The Real Phantom Portal

''The Phantoms have found the demolished husk of a once legendary portal, and they plan to repair it and use it to conquer Jamaa's people once more. Ivy, an ordinary citizen of Neo-Jamaa Township, will soon discover the truth, with help from some odd new friends...''

Chapter 1 - Ivy
Jamaa Township has changed a lot in the last few hundred years. It's full of skyscrapers, malls, and parks, powered all by wind and solar energy. It seems like a nice place, but life here is tough if you aren't a millionaire with a nice share of diamonds. Most people here have access to the Internet, but they rarely have access to proper nutrition. Ivy is just lucky to have a home.

She just finished with work today, and after paying her bills and taxes for the month, she barely has any money left to spend on anything else. She's tired of having to save every last gem just to get by, and today she's going to do something different: Something irresponsible, but fun nevertheless.

Ivy takes a different route today, and visits the high-speed railway station. Ivy waits patiently in line, and now finally it's her turn. There is no receptionist, only a simple machine.

The machine identifies Ivy, and displays a map of the various other train stations that Ivy can ride to. She selects the Lost Jungle of Zios, confirms her selection, and then the automatic transaction is complete: 700 gems is taken from Ivy's account. Then the machine spits out a train ticket, and Ivy carefully takes it. Now, all she has to do is wait.

There's a lot of other people waiting for the next train, just like Ivy. She doesn't have much to do, and starts looking through her backpack. She finds an old, small mirror, to look at herself with.

She hasn't looked at herself in a while, actually, and it surprises her to see how much she has changed. Her light tan fur has gotten a bit darker, and there's a bit of hair sticking out of her ears. Her raccoon hat is also much more tattered than she expected it would be, but thankfully, her wristband seems to be intact.

Ivy barely realizes it, but the train has already arrived, and once again people are scuttling from one place to the other. Another wolf calls out to her, telling her that it's time to go. She quickly puts on her backpack, and dashes for the boarding area. However, a Moderator tells her to wait before getting on the train, because they need to scan her luggage for anything that could be dangerous.

Fortunately, her bag passes the security scanners with no problems, and they let her board the train at last. Unfortunately... she has to sit all the way in the back because she took so long.

The train she's riding on is a bullet train that uses magnetized rails to go at over 200 miles an hour. It's Ivy's first time on a train like this, and even though looking out the window makes her dizzy, she can't help but watch the city fly by.

After a few minutes, the train has left the center of the city, and now all Ivy can see is suburbs and apartments. Eventually, these fade into empty fields, full of wind turbines and solar panels. After an hour or so, all she can see is an expansive deciduous forest, full of hills and various species of oaks. Eventually, she starts to fall asleep...

Chapter 2 - A Concrete Jungle
Ivy wakes up a few hours later. Outside the window is a huge rainforest, with colorful birds darting between trees, mountains in the distance, and layers of fog and mist are drifting through the entire canopy. A few waterfalls can be seen cascading from the mountains, refracting the sun's light into rainbows that span across the entire sky.

Soon, however, the jungle gave way to hotels, pools, and clothing stores. This new resort is so big, Ivy can no longer see the jungle from her seat!

The train approaches the station, and slows to a screeching halt. Its doors fly open, and everyone rushes out in one huge wake. Ivy cautiously follows behind the crowd, and prances out into the hub. There's people, cars, billboards, and palm trees everywhere, but strangely, no jungle to be seen. She asks for directions, and a shopper politely points out the visitor center for her.

Inside the visitor center is a large map of the jungle. It covers almost three million square miles, with the resort right in the center. There are a few "fun" facts at the bottom of the map.

''Did you know? Jamaa's first civilized people were thought to live in this jungle! Some of their temples have been found, but surely there are more waiting to be discovered! Graham, the monkey Alpha, believes that the ancient people knew more about the cosmos than we know today.''

Ivy could barely finish reading that fact when a young tiger pushed her out of the way...

At the receptionist's desk, Ivy saw a pamphlet for the various activities available at the resort. She turned it on, and it displayed a few holograms of cabins, swimming pools, ziplines, and river tube rides. According to the page's text, some of these activities cost several diamonds each, and renting a cabin costs half a dozen diamonds a day.

Ivy quickly put the pamphlet back, and mumbled to herself, "Jeez, I could barely afford to come here... How can people pay for this stuff?"

The llama receptionist gave Ivy a funny look. "Have you ever been here before?"

Ivy shyly replied. "No, not really, it was a last minute decision..."

The llama looked back at her computer. "Well, enjoy your time here, anyway..."

Ivy turned away from the desk and sighed. It seemed impossible to enjoy this place if you're not rich and brainless. Almost everyone here shows no interest in the actual Lost Jungle whatsoever...

Chapter 3 - Breaking Rules
Looking once again at the map, it looked like there could be a way to reach the jungle without paying a horrendous amount of gems. Upon leaving the visitor's center, Ivy pressed a couple buttons on her wristband, allowing her to access the Internet. With a couple searches, she found the taxi company, and requested one to take her from the visitor's center to the edge of town.

A few minutes later, a small little car whirred up to the sidewalk. It had no driver, and barely any legroom. Ivy got in, and it was very uncomfortable, but it was still better than having to walk

...

It took around an hour and a half to reach the edge of town, even though there was no traffic. Ivy was sure there would be plenty of security cameras... but there wasn't. Maybe people don't try to leave the city very often, and when they do, they don't come back, and that's why the moderator's don't worry about it...

However, the thought of not being able to come back didn't bother Ivy. Almost everything she needed was in her backpack, and everything she no longer desired was back at her apartment, gathering dust.

She took a deep breath, and got out of the tiny little car. It sputtered, and quickly turned around. Then, it sped back into the city, leaving Ivy completely alone, underneath a noisy overpass.

She continued to walk underneath the overpass, until the concrete below her gave way to soft grass and mulch. All around her, besides the concrete supports of the overpass, there were trees, shrubs, and the jugnle air was warm and humid. The songs of birds and insects could not be heard, however, because the city noise drowned everything else out.

Ivy held on tighter to her backpack as she went through the bushes, and deeper and deeper into the jungle.

...

After about half an hour of hiking, she could no longer hear the unforgiving whir of the resort, and the playful humming and chirping of curious animals could be heard through the whole area.

She took a break by sitting on a fallen tree. The air was even hotter than it was earlier, and Ivy was thirstier than she could ever imagine. Luckily, she had quite a bit of water left in her backpack, and decided to drink some before continuing her jounrey.

Chapter 4 - The Never-ending Jungle
Despite the occasional mosquito that came to bite her, the jungle made Ivy feel surprisingly safer than she was in the city. If she looked up to the trees, a little bright bird may peer back at her, and soft, flowing water could always be heard in the distance. There were quite a few thorn bushes, too, but they never bothered Ivy. She hadn't been this relaxed in years...

Suddenly, she stubbed her paw on a flat rock. Actually, it didn't hurt much at all, but it startled her so much that she yelped out in pain. She was a little bit embarrassed, and worried that someone else in the jungle could've heard her...

However, her worries soon shifted to curiosity when she noticed even more flat rocks around her. Some of them were mossy or cracked, but they had been placed in a definite pattern, like a pathway. Ivy couldn't hold back, and started to follow the path even deeper into the jungle, with a smile on her face.

...

Eventually, the pathway led her to a small clearing. In its center was something like an empty fountain, overgrown with plants. Ivy took a closer look at it, and came to the conclusion that something was inside it. With great care, she pulled the plants off the top of the fountain, revealing some sort of... mask...

The mask had uncanny familiarity to her, but she just couldn't figure out where she had seen it before. It was made of solid bronze metal, but had been cracked in a few places, and it was also very tarnished. Ivy gently moved the plants back over the fountain, and stood back up.

Between the trees, she could make out the shapes of some decayed buildings. They were made of stone and rotting wood, but they were also completely overgrown with vines, and the tree roots had shattered their foundations over time.

Ivy cautiously approached one of the buildings. It had been made mostly of wood, and its entire roof had decayed over many years. She tried to push open the door, but it was so rotten that it crumbled right off the hinges and fell onto the ground! Nervously, Ivy stepped over the demolished door and into the abandoned building.

There were many glass enclosures and terrariums inside. Some had fallen off the shelves and broken, while others had been completely covered with dirt. There were no remains of any animals in the terrariums.

There was also a desk, with a few tattered papers inside it. They had all been rained on, and were unreadable. Instead, Ivy was more interested in the exotic insects and fungus that were living in the desk.

At the back of this building was a door, that was also very rotten. Ivy pushed on it gently this time, and although it stayed on it's hinges, she pushed a hole through it in the process...

Behind the door had been an old movie theater, with old fashioned movie reels and a projector. The reels weren't in bad condition, but the projector would probably never work again. Ivy was going to play with it, but then she was afraid that she would break it.

Next up, Ivy went to the big stone building, that looked like it had an old statue on top. The statue was in horrible condition, but it had a recognizable elephant shape, perhaps to symbolize wisdom or good memory.

It was mostly empty inside, besides a large spiral staircase in the center of the room. Ivy carefully climbed up the staircase, and too her relief, not a single stone was loose, and she made it to the top safely.

The top floor was hollow. Instead of walls, its circular roof was supported by pillars, all of which remains as strong as ever, despite being very old. There was a large well in the center of the room, from which a great tree had grown. It had died long ago, but several little saplings had sprouted around it, which lived off the light coming from the little hole in the ceiling.

There were lots of candle holders, lecterns, and rotten branches scattered around the floor. Ivy assumed this must have been a place where scribes and monks wrote down information. Outside, the sun was setting, and it was at the perfect angle where it could shine directly into the building. The whole room was tinted orange.

The songs of birds faded away, and then crickets and katydids started to sing, to celebrate the coming of night. Ivy filled some of her water bottles with the well water, and it was so surprisingly clean, she decided to drink some right now.

Then, she took some blankets and a pillow out of her backpack, and arranged them on the stone floor. Although it was uncomfortable, the jungle was very relaxing, and it helped her fall asleep in no time.

...

The sun peered through the small hole in the roof, and right into Ivy's eyes, waking her up. Waking up in the jungle ruins was quite surprising at first, until she suddenly recalled yesterday's events.

While she was putting away her blankets, she was greeted by some little birds. They did keep their distance, but they seemed more curious of Ivy than scared of her. When Ivy finally finished packing and started to leave the room, and birds followed her until she got to the top of the staircase.

After exiting the building, clouds of mosquitoes hovered all around Ivy's head, biting at her face. In an effort to avoid them, she ran over to the last building. The stone door had to be opened with a lever, and It took all of Ivy's strength to open it. Once she finally got inside, the mosquitoes left her alone.

The building had a very musty smell, and it was also a bit dim. It was bright enough, however, that you could see the millions of tiny dust particles drifting through the air, or maybe see a mouse scurry across the floor out of the corner of your eye.

However, what attracted the most attention from Ivy was the massive amount of books on the shelves, all in acceptable condition. Their leather covers were worn, but the pages inside retained most of their information. Ivy tried to read one out of curiosity...

''Zios, the Sky Father, was very lonely. He created Jamaa to keep himself company. He was still lonely, however, so he created Mira, the Sky Mother. Mira and Zios fell in love and lived together for many years, but when Zios died, Mira's tears of sadness corrupted, and formed the Phantoms that haunt us today.''

Ivy had heard this legend countless times as a pup, but it got sillier as she got older, and now it just seemed like a fictional bedtime story. She gently stuffed the book back into the shelf, and continued exploring the old building. The book may have not been interesting, but it made Ivy realize that the mask she saw in the jungle may have been a statue of Zios.

Underneath a pile of books in the corner, a metal object caught her eye. She shoved the books over, revealing a metal safe. It had rusted so much, that Ivy had no trouble prying it open with just her paws. Inside, there were several books, all with a red wax stamp. Upon closer inspection, the stamp said "BANNED."

Now that Ivy knew these books were forbidden, they became even more interesting! The first one she grabbed had a leather cover, in quite good condition. There was no title on the front cover, instead, the title was handwritten on the first page, The Sun and the Moon.

Ivy carefully turned the crisp page. It seemed to be a collection of folk songs:

We may be different and opposites at that-

But none of us fight at the drop of a hat!

We will dance and play no matter the weather,

 'Till the end of the night.

The sun lives as light, the moon lives as feathers,

When nobody is looking they will dance.

Zios the sun,

Mira the moon,

Its a pair made only by chance. The folk songs were definitely a lot more cheerful than the other books, but she wasn't too interested in the songs, and put the book back.

She felt inclined to check out the second floor, but the building was so dark and dank that she couldn't stand to be in there any longer. Once again, she found herself outside, with a swarm of pesky insects darting around her face.

However, Ivy paid less attention to the insects when she noticed a small black speck in the ground! It was wiggling around slightly as if it was trying to get out of the ground, and it instantly caught her interest. She came closer, and pulled the speck out.

She opened up her paw, and a young Phantom gazed back with a single, white eye. It shook itself around, then floated a few inches above her paw. It seemed both terrified and very angry at the same time, but too weak to try and do anything to Ivy.

"So little guy, I guess you've got no choice but to stick with me."

The little speck tried to float away, but Ivy pulled him closer.

"Hey, if you don't keep close to me, sooner or later, something's gonna find you, and I doubt it'll be as gentle as I am."

The little speck stopped trying to escape, and just stared blankly at Ivy.

"I should give you a name, you know?"

The little speck seemed a little more excited now, and tried to impress Ivy.

"Oh, cut it out. I'm not gonna name a lame thing like you "Killer," am I?"

The speck seemed less excited now...

"You know, Jeremy sounds nice," Ivy said, as she placed the tiny Phantom onto the ground. "But I suppose you don't like that name?"

The speck didn't like the name, and let out a horrible noise to let her know it.

"Good. Your name is Jeremy."

Jeremy instantly threw a fit.

"Oh, jeez, you'll get used to it," said Ivy, as she threw him into her backpack. She went back into the damp library, just to get the stupid mosquitoes out of her face..

Inside the library, Ivy dumped her backpack onto an old stone table. It took her a while to dig Jeremy out of the junk pile, and he was not very happy, sqeaking and buzzing as loud as he could to show his disapproval.

"Oh quiet, you'll be fine," she said, as she organized her things. Her idea was to move into the library, and never go back to Neo-Jamaa township!

She started to explore the rest of the library, while leaving Jeremy on the table. As she disappeared up the stairs, Jeremy became increasingly nervous, and tried to follow her. Getting off the table was one thing, going up the stairs was another.

Ivy carefully explored the second floor. It was mostly made of stone, and smelled of moss. It was not as dark as the bottom floor, but it still proved difficult to navigate.

Ivy shrieked as something bumped her ankle. Embarrassed, she realized it was just Jeremy, trying to get her attention. She picked him up, and placed him on top of her raccoon hat. He seemed to enjoy it, as it made him feel much taller.

Mounted on the walls were countless tapestries, with some colorful images of cities and farms, and then some more violent images of the ancient war between animals and Phantoms. It made Ivy realize that having a "pet" Phantom may not be such a good idea, but she couldn't get herself to just throw him out...

The room was also full of pottery, more terrariums, and stone statues of the "Shamans." Ivy figured that these were actually the Alphas, and had been called the Shamans at some point in time, probably long before Neo-Jamaa Township was ever built.

At the end of the cobblestone hallway was a stairway going to the right, and also a large tapestry. The large tapestry emphasized a bright heron, all alone. To the right of the heron was a huge mass of Phantoms, which cornered the heron. The fate of the heron in this picture made Ivy rather uncomfortable, and she would rather not think about it. She went up the stairs next, and found a simple emporium full of astrology gear, more terrariums, stone furniture, and a few old lanterns. Ivy decided this would be a nice place to keep her bedroom.

Chapter 4 - New Life
The next day, Ivy had cleaned up the library quite a bit, organizing books, furniture, and fixing the creaky stairs and rotting shelves. Jeremy had been looking through many of the books, and found a hand-drawn picture book. Since he couldn't read, it was the only thing he understood, and he kept this book in a special place.

Ivy had found a couple blank books, and put them aside to perhaps use as journals. She had also found a hefty stash of gem-like currency, but they were old and probably had no real value as currency. Among the other interesting things she found were stone charms, rusty iron goggles, and a few sketches for ridiculous flying machines.

After a few weeks, the library was almost as good as new. Jeremy was learning to read, and Ivy felt at peace...

The years seemed to go by like minutes, and soon Jeremy was growning up. Amazingly, he had never tried to attack Ivy, and the two were actually very closely bonded to each other; Wherever Ivy was, there was Jeremy...

...

One night, Jeremy found himself alone in the hallway, gazing upon the tapestry. The more he looked at it, the more he feared himself. He had never seen another Phantom, and he never wanted to. He hated the tapestry so much, and he never wanted to look at it ever again. Out of rage and fear, he tore the tapestry from the wall.

He instantly regretted getting so furious, and he started to fell like he was a monster, like the other Phantoms. Ivy was fast asleep. He actually wanted her around to help him feel better, but he didn't want to get in trouble, either.

He sadly looked up at the stone wall that had been behind the tapestry, to examine the damage he had done. To his surprise, there was not a wall, but another door. His grief soon turned to excitement, but there was no handle or level to open the door... He decided it was worth the risk, and happily went up to Ivy's room.

He poked Ivy... No response.

This time, he poked a little bit harder... Still no response.

Then he started to poke her very rapidly, while making lots of noise at the same time. Ivy nearly jumped out of her skin! She flailed her paws around, as if she was being attacked. She eventually came to her senses, and scolded Jeremy.

"Bzztzzzt," he replied

Ivy didn't believe him at first. "Jeremy, we've been here for years. There cant be another door... Just let me go back to sleep."

Jeremy didn't listen to her, and instead, took her by the paw and tried to drag her down the stairs.

"Whoa, hey Jeremy, where are you going? Stop!"

However, Ivy became speechless when she saw the hidden door for herself. After a couple minutes of gazing in awe, she asked softly, "Uhh... How do we open it?"

Jeremy looked all around for a lever, tried moving books and statues and around, and still, the door did not budge. Ivy hit it with her paws, threw rocks at it, and yet, it still remained shut.

Atfer a couple wasted hours in the middle of the night, and no luck opening the door, Ivy sat down angrily. Jeremy seemed pretty restless, and started to hit the door as hard as he could, over and over.

"It's no use Jeremy, I already tried that..." mumbled Ivy, who was just about to fall asleep.

Jeremy wanted to give up, too... But suddenly, the cracks in the stone began to glow bright purple and white, and they got brighter, and brighter... until both Ivy and Jeremy could not keep their eyes open. With a loud rumble and a whoosh, the bricks in the door completely vanished, and the light disappeared. They opened their eyes... The door was gone, and the room behind it had been revealed!

Chapter 5 - The Room
Inside the room was nothing but shelves, scatterbrained notes, and little trinkets. It seemed very disappointing at first, but Jeremy believed there had to be something interesting in here. Frantically, he pried open every drawer, until he finally found an interesting crystal statue.

He was very careful not to drop it, and gently lifted it out of the dusty drawer. Ivy had finished digging through some papers, and she became interested in the statue as well. She ran over, and quickly grabbed it from Jeremy. He didn't even have a chance to react!

"Wow, this is pretty cool!" She started to walk over to the exit, but tripped on the fallen tapestry...

"BzZZzrrrZZZZZZZrrzzzt!" Jeremy screamed, as his heart-like Phantom organ skipped a beat...

And the statue flew out of her paws... It went all the way across the room... And it shattered across the cold, unforgiving stone floor. There was silence, as Jeremy stared in horror at the glass remains... and Ivy felt pretty stupid, too.

"I'm.. sorry Jeremy..."

Jeremy teared up a bit. He wept as he gently picked up each piece of glass, and even tried to put them back together, but after cutting himself a few times and damaging the statue even further, he just gave up.

Ivy dusted herself off, and tried to comfort Jeremy. "Hey, maybe we can find another one? Don't cry, buddy..."

Jeremy couldn't keep himself from crying. Honestly, he had never felt this disappointed since he was given the name "Jeremy"... He completely ignored Ivy, and shed a single tear, which plopped right on top of the poor, brutally murdered statue.

"Whoa! Jeremy!" She yanked him back over to the statue, and he almost thought that he was dreaming when he saw it...

The shattered pieces were rising all through the air. They began to glow bright white, and produced a shrill noise unlike that of a jet engine. Once again, they were so bright, neither Ivy nor Jeremy could keep their eyes open...

...

The dark, cold air in the library began to feel warm, and there was a gentle breeze... The light faded, birds began to sing, and Ivy and Jeremy opened their eyes.

They appeared to be in a jungle clearing. It had a little bronze fountain in the center, adorned with a golden, bipedal figure with a golden mask. The figure's mouth was smiling, happily spouting clear, blue-green water. Creatures darted between the groves, insects hummed... But then, it all went quiet.

The silence was broken by a shrill scream. Up in the air, there was a huge heron, struggling to escape a group of Phantoms. Ivy instantly recognized the heron as Mira, the beautiful hero she had seen in every fairy tale and bedtime story. Seeing Mira for real was surprising enough; Seeing her being attacked was far more disturbing.

Ivy tried to yell-- perhaps to try and distract the Phantoms-- but her voice was completely silent, as if Ivy was entirely nonexistent herself. The tenacious Phantoms continued to cling to Mira's wings, shocking her, and hindering her ability to fly. As her strength dissipated, a large bronze mask in her talons became apparent. By the time Ivy figured out what was going on, the mask had slammed into the cheerful fountain, and nothing but rubble remained. The mask wasn't a statue of Zios... It was the actual mask of Zios!

The heron herself was failing, although less and less Phantoms were after her, her wings could no longer keep her aloft. Ivy and Jeremy stared in horror as Mira plummeted straight into the clearing.

The Phantoms now flew away, towards the towers of black smoke in the distance. Ivy realized that this must have been the beginning of the Great Phantom War, thousands of years ago...

...

Ivy ran over to the cold corpse, with Jeremy on her hat. She tried to touch Mira, but her paw went straight through the body, like a ghost through a wall. Ivy became more and more frantic and confused... The last thing Ivy saw was a single black tear roll off of Mira's cheek. As the black speck soaked into the ground, Ivy swore it glanced back at her... but the world around them was gradually fading away. The breeze no longer blew, the birds no longer wept, and the Great War was once again a thing of the past.

No matter where Ivy looked, she could see nothing. Her eyes were open, she knew they were open, but no matter what, everything was black... And Ivy began to panic once again. Jeremy, who had witnessed the whole thing, was also in a state of shock.. They both thought they were dead.

Soon, after what felt like years, the blackness began to gain faint color and light. Soon, they found themselves on top of a orangey-brown plateau, in the middle of a wild jungle. It looked pretty much like the Lost Jungle of Zios, except it was free of highways, high-speed railways, and resorts. Waterfalls cascaded from the other plateaus in the distance, and flocks of colorful birds would frequently fly from one side of the jungle to the next.

The sound of running water, and the shrill shrieks of exotic birds could be heard all throughout the jungle. The sun's heat beat down, evaporating the countless drops of dew among the canopy below, making wispy clouds of mist. It was humid and sticky, but the morning air was cool enough to be comfortable.

But the birdsong began to fade, the insects were silenced, until only the roar of rivers and wind could be heard. Ivy looked up to the right, and saw a bright, golden trail make its way through the sky, at fantastic speeds. It was heading straight towards them!

Unsure what to do, Ivy ran to the edge of the plateau. There was no way down. Back up in the sky, the golden spark seemed even closer now! It could strike any minute...

Now, this scene is much more comedic than it seems. Imagine a young wolf frantically hopping around a plateau, with a horrified Phantom clinging to her head "for dear life." The little meteor is entirely harmless, and even if it was, Ivy is nonexistent in this timeline. There is absolutely no reason for her to be freaking out like this, although she probably has no clue she is just witnessing an apparition from thousands of years ago. My advice, written in big friendly letters: DON'T PANIC!

After a few more heart-pounding minutes, the tiny meteor made impact. Ivy dived down, covered her eyes, and kept Jeremy as close as she could... And the only damage done by the golden meteor was a tiny dust cloud, about 10 feet wide, all the way on the other side of the plateau.

Embarrassed once again, Ivy stood up, and lifted a limp Jeremy off of the ground. He was frozen out of fear, and his eyes were bugged out like a chicken stuck in a fence.

Ivy brushed the dust out of her fur, and shook Jeremy around to clean him up. He didn't seem to happy about it. They started to bicker-- until they heard a deep voice behind them.

They instantly forgot their troubles and turned around to see who it was. It was a golden bipedal figure, much like the statue that had been on the fountain, thousands of years ago... Or is it thousands of years to come?

The figure's powerful eyes seemed to look through them. As the dust cleared, Ivy could make out the important details of the figure's mask. They had to be seeing Zios, the Sky Father!

Zios took a few steps towards them. Jeremy was shaking like a leaf, and Ivy was very terrified as well.

Then, to their relief, Zios turned his head towards the jungle, took a few steps closer to the plateau's edge, and looked down at the rivers below. The dust had completely cleared now, and the birds and insects were beginning to sing again.

Ivy and Jeremy were still pretty scared. They barely had any idea what was going on...

Zios stood straight up, and mumbled a few words. They didn't sound like any sort of language Ivy had ever heard in her life. After Zios finished speaking, a new, warmer breeze seemed to blow through, and the sun's light intensified. The birds intensified their songs, as well. It felt like a whole new day!

Zios seemed to chuckle, and then he relaxed, and sat down at the edge of the plateau and watched.

Ivy and Jeremy watched, too. They sat right next to Zios. Although he didn't notice them at all, they still felt very close to him, like if they were family.

...

...Time felt as if it was speeding up. Days became nights, weeks became months, and soon a thousand years had gone by. Acres of land were deforested, and temples rose up in their place. Cities formed around the temples and along the rivers, dense forest became farmland. All this happened in what felt like minutes to Ivy and Jeremy...

But for Zios, it was a different story. His mask no longer smiled; it seemed to frown upon everything below. The temples were adorned with bright golden statues of him, his name was known through every household, but the people feared him. Animals viewed him as their creator, and they figured he could destroy their world any moment. They felt as if they needed to sacrifice to him, and honor him in every way they could. It all made Zios very sad.

Ivy figured that Zios had granted the gift of logic and compassion to animals, and after thousands of years, they developed their own civilization, in a completely wild world. Ivy was thankful for it, but she never realized how much pain Zios went through. Heck, if I lived in this time, I would be sending Zios thank-you letters, not killing my buddies to "please" him, she thought

A few more thousand years passed by. The cities expanded, farmland grew, and then time began to slow down again. A heron, Mira, would visit Zios every night, and she was probably at risk of being persecuted for visiting the Sacred Mountain or whatever it was called. She remained brave, and continued to visit him every night. She would tell him about the world, and he appeared to smile from time to time.

Eventually, Mira would not go back to the city. She always stayed with Zios, and sometimes skipped meals just so she could talk to him. She aged much faster than he did, and soon became too weak and old to fly. Zios took pity on her, and gave her immortal life and a glorious new coat of silver-blue feathers. He couldn't stand to lose her.

Mira was confused. "Why would you do this? I don't deserve to live forever..."

Zios felt guilty now. He had wasted some of his own life on the heron... Ivy felt bad for both of them, too.

But Mira quickly forgave him, and she resumed entertaining him with stories of the beautiful world he helped "create." Time sped up again, and Ivy realized they weren't immortal after all, as both Mira and Zios were aging visibly.

Now that Mira had entered "Godhood," she could safely visit the city again. Her metallic feathers were the subject of many a conversation, and the stories she told of Zios gathered a cult following. There was a debate between the traditional legends and the new, "true" stories Mira had told, and a civil war broke out between the two "factions..."

Mira and Zios moved far away (Ivy and Jeremy somehow managed to follow them, too), to a little cabin in the pine woods west of Coral Canyons. Ivy instantly recognized this place as "Royal Ridge," a large overhang that would be popular with flying animals, thousands of years later. The cabin was small and comfortable, and it was perfect for Mira and Zios (and perfect for Ivy and Jeremy, too)

Ivy would hear Mira talk to herself, occasionally. She would mention grieving over her parents, who died over a thousand years ago. She regrets leaving them behind, and she regretted telling animals the "true" version of the legends. Jamaa was collapsing, and so were Mira and Zios.

They were very old and gray now. Mira's feathers lost their heavenly shine, and Zios's mask had darkened in color. It hurt Ivy and Jeremy to see their lives go by so quickly...

On a fateful day, Zios confessed to Mira.

"I must create something new, with my last bit of energy... The Phantoms. They will protect Jamaa. and they will end the war, when I am no longer able to. Mira, I can't live forever. The Phantoms will take my place..."

Before Ivy and Jeremy could hear Mira's reaction, time paced up again... Zios disappeared, leaving only his mask behind, Mira grabbed it out of sorrow and rage, and flew off towards the city. Her emotions and agony corrupted the Phantoms, causing them to rebel...

Time sped up even more. Mira was dead... smoke gathered on the horizon... The Phantom fortresses rose up around Jamaa... It all went by too fast to understand.

The cabin was destroyed, and the city was in ruins. Time began to return to a comprehensible speed.

Ivy and Jeremy watched as different settlements were built, and the Phantom fortresses were destroyed. This was an important part of history that Ivy learned about, when Jamaa Township was founded, and the tyrannical rule of the Phantoms was overthrown, by the "Alphas." Ivy felt weird calling them Alphas now, and decided to call them their true name: the Shamans.

The world began to fade into black again. Ivy and Jeremy remained calm this time, their minds still trying to comprehend everything that had just happened. Seeing things happen right before your eyes is a lot scarier than just reading these events out in a history book...

Chapter 6 - A New Goal
Ivy opened her eyes, and found herself back in the library with Jeremy, shivering on the floor.

The glowing glass shards still remained floating in the air. Little Will-o-wisps darted between each shard of glass, creating faint images of what Ivy and Jeremy had just seen. If Ivy put her paw between the shards, the images would appear on her fur.

Maybe the statue was just some magical legendary movie projector...? Seems kind of ridiculous...

Jeremy was twitching on the floor, frozen with fear. Ivy picked him up again and tried to shake the fear out of him. It kind of worked, but then he got kind of angry.

"Bbzzzzgrrgrrrzzzt!" he growled.

Ivy and Jeremy began to bicker and fight, kind of like brother and sister. It was friendly bickering, but annoying bickering nonetheless...

But they both became silent, when they heard a voice...

The silver-blue light between the shards was gaining form! Ivy and Jeremy backed away in fear, and watched as the light took on an avian shape. Its white eyes blazed, and the blue fringes of its wings danced around like fire in the wind.

The bird opened its wings and stood straight and tall, loosened its feathers, and then took on a less intimidating posture. The bird's beak did not move, but Ivy and Jeremy heard her voice... It was Mira's voice!

"My former self is long gone, but my soul remains... I have shown you the past so you will understand, and now I am here to warn you! There is not much time left... Find the creature. Find him, the one with black hat, the tie... The red cape. You will know when you see him!"

Mira ruffled her feathers a bit, and her eyes were now a soft yellow color. She put one of her tremendous wings around Ivy and Jeremy. Ivy couldn't help but notice how warm and soft they felt, as if Mira was really there...

"You will be safe. We will always watch you. But now, you must go back to the Township! Use the Griffon... Find the creature..."

Mira abruptly took her wing back, and then looked at them nervously.

"His name is Sir... Remember that! That's all I can say for now... Goodbye... And, thank you."

As the spirit began to fade, Mira murmured a few more words. "Good luck, Ivy..."

The glass shards slowly drifted back down to the floor, and the blue light disappeared. Red-orange light began to peek in the building, birds began to sing. It was a bold, brand new day, and there was a new adventure to go along with it.

Ivy and Jeremy exchanged excited and nervous looks. Their goal was clear: Find Sir.

...

Ivy was really excited. She packed lots of food, water, and grabbed a few old gadgets she had fixed up, too. She had no idea how she was going to get past the Moderators, but she remembered Mira's words.

''You will be safe. We will always watch you.''

Jeremy seemed pretty excited, and maybe a little bit scared, too.

"Bzzrrt?"

Ivy stopped packing her bag for a second to respond. "Of course we'll be able to come back, Jeremy... This is our home, and we can never leave it behind."

Jeremy nodded, and then went to go grab his favorite book. He had actually made a few copies of it by tracing the pictures with a pencil, and he wouldn't mind if he lost just one.

"Bzzt?"

Ivy thought deeply about it. Bringing the book could take up useful bag space, and Jeremy's already memorized the entire thing, anyway. But she was feeling happy right now, and she gently took the book and placed it in the side of her backpack.

There was much rejoice for Jeremy!

...

Ivy had a little compass she had found upstairs. It worked okay, and she figured it was accurate enough to find a noisy, humongous resort.

After a day or two of planning, she was ready. "Ok, Jeremy, are you ready to go?"

Jeremy responded quickly. "Bzt!"

Ivy gently put him in her backpack. "Remember Jeremy, be really quiet, and really still. I don't want them to find you. In fact, you don't want them to find you, either... They don't do nice things to Phantoms, even good ones."

Jeremy shuddered, but he accepted it.

Ivy realized she had never told Jeremy what they actually do to Phantoms nowadays. Phantoms are less of a threat now, and actually helpful... But not helpful like Jeremy is.

In Coral Canyons, there's an electric dam that provides power for many of the local towns. But all of this isn't even enough to power Neo-Jamaa Township itself. Some of the electricity from the dam provides power to dozens of infernal machines, designed specifically for boiling caught Phantoms down into an oily black mess. This black goo provides more cheap energy than all fossil fuels combined, at the price of millions, if not billions of Phantom lives. Even though Phantoms are bad, what if there are more good Phantoms, like Jeremy? Even the good ones are fated to be boiled down to power somebody's TV...

By the time Ivy's recited Jamaa's electricity generating process in her head, she can hear the god awful noise of the resort. It drives her crazy after being in the peaceful jungle for so long. She lived without electricity or running water for years... How can these people not live without a phone?

About an hour later, she reaches the Northeren overpass, the same one she used to leave the resort years ago. Going back into the resort sends a shiver down her spine... She better not get caught...

...

She finds herself in a crowd. Nobody notices her... She probably smells bad, but everyone's too preoccupied to notice...

Jeremy is shaking around in her backpack.

She tries to comfort him. "Its okay, don't worry, bud..." but he probably can't even hear her over the city noise. There's car horns, so much talking, advertisements, shops, and noises Ivy can't even describe. It's too easy to get lost.

Ivy intentionally broke her wristband long ago, so she couldn't be tracked. Unfortunately, now she's stuck without a map, or a GPS, or anything. Getting through this town will take forever...

Ivy struggles through the crowd to find a more peaceful area. There's a deer on the sidewalk, who doesn't seem to be interested in anything particular.

"Excuse me, sir!" Ivy feels a little strange saying "Sir," since the person she is looking for is actually named Sir.

The deer nervously stops in his tracks. "Err, yes? Can... Can I help you?"

Ivy comes off as a little frantic. "Well, I can't find my way around this place, I really need to get to the train station, do you know where it is or anything? Please?"

The deer nervously stares at her for a few seconds, and then stutters. "It's... It's that way..."

He points his hoof to the southeast.

"J-j-Just go along Peru street, turn left on Amazon... And go s-s-S-straight. You... You can't miss it..."

Ivy grabbed the deer's hoof, and shakes it a little overly happily. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

The deer stares at her wide-eyed, while Ivy continues to shake his limp leg around. "Y-y-Y-you're welCOMee...."

...

Ivy can't believe it... She finally found it! The train station!

She excitedly bursts into the office, and draws a little too much extra attention. She runs up to the front desk, panting. The machine doesn't judge, and asks her where she wants to go.

She selects Neo-Jamaa Township. Much to her relief, there's no problems, no infractions, and she confirms her selection...

She realizes that she might not have enough gems.

She nervously watches as the machine totals up the price... And to her amazement, she has gained just enough gems in interest to pay for the ticket. She gratefully takes the ticket from the machine's slot, and waits for the train to arrive. She's extra careful when sitting on the bench so she doesn't squish her friend...

It barely feels like any time has gone by at all, and the train has arrived. Ivy waits patiently for everyone to board the train, and then gets ready to get on last...

But she forgot something.

The Moderators ask her to remove her backpack, so they can scan it.

She nervously hands it to them, trying not to look suspicious. The kangaroo places it softly into the scanner, and the Arctic wolf to his side activates the scanners.

...One slow beep... A quarter of the bag is scanned...

Ivy holds her breath...

...Another slow beep... Half the bag is scanned...

She closes her eyes.....

...The third beep... Still slow... 75% of the bag has been scanned....

Ivy's heart is pounding...

And the final beep. The bag has been scanned, and approved.

The kangaroo lifts the bag out, and hands it back to Ivy. "Have a nice day," he says. Everything worked out smoothly.

Ivy excitedly jumps on the train. She doesn't mind sitting at the back again. Watching the resort fly by into a jungle is impressive when you're going at 200 mph...

...

A couple hours later, Ivy wakes up. She doesn't even remember falling asleep...

Outside, she can see Sarepia forest. The sun is setting, and the contrast between the black hills against the purple sky look fantastic. Ivy feels somewhat excited to go back home, and a little upset about it at the same time. While Ivy is lost in thought, she remembers some more of Mira's words...

"Use the Griffon..."

Griffon... What could that mean?

Then Ivy suddenly remembers: the ship. Mira meant The Blue Griffon, one of the best, most versatile space vessels in Jamaa! Ivy's father was the champion, so many years ago... And his father flew that ship, too. The family was known for that ship!

That is... until the accident.

Ivy doesn't like to think about it. The accident was the whole reason she doesn't fly in the Griffon very often... It's the reason she tries to forget the Griffon even exists...