“...S...Star? Kitsune? Are you there?”
     Wavelength's voice crackled in Star's head.
     “I hear you...” Star replied.
     “Me, too,” Kitsune added.
     “All right, I've got you...what did I miss?”
     “Besides Eclipse falling off a cliff, not much.” Kitsune replied.
     Silence. Finally, Wavelength replied,
     “...is he okay?”
     “I don't know, we can't find him,” Star replied. “He must be alive, he walked away from the fall, but there's blood everywhere...he even left little bloody pawprints behind. I've tried following them, but they lead into a little cave. It's not very deep, it only goes back about ten yards, and there's no other exits. I don't know where he could have gone!”
     Star, Kitsune, and ShineSpark had gathered just outside the cave, around the pool of blood that signified the place Eclipse had landed.
     “...I'll see if I can find anything with the sensors, but I doubt it...he doesn't have a massive energy signature, I've tried before.”
     “We'll keep looking, too...I promised Auria I'd bring him back to her, and look what happened... Just don't tell her, okay? I'll do it...but hopefully she won't have to know until it's over, there's no point making her worry herself sick... I'm sure he's around here somewhere...”
     “Right...if she asks, I'll tell her you're all still looking around, I won't mention what happened.”
     “Good.”
     Star looked around again, shaking his head slightly. There was nowhere for Eclipse to have gone, it just didn't make sense.

     Eclipse emerged in a smaller room, very much unlike the previous one. This one was made of darker stone, with an onyx-black pedestal in its center. The pedestal was empty, though; if there had been something on it, it was gone now. He turned to leave, but something drew him back. He looked at the pedestal again, and saw that it now had a large book resting on it. He blinked a moment, and then recognized it as the same book he had seen years ago, when he had escaped with the first Crystal shard. He approached it slowly. He laid his paw on it, and it sprang open. He climbed up, curious. The page was blank except for a tiny black rectangle, about the size of a postage stamp. Puzzled, Eclipse stared at it for a moment. Suddenly, it seemed to grow before him. He realized that it wasn't growing, it was getting closer; he was falling towards it. He fell through the dark spot, some kind of window, and into a pitch black area.
     Dazed and disoriented from the strange perception shift, it took him a minute to clear his mind. He looked around, and even looked up to see if he could see out of the window. Everything was black. He stood up, and a tiny pinprick of light burst to life on his right. Then another appeared on his left. One after another, tiny lights revealed themselves until he was surrounded by them. He suddenly realized that they weren't just lights, they were stars. He was in space! He sensed something behind him and turned, coming to face a giant planet. He recognized it as Ferra after a moment, and knew he was right when he spotted the small Interplanetary Defense Installation slowly gliding past on its orbit around the planet. It slowed to a stop as Eclipse watched, and slowly began to slide backwards, back the way it had come. It picked up speed, getting faster and faster until it sailed around the planet several times each minute. Eclipse realized it wasn't the only thing increasing in speed, the planet spun around at a visible rate. It was like some giant cosmic rewind. Eclipse watched as the Interplanetary Defense Installation came back around again and disappeared on the other side of the planet...and didn't come back. He wondered what had happened, but was distracted by a sudden sense of gravity. He felt himself being pulled towards the planet, and he began falling. He didn't even feel the air blowing past him as he entered the atmosphere of the planet, and he closed his eyes for a moment.
     When he opened them again, he saw that he was nearing a particular spot on the ground, one he had seen from aerial views before: the old Star Team Headquarters. He saw the familiar small building and surrounding area, and his falling speed slowed as he neared it. He finally came to a light landing right in front of the building. Eclipse realized that he must have gone back in time somehow, the Star Team building had been destroyed in a cataclysmic explosion. He looked around for a moment, and started as a huge explosion sounded nearby. Eclipse looked up and gasped. A giant craft descended down through the clouds and stopped, its top still obscured. It was sleek and black, with what appeared to be spines protruding from it down the sides. Photon turrets were mounted all across it as well, the two largest of which were situated directly in the middle of each side. They were both pointed down at the Star Team base building. Another explosion sounded as one of the cannons fired a massive energy blast at the base, but it was stopped by some sort of faintly glowing translucent golden barrier around the building.
     Eclipse turned as he heard the door slam open, and saw Kitsune stride out of it. Kitsune looked up at the offending vessel and held his paw straight up. A beam of light erupted from it, penetrating the clouds and presumably continuing out into space. Shortly after, Eclipse saw each and every turret on the ship point skyward, and he looked in that direction, straining to see anything through the dense clouds. A large explosion rang out as an energy blast impacted the ship, and Eclipse wondered what was happening. Suddenly it occurred to him that this was the battle for the Star Team base, of which he had not been a part. Kitsune had taken him and the others away before the fighting had even started, noting the approach of an enemy spacecraft long before it had arrived. Of course, Eclipse knew that the Star Team had their own crafts as well, one of which must be responsible for the blasts detonating every few seconds against the shield of the black ship. The black ship began firing also, prompting the release of a swarm of fighters from the clouds. The fighters flew around the black ship, firing at its critical components, especially the defense turrets. Eclipse watched a few of the fighters fall out of the sky after being struck by photon bursts, but he was distracted yet again by a strange sensation of motion. He felt himself being drawn towards the large black ship, and suddenly he was inside it.
     He looked around, and realized he must be inside the reactor. Wavelength had shown him the designs for a fusion reactor before, and even some theoretical plasma reactors, but this didn't appear to be the same as any of those. Electricity arced between two pylons in the center of the circular chamber. Eclipse peered through the thin wire mesh protecting any observer from stray bolts of electricity, and gasped. Hovering between the two pylons was a glowing crystal.
     Suddenly Eclipse understood what had happened that day, over a year ago. The Dark Wizard had obtained one of the shards of the Crystal and used it to build a ship run on a new experimental power source: Crystal power. He then tested this ship's capabilities by attacking the Star Team headquarters directly. It was no wonder that it had taken all the power Star and Kitsune could put together to even put a dent in the ship's shield, it was powered by a near-limitless supply of raw energy. Having learned what he had needed to know, the Dark Wizard had blown the ship's engines, and crashed it directly into the base, causing a massive overload of the reactor and destroying everything within a one hundred-mile radius: building, ship and all. The Star Team vessel escaped into space, only lightly damaged from the battle, and the base had been evacuated long before the battle had started, so casualties were very few. Of course, the Dark Wizard had escaped. Now Eclipse understood the significance of the curious discovery Star and Kitsune had made several days later. The Dark Wizard had returned to the site of the old Star Team base to search for something that Star and Kitsune couldn't guess the nature of, but Eclipse knew what it was now: the Crystal shard left behind from the ship's reactor. The Dark Wizard was probably experimenting with Crystal power again now, preparing for another attack on the Star Team. Eclipse knew he needed to tell Star and Kitsune about what he had learned.
     Eclipse felt himself being drawn backwards, and he closed his eyes to avoid becoming dizzy. When he opened them again, he was back in the strange room with the book. Unsure of what had happened, but knowing the knowledge he had gained was important, the turned to leave, but something drew him back again. The book was now open to a different page: the last page. Curiosity won out over the urgency to tell Star and Kitsune and Eclipse climbed up and peered at the page. The back cover of the book was blank on the inside, but the very last page had only two sentences:
     “Shattered now, the Crystal lies. Each piece waits to be claimed in turn, by the chosen one.”
     As Eclipse came to the end of the line, more words formed under the first. Nothing could have prepared Eclipse for what came next:
     “From the Crystal were the cosmos conceived, and so shall all be unmade. Together again, the seven shall be made one. The power of the Crystal shall be unleashed, and then...”
     The words stopped there. Eclipse read them again to make sure he hadn't misread anything. The tiny room was warm, but Eclipse felt a cold chill.
     “...th...that means...” he whispered to himself. “...when...I find...them all...the world...ends...? No...I...can't...let that...happen...”
     Shaking terribly, Eclipse turned and, step by step proceeded back away from the chamber. As the numbness began to wear off, his mind began to race with the implications. Suddenly he realized exactly what that meant. He was part of the universe. So was Kitsune. So was Star.
     So was Auria.
     Did that mean they would all...die? What would happen? Eclipse couldn't stand it anymore, and tears began streaming from his eyes.
     “...I...can't...”
     Was he truly destined to destroy them all?
     He ran through the large marble chamber, not paying attention to where he was going, and back out of the passageway. He collapsed in the entrance of the small cave, and sobbed until his mind finally went blank.

     “Eclipse!?”
     Eclipse couldn't find the strength to even open his eyes. He felt a paw rubbing him, and pressing him in various places. After a moment, he felt himself being picked up and carried. His mind was foggy and he gave up trying to think about what could possibly be happening. He drifted in and out of consciousness for a while, and finally awoke lying in a bed. He groaned, and felt someone stir near him.
     “Eclipse?”
     Auria pulled him close to her and he relaxed in her embrace.
     “...Auria...”
     “...I was so worried about you...are you okay?”
     “...I'm fine...”
     “You don't sound so sure... Star said you didn't have any injuries, but you seemed so tired... All he would tell me is that you must have gone through something horrible...”
     “...please don't talk about that...”
     Eclipse could only vaguely recall what happened in the cave, though the knew he had found out something truly horrifying. Thankfully, what it was was still blurry in his memory. Something about the Crystal...
     “I'm sorry...”
     “It's okay...I don't even remember...what it was...and I don't want to...”
     Auria just held him for a minute before she spoke again.
     “...I'm just glad you're okay.”
     Eclipse finally summoned the strength to hug her back, and he did so.
     “I told you I'd come back to you.”
     “I never doubted you.”
     Eclipse finally opened his eyes. He was back in his room with Auria, lying in his own bed. He noticed that Auria's fur was damp right below her eyes; she had been crying. Eclipse hugged her as tightly as he could, and she squeezed him in return. They stayed that way for a minute before Eclipse finally began to recall some of the details of his ordeal.
     “Oh, that's right!” he exclaimed.
     Auria gave him a puzzled look.
     “I have to tell Star and Kitsune something...” he explained, letting go of Auria and pulling gently out of her embrace.
     He jumped down off the bed and padded out the door, with Auria smiling after him. She had no idea what he had gone through in that cave, but she was happy he was awake and active again. Surely he was getting better...
     Eclipse walked slowly down the hallway, pausing to glance at the stars outside the window. They were so much brighter here than they ever had been in the night sky. It had taken some time to get used to them being visible at all hours of the day, though. Wavelength had the lights on a timer that dimmed them during “nighttime” to help ease the differences from life constantly lit by the sun. Remembering his errand, Eclipse turned and ran down the hallway. He almost ran right into Kitsune, who was going the other direction.
     “Eclipse!”
     “Kitsune!!”
     “I didn't expect you up so soon, are you feeling better?”
     “There's something I have to tell you!”
     Kitsune gave Eclipse a questioning look.
     “Well, I'm a little busy right now...Star's in the control room, you can tell him.”
     Eclipse didn't even respond, he just sped off towards the control room. Kitsune just watched for a moment, wondering what Eclipse could possibly be in such a hurry about.
     Eclipse nearly burst through the door to the control room, startling Star.
     “What the...Eclipse!?”
     “Star!!”
     “What's wrong!?”
     Eclipse panted for a moment, out of breath from running.
     “Nothing's...wrong...I just...need to...tell you...something...”
     “It's obviously important, it looks like you ran all the way here! What is it?”
     “It's about what happened...when I fell off that cliff...”
     Star had questions already, but he let Eclipse keep talking.
     “There was this cave, and I found this big room, and there was the book, and I saw that-”
     “Whoa! Slow down! Take a deep breath and start at the beginning.”
     Eclipse took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Star everything that had happened, more slowly this time.

     “...and then...”
     Eclipse froze, remembering what he had read.
     “...and then...?”
     Eclipse didn't say anything.
     “Eclipse?”
     “...it can't...be true...can it?”
     “What?”
     Eclipse gulped and told Star about the message at the end of the book.
     “Do you really think...it's true?” Eclipse asked after he had finished.
     “...I don't know.”
     “...but I can't...I won't...”
     Star sighed.
     “Eclipse...sometimes we're called to play roles in our lives that we don't like...”
     “But-”
     “But we have to fulfill our destinies, no matter where they take us.”
     “But I can't-”
     “Destiny has a way of being...what we least expect it to be.”
     “But how-”
     “We just have to trust that everything will be okay in the end after everything plays out.”
     “But-”
     “Often, the most important part is the one left unforeseen.”
     Eclipse was silent.
     “After all, the circumstances could hardly be more obscure. Who's to say that day will come soon? And how do you know you'll really regret it by that point? It's a bleak thought, but it's better than the alternative. Eclipse...just understand that...though you believe you now know of your destiny...it won't be anything like you expect. It never is.”
     Eclipse remained silent, absorbing this new point of view. After a moment, he spoke again.
     “So...maybe everyone...will already be dead?”
     “Maybe we won't die at all. Who knows?”
     “So it may not...be as bad as it sounds?”
     “I'm sure it won't be.”
     “...and it never says...what happens after that, or even before...”
     “Exactly. Anything could happen or have happened by then.”
     “...”
     “Don't worry about it too much...it's best not to think about it.”
     “You don't seem surprised...”
     “...I've heard a lot of ancient prophecies, they're all the same to me. Besides...the world has to end someday. We can't be part of it forever anyway.”
     “...I guess you're right.”
     “Of course I'm right! Now you should probably get some rest...”
     “...all right...”
     “Something like that...is enough to sap the energy from even the strongest-willed person.”
     Eclipse yawned, realizing that he was, in fact, still very tired. He turned and headed back to his room. Star watched him leave, and wondered what kinds of things lay in the future for him and his companions.
     “The end of everything...wow... I didn't think I'd be alive to see it.”
     Star turned around and slowly began to pick up his work where he had left off.
     “Then again,” he thought, “maybe I won't be. Who knows?”