As I woke up, I saw what looked to be old ruins, and two thrones with banners behind them. Well, at least I know where we are. I was lying on my back in the old throne room. I sat up, rubbing my head, which is when I realized my helmet had been taken off. It was nearby, and I looked at it, and, to my surprise, I looked as I had before this whole thing started. I had short, brown hair, a somewhat chubby face, a normal shaped nose, and olive eyes. All in all, I'd say I looked average.

"You're finally up," I heard to my left. I turned and saw Green Mist looking at me, his arms crossed, with a smile. "We thought you had died from the teleporation."

I chuckled. "You'd need to try harder than that to kill me," I say. "So, how long was I out?"

"A day," he said. "During which, something came for you." At this, a Ghost appeared behind him. "No idea what he wants."

"I think I know," I say as I stand up and the Ghost comes over to me. "So, whose Ghost are you?" I ask.

"Cybis'," he says "You forgot to give us a way to summon you."

"Oh, right," I say, rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment. "Sorry." I reached down to my fracture skin plasma pistol and held it out, butt first. "This do?"

"You sure," the Ghost says. "That's one less weapon for you."

"Yeah, I am," I say. "I got a battle rifle and two swords, after all."

The Ghost took a hold of the pistol through what I can only assume in manipulation of gravity fields. "Well, if we can, we'll make another for you."

"Make it a few," I say. "That way, if i encounter others of. . . our kind, they can summon me for help, too."

"Right," he said. "See ya." With that, he just disappeared.

"You still owe us an explanation, you know," Green Mist said.

"Then get the others," I say as I knelt down and grabbed my helmet. "Thirty minutes," I say. "I need to check some stuff."

"What?"

"Stuff," I say before putting my helmet on and walking out of the room. I made my way out of the ruined castle. The Everfree forest was around us, the gorge there. Okay, why were the sisters stupid enough to build their castle where only a fucking bridge or pegasai can get to?

Regardless, I walked to the edge of the cliff above where the Tree of Harmony was. The reason why is to help find out where in the show's timeline I am. I'm definitely after season three premiere, but no idea past that. I stepped over the edge, and fell to the entrance of the cave, activating the thrusters to slow my fall just before impact. Once I landed, I landed and saw that the tree had all the Elements. I walked closer, and saw that the mystery box was also gone. So, after Tirek. Noted. Wonder how I missed the castle. I walked towards the tree and put a hand on it, noting it felt like normal tree bark, even though it was made out of crystal.

Who are you?

I jumped back, not expecting to hear a voice. The voice itself sounded like a mother's. calming, but it also sounded ancient and knowledgeable. Weird. Anyway, I walked around the back, and saw the one thing I hadn't expected to see.

My emblem, in shape. Two energy swords crossed over an octagon. I looked at my scout shoulder piece, and there it was. One sword was white, the other orange, and they were crossed over a red octagon. I looked back at the tree, and placed a hand on it again.

Who are you? I heard again, and jumped back before realizing it came from the tree. I placed my hand on it again. Who are you?

My name is Josh Miller I replied. I assume that you're. . . whatever resides in the Tree?

Indeed I am, the intelligence said. My name is Harmony, though I imagine that is obvious. I do not know what you are, though.

I'm a Spartan of the UNSC, I say.

No, you are not, Harmony said. I am well aware of other dimensions, as the tree's strength and presence allow it to exist in multiple dimensions. As such, I know of your origins. Though, I can see why you told me otherwise. Other versions of myself have encountered others have you sub-race, no offense meant, and know that the travel alters your mind slightly.

I kind guess that myself, I say. But why is it my emblem in on the tree?

That, if I had to guess, is because of the lost seventh Element. Luna and Celestia were the first after me to wield the Elements, Twilight was the one to discover how the Element of Magic is made. I can only assume you are connected to the Elements, though I do not know how.

Well, guess I'll find out eventually, I say.

Indeed you will, Harmony said. Before you go, I must ask: Why are you involved in this war? A third faction will simply lead to more bloodshed.

I guess to make sure someone's looking out for the civilians. It's been an honor to speak with you, Harmony.

As it has been for me, Spartan, Harmony said before I felt something, I assume her consciousness, receding.

With that, I took my hand off the tree. Things just got interesting, I'm sure. Anyway, I made my way to the entrance of the cave, and up the rock stairs. Once I made my way to the to. I walked to this end of the ravine that separated the castle from the rest of the forest. I turned around, and jogged into the forest, making sure my armor thrusters were functioning. Once I had gotten to where there was no sunlight, I turned back around, and got into a running stance. Once I was sure everything was ready, I took off running, hitting max speed pretty quickly.. I used my back thrusters to kick it up even more. Once I hit the ravine edge, I jumped, using my thrusters to gain as much altitude as I could. I then used the ground slam move to clear the rest of the way, and landed just on the other edge of the ravine.

"Now that's a solid ten," I heard Quick say before I heard clapping. I stood up and looked in the direction I heard her voice in, and saw her, Onyx, Lone, and Mist.

"Thanks," I say. "Now come on, I owe you guys an explanation."

We had made our way to the throne room, and sat on the ground. "So, questions first," I say.

"Who were those three that you summoned," Lone asked.

"Guardians, most likely from another version of Equis, who are in the same boat as I am, which would be us not being in our home dimension. Hence the name our predecessors came up with. "The Displaced"."

"And how did you get here?" Quick asked.

"I bought one of these," I say, patting an energy sword, "a portal opened under me, and here I am."

"So you aren't trying to get home?" Mist asked.

"Nope," I say, shaking my head. "Yeah, it'd be a nice bonus, but I'm here for a reason. If I'm gonna help you guys, I need to be focused.

"What about your family?" Onyx asked.

"That, I wish I could say something about," I say. "I mean, yeah, I want to see them, but if they knew what I was doing, they'd want me to help."

"What were you like before this," Lone asked.

I shrugged. "Personality wise, the same," I say. "Physically, I was weaker, and this," I say, tapping the chest of my armor, "was just a costume. A lot of shit happens to a person that gets displaced."

"Apparently," Quick said. "So, what exactly why did you give that robotic thing one of your guns?"

"The beauty and curse of being a displaced," I say. "We give other displaced something of ours, called a token, that allows them to summon us, and vice versa." I pulled the Destiny gun from the floor nearby, as it had appeared there. "This is the one for those three. Any thing else, guys?"

"Not right now," Mist said. "Aside from what's our next play?"

"Well, we made a name for ourselves with Princess and the others, who I'm going to call the allies for simplicity, now we just need to so the same with the other side, which I'll call the Shadow empire."

"Seems appropriate," Lone said. "I actually have an idea as to that plan."

"What?

"We take back the Minotaur lands," he said, leaning forward. "Most of our friend's are still there, and, believe it or not, Mist here got very friendly with the Minotaur queen, so we would have her as an ally if we can do this."

"I see a few problems already," I say. "One is there's only five of us, and we don't know if your friends there have been captured. Second is we don't know if Sombra killed the Queen, and finally, and note this is connected to the last one, we don't know if the Minotaurs will want to go to war."

"Oh, they'll want to," Mist said. "They have a very violent version of the term "help" in times of war. And when they're homeland is invaded, they just love to help the ones who save them."

"You sure?" I ask.

"Without a doubt."

I smiled under my helmet. "Then it looks like our next objective is clear."

"Then what are we gonna call this op?" Lone asked.

"Operation: Jagged Blade," I say. "With teleportation, how long would it take us to get there?" I ask Lone and Mist.

"About three days, at best," Mist said. "At worst? That'll depend on what we have to go against."

I nodded. "Rest up then, people. We move out tomorrow."