The shower of falling green lights fell on two figures on the ground. The Magic Knights could see Clef clearly as he stood in wonder at the sight before him. The large gate that Emerria had been standing in front of had been opened, and the girl had gone inside the large circular field of green grass. She could be seen in the middle as the Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu were all transported back to the ground and the mashins dissapeared.

"What is this place?" asked Umi with awe in her voice.

Her question went unanswered as the earth began to move again. This time however, the earth did not simply move....it began to crumble. Around them, the basic fabric of the earth was faling apart and the paridise around them seemed to disintegrate from within the earth. In its place was a land of cracked gorges and flat lifeless plains. In the midst of it all, there was *one* spot that was still.

In the center of the green circle, Emerria was standing still. At the edge of the clearing, Clef and the others had sought shelter. Clef raised his staff and found a new shield in his heart. "SHIELD ENCLOSE!" he yelled over the din of the earth moving. As the sheild moved over them, Emerria began to glow.

"Little one, can you hear me?" said a voice in Emerria's head.

"Yes....." she replied, shocked at the destruction around her.

"I.....am very weak now....." the voice in her head seemed to fade in and out. "I am here, in this grove. I only have enough power to protect and hold it together."

"What exactly are you?" Emerria asked the voice in her head.

"I am the spirit that holds Cefiro together. I am the web weaved by the creator that holds all the pieces as one." As the voice in her head pulsed, wind began to swirl about Emerria, and she glowed with a deep green light. "Little one, I have only one question to ask you here...."

"Yes.....I accept......."

"My question. I have not told it to you yet...." The voice seemed to pause. "I will ask you and you will wait to answer....this is not something one takes lightly....." Again the voice paused and its attention seemed to change. It was as if it was looking at Clef. "Little one, my question......."

"Yes?"

"May I take you as my own? May I have your body, your power, your essence? To heal the wound, to seal the fabric of Cefiro together?"

Emerria paused. She knew that it would come to this. No amount of will could change this fact. She would die so that Cefiro would be healed. "I accept this....." Emerria paused and turned to look at Clef. "Take care of him....."

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" screamed the four others as they finally realized what was happening. This was the end......this was the beginning......

A green shield began to grow around Emerria's body and enclosed her. The Magic Knights retreated to the very edge of the circle and watched as Emerria began to glow. Clef stood at his spot as if waiting for his fate. He saw the field coming towards him and waited for it to hit. As it did, it threw him backwards out of the circle and onto the shaking ground..

"EME-CHAN!!!" he screamed as he clawed his way across the shaking ground toward the circle.

The green shield around Emerria had grown and it now enclosed most of the circle. Clef, Hikaru, Umi and Fuu all stood at four points around the edge watching Emerria in the center. Through the shield, they could see the power that was growing in her body. Suddenly, the stone in the scepter that she had been carrying began to glow and a wind began to whip around in the interior of the circle. Emerria's cloaks whipped around her, flapping with a violent intensity.

"She is in me..." Emerria's voice echoed through the valley. "She *is* me...." As she seemed to speak, her body became engulfed with light. The sheild around her body began to shrink into itself and was sucked up into the stone of the scepter. The wind died down and they could clearly see her form.

"Tell me that I can take you..." said the voice, as if it was exahusted.

"I want to heal the land. I WANT TO HEAL CEFIRO!!" Emerria's voice echoed once again through the valley. This time, her body seemed to explode along with it. Her form, which had been infused with light, seemed to pull within itself and then explode outward in a massive wave. The shockwave traveled over all the planet, infusing the entire land with shimmering green light. The Magic Knights and Clef shielded their eyes as it passed over them and as it cleared, they were temporarily blinded.

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