Everyone looked at Isabel with wide eyes full of anxiety and wonder. How did she enter the room? The door and windows were closed. Did she just walk through a wall? These questions danced in everyone's head, yet none of them spoke. They just stared at the mysterious intruder: a woman ancient with age, whose eyes were sky-blue, and whose greenish black cloak, cut in narrow slices, moved about her, energized by unknown magic.
"My name is Isabel. I am a Seamstress. And I can tell you how to bring Shivam back," Isabel explained.
"How did you enter my house?" John asked, baffled, as Tiyasha and Arthur looked at each other.
"I specialize in moving through dimensions," the Seamstress said in response to John. "As I said, I am a Seamstress, and my job is to seal the torn places of the Fabric that..."
"Exists between different worlds," Tiyasha said.
"You Witch! You know this rude intruder?" Bell asked, finally losing his temper. The decision they had made about helping these strangers now seemed to be a bad one. True, they were the friends of the People's Hope, but it didn't matter now, for the People's Hope was dead. What kind of friends allowed you to die? And now they would have to live the rest of their lives in fear of the Infernos. Bell wished all these strangers would leave their house now, and leave them in counterfeiting peace.
"I have heard of Seamstresses," Tiyasha said. "You said you know how to bring Shivam back?"
"Yes. He's a Raiser...and the Lunar Eclipse comes. His dragon sits on your lap, love for him burns in your heart. The ReRaising Ritual must be done," the Seamstress said.
"Impossible!" John shouted. Bell just stared at the Seamstress, eyes huge, mouth agape. Tiyasha and Took shook their head in unison.
"Rerayroo what?" Arthur asked, unsure what was going on.
"We're just wasting precious time. This is insane. Bell, bring the Gallclear. We've got to save the boy," John said. He decided the best way of getting this "seamstress" out of their house was to insult her by ignoring her completely. Bell nodded, and left the bedroom to bring the cure for the poisoned boy.
"That boy is no longer in immediate mortal danger," Isabel said. "However, should the ReRaising Ritual fail, you all will die eventually. Blikrot is thinking about acquiring the Shadowblade as we speak. Shivam must be brought back, for the signs are clear. Everything's just perfect for the Ritual, and it cannot be mere coincidence."
"Will anyone explain to me what's going on here?" Arthur asked, frustrated. No one answered him for a while, and he looked at each of them incredulously. The ReRaising Ritual? Bringing a dead man back? What kind of black magic was the old woman talking about?
Bell came back into the bedroom, went to Josh, and placed what looked like a red cherry in his mouth. Josh chewed it promptly, and swallowed. "He'll be alright," Bell muttered.
Tiyasha, John, and the Seamstress were staring at each other. "Is any of it true?" Tiyasha asked. "Is there no other way?" John inquired.
"Is this an asylum?" Arthur shouted.
"There's no other way," the Seamstress said. Then, looking at Arthur, she continued: "Warrior, let me tell you about the Power and Price of love. Once, when a young boy died, his powers of a Raiser not yet fully bloomed, his mother refused to accept it. She decided to rage against Fate, and mock death by bringing her son back. On a night in which the moon didn't shine, mingling the blood of a dragon with the tears of her love, she invoked his son back. And he Rose again. That's why it's called The ReRaising Ritual..."
"But you can't just bring someone back from the dead! That would let all hell break loose!" Arthur protested.
"That's why there's a Price. The Unseen Price...for no one knows what the Ritual will cost," Isabel said quietly. "The Young Raiser breathed again, but he developed a fairly large tail. His life became an endless misery, a prison. He couldn't leave his room, as his skin began turning into snake-scales. His mother killed him, and then ended her own life."
"And you expect us to try this?" John asked. "There's no one in Heart who will dare to attempt performing the Ritual..."
"It doesn't depend on you, MediMen. It depends on the young silent witch here. Is she ready to challenge the power of her love? Is she ready to pay the price love demands? If she is, worlds might be saved. If she isn't, Shivam is dead anyway, and Heart will burn," Isabel said.
"I am ready to give my blood, as much maybe necessary, to save the life of Josh's elder brother," Took said bravely, finally breaking his silence. He unfolded his wings, rose from Tiyasha's lap, and flew to Josh's side again. Anything for Josh. ReRaising Ritual, his blood, his life, whatever.
"Then I'm ready for the Unseen Price of love," Tiyasha declared.
"Then tonight's the night it must be tone. Do not miss the Eclipse," Isabel said.
"What if we refuse to help?" Bell asked.
"Why don't you refuse the Infernos who drag you to their battlefields? Why don't you refuse Blikrot, who prevents your families from adopting children? Why don't you refuse his commanders, who force you to make poison for their weapons that can even kill dragons? If you don't have it in you to stand up and refuse to work along with evil, then you have no right to refuse helping the man who might stop it, once and for all."
And with that, the Seamstress turned, summoned a portal, and was gone from the bedroom.