Stand before the Lady of the Lake.

With clouds covering the skyline, Crystal Lake is like a sheet of tempered glass. The wind is still, and you stare out across the shimmering water while you repeat the plan over and over again within your mind. It leaves you tense. You can't wait much longer, or you'll risk Elok Daven forming some sort of counter measure. If he manages to block off all four fronts, or he flees, there's no telling when you'll be able to take him out again. For all you know, he's already onto you. He knows of the entrances to his own abode, though that may only count for three. This final one that hopefully exists before you may be your trump card.

That, and all the allies you've made along the way. Elok has an army, so you need one too. The difference is that mine consists of friends, as corny as that sounds. His seems to be all a bunch of cultists and robots. Deadly, but I'm going to power-of-friendship his ass off my world. Fuck that guy. As for Breiah, I'm still not sure what to think about her. She seems like she might be the true mastermind behind all of this. She may be their trump card.

You take a deep breath in and shout, "Lady of the Lake! I uh... I call upon you? I don't know. Are you awake?"

Crystal Lake swirls and churns, and something rises up from the center. She's a beautiful woman, made entirely of flowing water, with hair like oceanic waves rolling down past her shoulders. As the water settles, her feminine figure takes shape. With her arms stretched out to the side, she slowly sinks down along with the lake beneath her feet until she stands upon the surface as if it were frozen over. Each step she takes forward sends a gentle ripple outward. The mystical glow of her eyes is aimed directly at you as she nears, and she does so with a warm smile upon her face.

"Kyle Warren," she speaks your name. "You have returned once more. This time you come alone. Your friends are not present. Does this mean you did not come to have fun as we did before?"

"Did you want me to?"

"... Perhaps. Never mind that. You surely have come for a reason. Speak."

"Do you remember when you transported us out into the deep ocean?"

"Of course I do. Must you leave again so soon?"

"No. There's something else we need. See, there's one specific spring that we need to teleport into, and I was wondering if you could reach that. Are you able to link your lake to any other body of water, or does it have to be the ocean?"

"The ocean is not a requirement no, but I would desire a more thorough description."

"Deep beneath the late Demon King Muian's lair, south of Tivera, is Elok Daven's final laboratory. There's an underground spring there, kinda like the one I have at Castle Phoenix--"

"You have a spring as well?" she interrupts. "Why did you not tell me this before?"

"Is that bad?"

"No. But now I may visit you whenever I wish!"

"But for now, do you think you can each the one in our enemy's base?"

She gently closes her eyes and ponders silently to herself for a few moments. She reaches out across the lake with her mind, and feels the ripples made by the gentle breeze, and the water beneath. She eventually opens her eyes once more and says, "To sense such a body of water so small yet so far, I would need to touch it myself."

"Damn it. That makes things a little tricky."

"Do you carry with you any vials?"

"I think so. Hold on." You dig around in your pack for a second before pulling out a small glass vial. "This work?"

"Allow me." She reaches out with one of her hands and takes the vial from you before opening it up. She then scoops it through her own body, fills it up to the prim, and then pops the cork back on. "Take this," she says, handing it back over.

You take the vial of the Lady's liquid and look it over curiously. "Do I drink it?"

"Oh my." She brings a hand back through her watery hair. "Perhaps another time. No, this is meant to be taken to the spring in question. If you pour that into any body of water in the world, I should be able to feel its presence. Then if you desire it, I can send any amount of people through to the other side."

This changes things. All right. So we aren't licked yet. I couldn't Bunny Hop out of there last time, so that likely means I can't get back in that way either, but if I can get in again, all I need to do is pour this into their bath to summon reinforcements. That means I should bring a bunch of people to Crystal Lake, and then go with Front C. I'll rush to the bath while the others fight, and open the gates, in a matter of speaking. This isn't as great of a plan as before, but it might still work.

"I can work with this," you say. "Thank you, Lady of the Lake. Can I ask you a personal question? Why is it you're being so helpful, if you've been mostly dormant for so long? People call me Demon King after all, and we were strangers up until recently."

"Mmm. Your confidence is lacking. What you cannot see, I can feel. The tides of fate are turning, and Absoterra is where I live as well. I wish not to see it fall to darkness. On top of that, when you first came with your allies to play within my lake, I felt your connection. You did not just stir my body when you swam within me waters, but my heart as well. When I awoke, I expected dread, but instead I felt amazing, moreso than I had felt in many decades, perhaps longer. People follow you not because of some sort of hidden power, but because of the person you are. I believe you can do this, Kyle Warren. Hero-King."

"Right now, someone else is using that title, even if he doesn't deserve it."

"Then perhaps it is your destiny to take it." The surface beneath her feet rises and it carries her back across the lake. "Return to me when you need me. I will be ready," she says before the foam of the lake's splashing waves envelops her, and the shape of her body disappears once again into Crystal Lake, as if she was never there to begin with. The hilly plains are quiet yet again.

You stare up at the mountains nearby. Castle Phoenix can't be seen, but it can be felt. You grasp the vial of water tight and steel yourself for what's to come.