In Amber City, Kira was terrified. She worried not about herself, but about Alice, who was completely unprepared for the hardships of the world where even the natives found it hard to survive. And Alice was used to pillows soft as clouds, not a pile of leaves instead of a bed, to little cakes for breakfast, not the green juice from a beetle's intestinal track, and her now unprotected delicate white hands were not used to killing... She will perish in Kira's world. What would the quiet well-behaved girl in a pretty dress, taught only to make tea and polite conversation, what would a girl like that do when faces with monsters and living nightmares?

In all honesty, Kira knew better than anyone how capable Alice was. She could stand tall in all these uncomfortable dresses with tight corsets, smile patiently where any other girl would burst into tears from desperation and feeling of helplessness, keep her head on her shoulders and think clearly, never losing the desire to get to the core of any problem. And these qualities could help her survive in any world. Aside from that, although Alice and Kira seemed to be polar opposites, they were friends for ages and were slowly seeping into each other's soul, and so now they actually had a lot in common. Nevertheless, Kira got scared when she exchanged places with her Other Self.

While Alice was talking to gravediggers, Kira stood in front of a dusty mirror, listening in. She took note of gravediggers' advice about Lady Autumn but did not understand it any better than Alice. But Kira did not have time to think about it. Suddenly she heard footsteps from one of the nearest rooms. There was someone else besides her in the Library — and she has already guessed by the books on the shelves that it was the Library that belonged to Alice's father — and that someone was coming her way.

Kira guessed it was the Wizard, Alice's father. Who else would dare to enter his Library? Alice told her he only let others come and read the books under his watchful eye. It was unbelievable how Alice could live all her life without ever breaking this rule. Kira herself would break it right away and many times advised Alice to do the same.

But she was not yet ready to openly face the Wizard. Kira panicked. In her rush, she bumped into one of the racks and knocked a few books off. They fell on the floor with a soft thud. Kira had to gather them and hurriedly put back on the shelves. She could not find a space for the last book and could not remember where its' place was. Footsteps were getting closer. Kira quickly shoved the book under her protective suit and sneaked along the wall to the nearest exit, away from the sound of footsteps.

Kira stole a glance at her world she left on the other side of a dusty mirror. She saw the gravediggers leaving with the sword. Alice would have no chances of survival without a weapon. They had to hurry and solve that autumn riddle to get her a sword.

With this in mind, Kira ran down the stairs and hurried outside. The Wizard — if that was indeed him — did not try to follow her. Unsurprisingly. After all, Kira had to learn how to survive in a tough world and was pretty good at hiding. If you are not welcome, you have to learn to be stealthy.

The Wizard's book stayed within her suit.

Kira could not fathom where to look for the autumn. She lacked Alice's reasonable calmness. Kira was used to acting, not thinking, to fighting, not asking questions.

Amber City was unlike anything she has seen before. Blindingly luminous, full of sunlight, strikingly beautiful, shockingly serene. Kira was dreaming about a place like that... though there was something off about it. She was wandering about for a while, looking at lancet windows, wall carvings depicting fantastic animals, gabled roofs laid with red tile, admiring them — and at the same time studying cautiously. People unsettled her as well. They all looked the same: bright-eyed, smiling, perfect. Maybe it is just that Kira was used to suspecting everything and everyone, but she felt like there was something sinister about this enchanting and idyllic city.

One thing from shadow-Alice's stories about Amber City always troubled Kira: the Wall, cutting it off from the rest of the world. Nobody ever tried to climb over it and nobody knew if there was anything beyond it. But everyone in Amber City accepted this fact as a given. Even Alice herself did not question the Wall until she started discussing it with Kira. But let us not judge her too harshly. She spent her whole life in Amber City and did not know the world could be different.

But the air was filled with scents of freedom, of salt and wind, and it comforted Kira a bit. If there was an ocean here somewhere, just like in her world, then Amber City was not a prison after all...

She guessed right: there was a harbour in the city. Kira noticed a distant blue sea and a lot of ships with streaming flags. She was not going to leave right away, no, but the view lifted her spirits. There is a way to escape this place, she thought excitedly.

"Where these ships are headed?" Kira asked a passerby.

"What? What do you mean, princess?" He obviously thought she was Alice.

"Where are they sailing? This is a sea, right? And ships must have a destination"

The man shook his head and looked at her blankly.

"No. They do not sail anywhere. They are always here, just like houses and bridges, the warm sun and children playing in the square, like artists who capture all these wonderful sceneries on their canvases. Ships make this place more beautiful. And who would want to leave Amber City anyway?"

Now Kira was looking at the harbour in horror. Ships that never sail? What could be scarier and sillier? No wonder she felt something was off...

Kira remembered how she went through the central square on the way here. One with the tall clock tower. Then Kira paid it no attention, but now, from the harbour, she could still see it clearly, and her eyes stopped on the clock just as she was pondering over sinister and strange things in this city. That is when she notices a peculiar detail: the clock has stopped.

Kira knew what a clock was. A long time ago, before the war, time was flowing steadily, as it should, and people in her world were keeping track of it with clocks. Now there was no need in such devices since time anomalies have become their reality.

There were a few round clocks on the tower, all showing hours, minutes, constellations, moon phases, low and high tide periods and other things, but they all have stopped. The Clock tower of Amber City was a mere toy, just like these unmoving ships in the harbour. How many useless decorations were there? And for what?..

Suddenly Kira realized what she had to do.

She entered the tower, mounted narrow winding stairs and started pulling levers behind the clock, breathing rapidly from the heavy strain. Finally, a hand on a clock-face with four sections, the one answering for seasons, moved forward.

What Kira did not know is that as soon as she moved the hand, their worlds have instantly interconnected, locking like gears in a clock, and change has started.

You are probably wondering what Alice was doing while Kira was exploring Amber City.

After the gravediggers have left with the sword and she lost her chance to talk to Kira through its shiny surface, Alice decided to learn more about this foreign world. She was hoping Kira's neighbours from the beetle hideout would help her somehow and maybe give her a protective suit or gloves, but after looking around she noticed that everyone has vanished. Instead, a lot of dark sinister figures appeared behind the trees and among the ruins. Wild creatures came to feast on a giant dead beetle. Some of them had fangs and claws, some were transparent, floating in the air, some were even glowing, but all of them were terrifying. Alice almost cried out in horror when a strange beast with dozens of limbs started gnawing on something looking suspiciously like a human body. Without the beetle hideout, the ones who were living in it became as helpless as her, and they ventured out in search of new hiding places, but not all of them got lucky... Alice pressed herself into the beetle's side, trying to make herself invisible.

And then — as if that was not enough — an enormous silhouette rose from behind the black veil of the trees. The one Kira told her about, the one striking terror in the hearts of people in this world. Dark beast with dendritic antlers. And it was heading her way...

She never experienced fear like this in her entire life.

Alice turned away and ran into the forest.

She was running as fast as she could, but it felt like the creature was only drawing nearer. It was as if she could sense it. It seemed impossible to get away. The Beast will catch her, no matter how fast she runs, it will find her anywhere, going by the scent...

Finally, she came across a nest with little animals huddled together, either dead or wounded, and seeing no other options, she dived in there and hid herself between bloodied bodies.

The Beast was following her trail, branches squeaking under its heavy weight. It looked at the nest, sniffed animals in it and moved forward — the girl's scent got lost in a stench of death.

Alice's head was spinning — from stink or from running or maybe from overall stress of this terrible day — and she lost consciousness, falling into deep and dreamless but anxious sleep.

When she woke up, everything was brighter (you and I would say that morning has come) and the forest itself looked different, no as scary as before.

And why did she think her hiding place was full of dying bodies? A few girl-jays with delicate features, bright blue feathers and thin long legs were cuddling with each other, sleeping peacefully in their nest. How easy it is sometimes to mix up sleep and death... Alice must have imagined that awful stench of blood, and no wonder, with her being so tired and frightened, running away from the Beast.

The nest was covered in orange, yellow and red leaves. It was the first time Alice saw anything so beautiful and colourful in Kira's world, like these leaves and jays' feathers.

One of the blue-feathered girls woke up and stretched lazily. She rubbed her sleep-clogged eyes with her little foot and said in a melodious voice:

"Ah, the autumn has come! It will rain tomorrow".

Alice guessed that change has come, just as the gravediggers wanted. It must have been Kira's doing. She was stronger and braver than her, after all, and must have found a way to get autumn back. Alice thanked her silently.

That is when she noticed a long shiny sword near the nest. It means those two, a youth with half a face and a boy in a feathered cloak, could finally leave...

Wait, why would I need a weapon now that this world has changed? She thought. It does not look as dangerous as before. Suddenly a scary thought crossed her mind. The Beast. Alice shivered. No, it will not vanish that easily!

Alice reached for the sword and squeezed the hilt. It was a big weapon, too heavy for her soft delicate fingers, and she found it hard to simply hold it. But she was hoping to see Kira in the shiny blade, her reflection... her sister, as she thought of Kira in her mind.