We see barren terrain emerge from a red fog. The details of the scene seem blurry, but soon a figure comes running over a rise, frantically searching for any signs of life. It is Syne, appearing much the way he did last we saw him, but dwarfed by the magnitude of the grotesque panorama before him. The blood red shadows linger over multitudes of Antareans, Proteans, and humans, all dead. For a moment, he staggers, wondering if he is to join them, tripping, falling backwards...

...and waking. Syne's eyes snap open, and he slowly shifts to a sitting position. He reaches up as though he had a great headache, and is startled to find he has virtually no hair. He is also wearing very blank clothing (a hospital-like dressing).

• The door to the small room where he had been sleeping ("was I just sleeping?") bursts open, and Rheya comes in. She asks him how he feels, out of courtesy, but doesn't seem that interested in answering his questions. She explains that, yes, he was killed, and they were able to bring him back. They don't have a lot of time if they hope to catch up with the others.

• Syne isn't so hasty. He doesn't trust Rheya after her deviousness at Pylos Gamma (Syne not trust? This is already a change.) She impatiently asserts that she was only doing what seemed like the best idea at the time; she really was sincere when she offered to help the group in the beginning, even though she was supposedly spying on them.

• Syne accepts this for now, letting Rheya have one more chance, and cautiously tests his legs.

The two of them make haste across the Pylos Eumonetics Labs and Rheya brings them to the entrance to the wind laboratories. She seems frustrated; whoever went through last apparently didn't use proper clearance, which will force Syne and herself to be "creative" in order to get around the safeguards. Eventually, they get into the lab, only to find two very despondent and rather unclothed eumoneticists eager to be let back out. Syne and Rheya then enter the machine...

...and step out into the newly battle-torn Serribis. They are quickly engaged by eumonetic earth monsters, a few of which they are just barely able to destroy. Another four round a corner and see them. Just as another battle is about to begin, the flyer comes in for a landing, flattening the monsters and barely missing Syne and Rheya.

• Brooke is very cordial to Hyde, but Cade is impatient and heads toward the Eastern Wake at the pier. He doesn't get more than a few feet before he sees the two standing near the landing platform. Syne, seeing Cade, happily runs up to his friend, but the latter backs away in fright. When he notices Rheya on top of this, his sense of reality comes crashing down on him. It takes a silence technique from Rheya and a few friendly whacks from Syne to convince him that he's alive again. Rheya says she'll explain when they're safely away from Serribis.

• Brooke informs them that Cade was taking her to his boat so they could rescue her friend Rush and someone named Enna from the ocean. This grabs Syne's attention and he immediately begins running toward the pier. The others follow him, with the silent Cade tapping on Rheya's shoulder to remind her. She doesn't respond, but has a very subtle yet mischievous smile on her face.

• After the party of four deals with a few more baddies, they eventually get to the Eastern Wake and set out to search for their lost friends. There is a lot of wreckage, and they are able to pick up several survivors from the two now sunken Pylos ships (and they're all probably grateful enough to give some nice bonus items in exchange for rescue).

  • The party finally comes across something floating in the water, but it is neither of their missing persons. It is Enna's bow. Syne mournfully picks it up, knowing that she would never willingly let go of one of her most prized possessions. Cade can only put a hand on his friend's shoulder, and Brooke and Rheya know to keep appropriately silent as well. (Syne temporarily gains the opportunity to use Enna's bow. This is partially to make up for the fact that he's been absent while the other characters have been able to develop.)

  • The brief realization that their friends have perished is interrupted by the fact that the sea is beginning to explode around them. Tyrus is sending destructive blasts at random up to the surface of the water (he loves his new eumonetic powers ... he loves 'em good). The Eastern Wake must dodge these as it returns to the mainland.

• Rheya highly recommends they high-tail it to Titan City to warn the Prime Magistrate of the danger Tyrus now represents. En route, she explains to a semi-astonished group that Pylos has been researching a resurrection technique. She reasons this is how Syne has been brought back, but she didn't know this project had advanced so quickly.

  • The Eastern Wake is free to roam the Titan Continent.

The group docks at Titan City, and heads off to see the Prime Magistrate in the capitol building (that's the tall one with the huge spires).

• -shopping break-

• At the steps of the capitol, Syne and company are surprised to find Dantalian. He is surprised--though not particularly shocked--to see Syne, and cheerily welcomes them, saying he's glad they've come when they did.

  • Rheya breaks Dantalian off, telling him there's an emergency and they must meet with the Prime Magistrate right away to discuss plans. Dantalian forces a smile and says that there's already a meeting underway, and they are welcome to accompany him to it.

  • Brooke wants to know if this Magistrate guy is anything like a king. Everyone else seems a bit confused, but Rheya figures, yes, he would be the most king-like official in all the Titan Provinces. The curious Dantalian asks Brooke who she is, and she announces she's a princess from Kay Pacha (this, of course, is news to everyone else, as well).

  • Dantalian gets them through security and into the capitol building. He announces the presence of an ambassador, which seems to send all the government workers into official-business mode. They are all taken up to the Prime Magistrate's office.

• They find the Prime Magistrate meeting with Hyde outside his office; it looks as if the two have met before (probably organizing Pylos' support of the military). Brooke is very concerned and wants to get straight to the point, skipping all the pleasantries and small talk. She tells of her mistaken trust in Tyrus, that he now possesses enormous power and must be stopped. The Magistrate simply smiles a bit, and tells her he's just had a meeting with someone else, and they came to the exact same conclusion.

• That someone else steps out of the Magistrate's office: it is Kydran. There are varied responses from everyone: Syne and Cade are in a momentary outrage, Brooke is shocked to see an Antarean, Rheya is also surprised (but hides it), while Hyde and Dantalian are somewhat ambivalent. Miriel emerges from the office as well, closely following Kydran. He has overheard the current conversation and nods, now knowing it is Tyrus making the mischief. It makes a lot more sense. He also advises everyone to calm down; they're all in this together now, so there's little sense in continuing the "petty disputes of the past."

• Kydran zones in on Brooke and asks her who she is. She is about to spill, but thinking the Antarean may get ideas, she backpedals and "corrects" herself, saying that she is a representative of the Protectors. (*While this may seem like a very devious tactic, this play gets Brooke to start thinking on a scale higher than just her duty or her assigned position. This has to do with what's best for everyone.)

• The Magistrate says the remainder of the Titan Navy (less the two ships that were destroyed at Serribis) is still testing its eumonetic fleet in the North Sea. They can be brought down to hunt and destroy Pylos Epsilon. Kydran interrupts; it would be preferable that Epsilon not be destroyed. Brook finds herself actually agreeing with an Antarean. ("The cargo onboard is our--er, that is ... it belongs to the Proteans.") Miriel offers help; she may be able to find a way around Tyrus' defenses without causing major destruction. Cade wants to know what Syne thinks; but the rez-head really doesn't know what to think.

• As the meeting breaks, Kydran goes up to Syne: "The only reason you're alive is because I'm alive. Never forget that."