Chapter 6

Chapter 6 has the distinction of being the only chapter to date of being separated into two parts.

As the group continues on their journey, the mask known as Ephemural now seeks to split Trace and Flora up as part of her mysterious plan. However, the mask's plan seems to backfire, as Trace and Flora finally realize their love for each other.

=Part 1 (Lost)=

Introduction
Chapter 6 (Part 1) focuses on the breaking of Trace and Flora's relationship to allow the possession of Flora by Ephemural.

Plot
The scene starts with an upset and bitter Flora, grieving over losing Trace to a Human woman. She is in a Templar Tower, talking to Ephemural. Ephemural consoles Flora and asks her to tell everything that happened.

The retold story takes the reader back to two days earlier. Trace, Flora, and Keith finally make it out of the forest and find the port city they had been looking for. Trace talks to a man about getting a ship, who is the disguised Master Spy. Flora and Keith change into Trace's clothes, so as to be protected by Trace's presence. Meanwhile, two Templar see Trace and leave to send word to Saria that Trace had returned.

At the Water Burn Tavern, Flora, still in heat, has some trouble controlling herself around Trace. Trace sternly warns her that he needs to uphold his reputation at the port city. In response to Trace, Flora tells him:

"'I'll... try harder, I guess. It's just frustrating. Out relationship isn't all that strong yet, but... You know.. I.. I really love you.' ~ Flora"

Although this catches Trace by surprise, he does not have much time to respond, as one of the Templars who noticed him return comes up to him and tells him that she brought his wife to the Tavern. This also catches Trace by surprise, as he has no knowledge of Saria.

The scene changes to the present time. Red, Maren, Karen, and Raine enter the city. Although the other head off to find Trace, Raine stays behind to find her mother, Mary. In a different area, Ephemural is shown changing bodies from Mary to Flora, as she coaxes Flora to continue telling her what happened.

Flora drags Trace out of the tavern area to talk to her. Flora is angry that Trace has a wife, blaming him for knowing (although his memory loss would make this impossible). Trace tells Flora to take a bath as he heads back to the tavern to find out more about his wife. Flora, in the bath, is confronted by one of the Templars who claims to be a member of The Resistance (although she is actually Ephemural in disguise). Flora gets chased out of the bath by the Templar, still trying to help her.

Outside, Trace meets Saria and confesses that the reason why he never wrote any letter was because he lost his memory. Saria coughs up some blood as she carries the conversation with Trace inside. Flora dives into Trace, shouting his name and crying for help. Annoyed, Trace yells at Flora, casueing her to run out of the room in tears. Saria realizes how much Trace means to Flora and tells Trace to go after her and make sure she is alright. Flora tells Trace how she feels:

"Flora: 'Ever since we've been here it seems like you've been acting... different. Giving me orders and ignoring what I say. I hate it. It's almost as if you really think of me as your slave.' Trace: 'Flora, that's not true...' Flora: 'I know.. or.. I think I know. But it really does hurt. I don't want to feel like a slave again.'"

After they talk, Flora makes a move on Trace, who stops her, saying that he doesn't want to take advantage of her. Trace heads back to Saria and Flora goes to bed.

Flora is woken up by Keith bringing food, due to Flora being asleep over a day. Flora, in her panic from thinking she was still in heat (and might pounce on Keith), shouts at Keith, who then spills the soup and milk he got for her. Flora heads downstairs to get some food, but passes behind Trace and Saria having a conversation in front of the fireplace. Listening in to their conversation, Flora overhears them talking about her:

"Saria: 'But... there isn't anything more between you two?' Trace: 'More? Uh... what do you mean? Flora and I are good friends... but she's still a Keidran. How could there be anything between us?'"

Flora walks away, dejected, although she runs into the Templar (Ephemural in disguise), who ends up accidentally rubbing in the Keidran insult ("just a Keidran" ~ Trace), causing Flora to run away in tears into Keith's arms. Keith tries his best to console Flora.

The next day, Keith confronts Trace about Flora. Although Trace still didn't know why Flora was sulking, Keith persuades him to talk to Flora anyway.

The Templar girl enters Flora's room to talk to her. She introduces herself as Ephemural.

=Part 2=

Introduction
Chapter 6 (Part 2) focuses on Trace admitting his love for Flora and the obstacles that he must pass to save her.

Plot
Maren, Karen, and Red are led by a Templar towards Trace. However, the ground begins shaking and Flora, possessed by Ephemural, appears. Trace confronts Neutral, but she attacks him. Ephemural reveals that Flora was actually his intended target before she wiped his memory. Instead of remembering and unlocking his past memories, Trace fights against her wishes instead, wanting to know who he is, but also not wanting to hurt anyone.

Meanwhile, Raine finally comes across her mother, Mary, in the arms of Euchre. Mary is now a Human again, as she let Ephemural possess her in exchange for her humanity back.

Ephemural attacks Trace with a lightning bolt, who uses telekinesis to defend himself with a nearby crate. She asks him why he won't fight her:

Ephemural:  "Why won't you fight me? Realize your true powers! Give in to your memories!" Trace:  "I... I can't.."  Ephemural:  "Why not? Why?!"  Trace:  "It's... it's because I really do care.. about Flora. I wasn't sure before, but.."  Ephemural:  "But she's just a Keidran! You could have any human female you wanted! Or if you're into Keidran, who's going to stop you? You could have anyone!"  Trace:  "But... I don't want a human. Or a Keidran. Don't.. you get it? It's not the.. race that's i-important to me. It's just.. just Flora. Because.. ...I love her."  (Saria is also revealed to be listening to Trace's declaration of love to Flora.)

While Trace is talking to Ephemural, Red tries to attack Ephemural from behind. Keith notices him and stops him, to save Flora. Ephemural begins to leave, with the intention of sealing Flora's memories and ending the conflict. Trace is shaken out of his stupor by Karen throwing a pebble at him, cheering him on. With Trace still unsure of how to defeat Ephemural without harming Flora, Euchre steps in to give him help:

Euchre:  "Listen Trace, it's true that the masks know everything. Past, present, and future. But there's one thing that they cannot predict.." (It can be inferred that Euchre is explaining that the Masks are unable to predict how love affects people.)

Ephemural attacks Euchre with the same lightning bolt spell that she had used against Trace, although he dodges the attack. He throws Trace a sword and tells him to fight her. She moves to attack Trace and he slashes his sword across her face. Fragments of the sword fly to the ground and Ephemural is undamaged. Ephemural continues taunting Trace until his past powers begin to resurface. Euchre decides to interfere in the fight and keep the power-crazed Trace from hurting Flora. He shows Trace his memories of Flora, reminding him of why he's fighting in the first place. While Trace is coming to his senses, Ephemural attacks Euchre while he is too involved in casting the spell on Trace to defend himself. The Master Spy, upon seeing Euchre (a fellow Master Templar), reveals his own meddling in Ephemural's plans through the  SubtleSeed that he had given to Trace as a gift for Flora. Flora's thoughts begin resurfacing and Ephemural starts losing control as Trace gets Flora back from the depths of her mind with the Master Spy's help. Trace wakes up Flora's soul and Ephemural tries to use her powers on Trace; however, her powers are faded. Knowing that she is losing control over Flora, she attacks Mary, only to be blocked by Trace, who shatters the mask and releases Flora from Ephemural's hold.

The following days, Trace and Flora recover inside the cabin. However, upon waking they find that the city had vanished. Once Keith leads Trace outside to the woods outside, Saria appears. Speaking with Trace in private, she lies to him and tells him that she wasn't his wife, brought back by Neutral (Ephemural). She goes back to her grave and vanishes, content that Trace is happy again. Inside the cabin, Maren tries to convince Trace to come with them to the Templar. However, Red tells them that the Templar are going to look at the cabin, so he has to go; Red also tells Maren that the Council is calling back all of the Templar.

Back at the Templar headquarters, the Master Seer talks with another Templar about the need to capture Trace for the completion of the final Tower. He mentions employing the Dragons, even though the gold needed wouldn't be given freely to the  Templars. =References=