, but not squished together. Compared to it all, the hunk of dirt the hallways were in stuck out like a sore thumb. In conclusion, this place was definitely not Autumns.

‘What a strange place! This is nothing like I’ve ever seen before!’Leicra thought to themself as they wandered into the town.

Some people, mostly humans, somewhat familiar to them milled about. They weren’t saying anything. They all had wide smiles on their faces, and a faraway look in their eyes.

‘Unsettling… but maybe they are friendly?’

Leicra walked up to one of the humans and waved. “Hello! I am unsure of where I am right now, do you know?”

The human turned to them and replied, “Welcome to Magicant.”

“So this place is called Magicant? Okay! Thank you!” Leicra waved goodbye as they walked away.

‘So this place is Magicant… Why does that name sound familiar? I think I’ve heard it before…’

Leicra walked up to another human, whom they recognised as one of the adults from Autumns before they all got kidnapped. The human, male, if Leicra was getting it right, was with a child. Leicra recognised this one a little more - it was a younger version of the one who was leading the children now.

Leicra waved as they said to the adult, “Hello! I assume you live here in Magicant now?”

“Watch out for Astroids,” the adult replied, looking directly at Leicra.

Leicra raised an eyebrow. “Asteroids? But this certainly doesn’t seem like asteroid weath-”

Leicra felt something ram into their back. The impact almost made Leicra fall onto the human they were talking to. They spun around to see a round, golden thing hovering a step away. Said thing had a visor much like on the shell of a Starman, and two black-and-red spikes protruding from its back.

“Watch out for Astroids,” the man repeated.

The Astroid fired a PK Beam Gamma at Leicra, which almost knocked them over again. Leicra fired a PK Beam Gamma back at it. The cycle of PK Beam Gammas continued for two turns. The Astroid was almost down when it made a strange whirring noise. Another Astroid teleported onto the scene. Leicra frowned, then unleashed a wave of PK Water Beta on the two Astroids. It got rid of the first Astroid, but only harmed the summoned one. It was finished off with a PK Beam Gamma and a Beta. After the short battle, Leicra’s vision went staticy for just a moment. It dazed them a bit, as it always had, but they knew what had happened. They learned a new level of PK Water.

Leicra tapped the shoulder of the child next to the man and asked him, “So, why are there Astroids here?”

“Sometimes enemies come into town,” the child replied. “Not often, though. Most of them are in the maze.”

‘The maze? Sounds dreadful…’

Leicra continued exploring Magicant. They found more people to talk to, who said nonsense things, like, “Talk to all the cats who swim,” and, “If you see any wires, kick them! A kick a day keeps the doctor away!”, as well as a sign post that said, “Watch out for sign posts!” Leicra hadn’t seen any swimming cats or wires (barring those in the replica of their room), nor did they suspect they would anywhere in Magicant. And a sign post that said to watch for sign posts seemed counterintuitive.

In one of the pink towers was a single room with too many beds and several mugs of coffee on a single table. Buzz Buzz, Tori and Gran were inside the room, with Gran being just a few steps away from the door and Tori and Buzz Buzz sitting on a bed. Buzz Buzz was a lot larger than usual.

“Gran! I’m so glad you and the others are here. Have you seen the Apple of Enlightenment anywhere?” Leicra asked.

“You must be tired. Have a rest on one of our many beds,” Gran replied.

And so they did. By force. Leicra assumed their nap was only about 10 minutes long, but then again, how could they be sure? Magicant was weird enough as it was.

After their nap, Leicra sat down next to Buzz Buzz and said, “Hello Buzz Buzz!”

“When the chosen boy reaches the point, he will find the light. The passing of time will shatter the nightmare rock and will reveal the path of light.”

“Um… I know! You told me that…! Back in Autumns…! Do you remember…?”

“When the chosen boy reaches the point, he will find the light. The passing of time will shatter the nightmare rock and will reveal the path of light.”

Leicra frowned. “…Is that all you can say…?”

“When the chosen boy reaches the point, he will find the light. The passing of time will shatter the nightmare rock and will reveal the path of light.”

Leicra stood up and stormed out of the room, muttering, “Why do I even bother with these Magicant people?”

Not wanting to stick around, Leicra looked around for the exit. They ended up encountering another Astroid, which was easily dealt with. A sign post was situated at the end of where the pink grass of the town, and glowing yellow paths with deep red walls surrounding them started rather suddenly on the other side. The sign post read, “Now entering the maze. Have fun!”

“I don’t think I will,” Leicra muttered to the sign. They edged past it, making sure it wouldn’t jump out at them and attack them. It didn’t.

Just a few steps into the maze, Leicra found First Mate Ransom standing around doing a whole lot of nothing, like the rest of the Magicant people.

“Hi, Mr. Ransom!” Leicra greeted excitedly as they trotted up to him, waving. “Do you have any tips for the maze? Or are you going to say something weird like the others?”

‘Please don’t be like the others please don’t be like the others please don’t be like the others-’

“We’re all trapped in the machine,” Ransom replied. “There is little hope for escape from its grasp, but you can try anyway. It might get you killed, though.”

…Weird and frightening.

As Leicra turned away from Ransom after a moment of stunned silence, they thought to themself as they walked further into the maze, ‘Perhaps… that was a metaphor for the maze! Or maybe it was a metaphor for something else.’

Leicra got lost as soon as there was a fork in the path. They wandered around for what was most likely hours. There were more Astroids, as well as little, but powerful, golden apple-like entities with two round eyes and a small round mouth that looked like they had been carved into them, and tattered flags with the Gysienn emblem on them. According to a random creature of indeterminate species, they were called One-One-Five-Fives and Beat-up Flags respectively. The creature also said that Leicra had been “following the path for too long,” whatever that meant.

It seemed like they were never going to make it out of the maze. They had run out of PP, and restorted to kicking any enemy that got in their way. It ended up working out for them in the end, as they found the middle of the maze not too long after they were forced to switch tactics. They breathed a heavy sigh of relief when they saw the Apple of Enlightenment sitting in the middle of the clearing.

Breathlessly, Leicra hugged the Apple of Enlightenment and told it, “Oh, I’m so happy to see you! I thought I had lost you foreve-”

Leicra was thrown off by the Apple of Enlightenment’s sudden shapeshifting. This definetely wasn’t something the Apple of Enlightenment did, as far as Leicra knew. If the Apple could shapeshift, they would have seen it by now, surely…

The Apple turned from deep red and yellow to a mostly white, skinny figure with large ears, blue eyes and a long tail. It hovered off the ground and glared daggers at Leicra. They knew who this was.

“You… have dissapoint…point…point…ed… m e…”

Leicra scurried back as quickly as they could on all fours. The ground underneath them vanished, and they suddenly found themself plummeting to an uncertain fate.

Thankfully, their fate made itself clear pretty quickly. Leicra sat up, ears ringing from the fall, to find themself in a stark white place with statues lined up to form a pathway to a pedestal. Leicra slowly stood up and walked over to the path. The statues faced inward to the path, so the plaques could be read. The first two statues were of Harmonius the Wise and Concord the Fearless, the two Starmen who lead Starmankind to ally themselves with the Zanue many thousands of years ago. Leicra had heard the occasional legend about them during their time as a soldier. The majority of the other statues were of other Starmen who had done great deeds. Granted, some of these deeds were a bit… morally grey in retrospect. Only one statue wasn’t of a Starman, and that was of Captain Zeta. The statue was shaped like a human, but there were no distinct details, since Leicra had no idea what the former captain looked like.

Finally, Leicra had arrived at the pedestal. On it was a glimmering light in a long shape; like something Leicra didn’t recognise. The shape wasn’t important to Leicra - it was the light itself that had captivated them.

A voice, oh-so-familiar, spoke out. “Congratulations on making it here, Leicra.”

Leicra was snapped out of their awe at the light. “A-Apple? Of Enlightenment?”

“Yes, it is I, the spirit of the Apple of Enlightenment. I have something very important to tell you. Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

“You are an Agent of the Apple, too.”

Leicra nearly fell over. “I-I am sorry? Could you repeat that?”

“You are an Agent of the Apple, too. I know it may be hard to grasp, but let me explain. After we had first met, and we had talked some, I considered you as another Agent. It was after you had visited the Starman Stronghold, I decided to entrust you with my wisdom. The dizzy spells you have been having recently have been part of your awakening as an Agent.”

Leicra had to take a moment to process it all. They were an Agent of the Apple too? And those dizzy spells were part of that?

“B-But I do not understand, Apple: why me? A-Are you sure this is right? I do not think that I can take on such a role- I’m just a Blue Starman!”

“Listen to me, Leicra. You have grown so much over your adventure with the other three. Look inside yourself, and realise that your rank means nothing. I would tell you more about this subject in particular, but I must leave the rest of those details for you to figure out yourself.”

Leicra was silent. ‘As straight to the point as always, it seems.’

“I can hear your thoughts here,” the Apple told them.

Leicra yelped.

“But do not worry, I do not take it as an insult.”

Leicra sighed with relief.

“When you awaken, what the glimmering light before you represents will soon become clear. Goodbye, Leicra, and good luck to you and the others.”

The light in front of Leicra shone, blinding them. And then, they woke up.