Hal watched her leave, and sighed.

"...I really hope we can stop this before the unthinkable happens." he mumbled.

Rose made her way back down to the medwing, and found Zeke in the room that Olivia and Angela had been given. Zeke was sitting in between them and looked to be getting ready for something, when he noticed she returned.

"Hi-" he started to say, before stopping.

"Woah, hello... not-Alicja." he finished, sensing it was another soul, and then seeing the crystal.

"...and that is one heavy-duty chunk of crystal." he commented.

"...I see." Zeke muttered.

He then placed his hands on the crystal when she brought it close enough, and she felt him supercharge it with his mana. The crystal now seemed like it was from the celestial realm, itself.

Maybe it was. There was no telling WHERE Hal had pulled it from, so to speak.

"Now it just need to be placed in the house." Zeke said.

"Anywhere... centre-ish, would suffice."

"...." the man behind the newspaper was silent for a moment. He almost seemed TOO quiet and still... before he slowly lowered the paper, sheer awe, fear, and anxiety in his eyes.

"...I... I see." he said.

"Name... please." he told her.

"And... and reason for needing to speak with the one in charge." he added.

'She... she looks like a dryad.' he then thought. 'But... I've never felt such pressure while in the presence of a dryad before...'

"......" the guard was silent again, before pressing the button on the comm to directly link him to Sharp.

"Boss...?" he said. "There's... there's someone here that... looks like a dryad, but... but they're NOT a dryad. They say their name is 'Terra'." he told him.

"Does this have anything to do with the tremendous presence I feel?" Sharp asked.

"...I believe it has EVERYTHING to do with that." Jake responded.

"Send them up." Sharp told him.

"Got it." Jake said, before releasing the button.

"...need... need someone to escort you?" he asked her.

Jake was stunned to the point of being motionless when he heard that.

The first thing he realised/processed was that she had said that Anya was safe, and had told him her location.

"I..." he stammered, before it dawned on him. His subconscious had been worried SICK about that, he'd just been too stress and preoccupied with what was happening to give that worry proper attention. "Thank you." he said. "That... that lifted an enormous weight off my shoulders that... I just realised was there. Now that it's gone, I see it was there." he told her.

"Thank you." he repeated.

He then paused again, as something else hit him.

"Wait..." he said. "That's... that was my name. My real, actual name. And... and that rolled off the tongue like you were an actual Ramaarin." he commented.

"How...? When...? But..." he stuttered, SO many questions arising from that alone, before he just shook his head.

"Know what? That can wait." he said, figuring the severity of this situation could make his questions wait.

"Thank you again for telling me about Anya."

Hal was silent for a moment as he beheld the woman.

"...hello." he greeted her.

"Have a seat." he offered.

"Now... let's get straight down the business, how can we help you?" he asked her.

"And I mean that literally. Because I can tell you are NOT doing the best." he commented bluntly.

"I don't mean to be so forward, but I sense that time's a factor here."

Hal paused when she said the last part.

"...it was not." he confirmed. "I intended to make a crystal that could hold celestial mana, yes, and I did. However, that was FAR stronger than I had intended. If someone were to get ahold of it, it could mean danger." he continued.

"But given the current use for it, that should not happen." he reasoned.

"I'd ask how you know... but given your... presence... this pressure... I get the feeling that's nothing for you." he went on.

"..." he was then silent, and looked right at her.

"...Terra isn't your real name, is it?" he asked.

"Because what I sense is NOT a dryad's mana." he told her.

"And it's not a changeling/shapeshifter's mana, either." he went on.

"Yours is a mana that I have never felt before. But at the same time, paradoxically, I feel like I've felt it my entire existence, ever since I was first brought into this world." he continued.

"...and Terra is the name that technically IS your name... among others..." he then mumbled.

As he spoke, Terra could see the gears in his head turning. And it seemed like they'd managed to connect a fair bit already.

"...if I didn't know any better..." he muttered. "Judging from the sheer power I feel emanating from you... this isn't your real form." he then said. "And I don't just mean in looks. I mean, in... every literal sense of 'you'." he added.

Hal was stunned, to understate it.

Before him stood an avatar of the very planet they lived on. Literal Mother Nature was sitting in front of him. However, he knew this was no time to be star-struck or dumbfounded with awe. She had just given him some vital information.

A lot of it wasn't good, too.

"Ohhhh dear." he said.

"This... this is even worse than I expected. This was deliberately orchestrated." he commented.

"I assume that's why you seem a little... er... chaotic or unhinged? At least, that form, anyway?" he asked.

That last sentence hit him hard. Now they were on a hard timer, and it was a short one.

"...I see." he said, a heaviness to his tone.

"Well, it's time we ramped up the investigation of this, and try and find out who's doing this." he told her.

"...in the meantime, is there anything we can do for YOU? As in, your avatar." he then asked her.

"Even if it's just a very temporary Band-Aid solution to help you stay collected." he went on.

"Let me know if there is."