"It is." the newcomer responded.

"L-Lord Chronos!" one of the Order members exclaimed.

Chronos just sighed.

"Yep. Many of my Order members are corrupted beyond saving." they commented.

"Only one thing to do now." they went on, before snapping their fingers.

As soon as they did, Lindsay and Vanessa found that all the members were GONE. Just... gone. Disappeared.

"Re-staff from scratch, and start again."

"Hmmmmmm." Chronos muttered.

"Actually, no." they said.

They then snapped their fingers again, but nothing seemed to change.

"What... what was that?" Lindsay asked.

"There were a few members that weren't corrupted." Chronos responded. "I brought them back. They can start the Order anew." they added.

"So... Miss Syraene and Leo...?" Lindsay asked further, trailing off a bit.

"Oh, they're good members. I like 'em." Chronos responded, assuring them that they were all right.

"Also, here." they then said to Lindsay, before flicking his forehead... which caused the corrupted mana he'd absorbed from the vault to disappear from within him.

Chronos then leveled a gaze at Vanessa... but she could tell they hadn't done anything other than removing the corrupted mana.

"Also, you two shouldn't be here now." they told them.

"Bye." they said, before they suddenly just appeared in the den, in the blink of an eye.

"Woah!" Ash exclaimed.

"What the hell? First Miss Syraene and Leo just blinked out of existence, then came back, and now YOU'RE both back?" he asked, obviously confused.

Lindsay was silent for a moment, and sighed.

"Well... as she said, the problem has been solved." he said.

"But I'll go into more detail." he told them, before doing just that. He told them everything that had happened, down to the last details... from what he saw and remembered.

"....wow." Leo then muttered.

"So Miss Syraene and I were temporarily removed from existence for a brief moment, there." he commented.

"Yes, but then I decided it would be too much of a loss to not have you two around." Chronos said from the corner of the room, having suddenly and silently appeared.

"It HAS been a while." Chronos replied.

"C-Chronos?" Leo stammered.

"Yes, it is I." Chronos confirmed.

"The Order is now critically understaffed now." they then commented. "Not counting you two, there are a dozen members remaining." they went on.

"...oh dear..." Leo said quietly.

"I guess we'll all have to pull together to get more members, and make sure the Order comes back, better than before." he said further.

"I like your attitude." Chronos told him.

Chronos just pointed towards Syraene.

"I leave it entirely to you." he told her.

"To Syraene?" Vincent asked.

"Syraene Encrae, you are now the official Head of the Order of The Sand." Chronos declared.

"...wow." Ash muttered.

"Talk about a promotion." he commented.

"Do NOT become stuck in the old ways." Chronos responded.

"The previous Heads were foolish old idiots." they growled.

"....mm." Leo mumbled.

"Also, I think the Order needs to be more efficient." Chronos went on.

"I think it's time they embraced technology. All information and files should be stored in computers." they said further, before looking at Leo.

"...wait..." Leo said. "You want ME to be I.T.?" he asked.

Chronos just nodded.

Chronos responded by tossing Leo a small bag. When Leo caught it, they could see the shock in his eyes.

"....woah..." he muttered.

"I will be back for the remainder of that." Chronos said.

"I... can totally do the realm hopping needed with this." Leo commented.

"Oh... and you lot should check the backyard here." Chronos then said with a small smirk.

"Just know that I removed the corruption from it." was the last thing Chronos said, before they were gone, again, in the blink of an eye.

"...that's just disconcerting." Ash commented.

"Well, when you can control time, itself, your entrances and exits tend to be powerful, but subtle." Vincent responded.

"At any rate, let us see what Chronos was talking about." he finished.

The entire group then left the den, and made their way to the backyard, where they found a beautiful glass statue of phoenix... with a small flame burning in the centre of the chest.

And it was VERY familiar to Lindsay.

"That's... what I did when I burned the vault's corrupted sand..." he said quietly, though the entire group heard him.

Lindsay looked at the flame, and scratched his chin.

"I... don't remember doing that." he said.

"Chronos said he removed the corruption. Maybe that's a side-effect or consequence of it, or whatever?" Leo suggested.

"Perhaps." Vincent commented.

"It's a nice touch, though." Ash then said.

"Bet this would make one HELL of a nice outside light in the dark." he added.

"...perhaps, yes." Lindsay agreed.

"I do, as well." Leo said, stepping up closer to Syraene.

"We need to rebuild the Order from the ground up." he commented.

"Good luck." Vincent said.

"It shan't be an easy task." he told her.

"Chronos has placed their faith and trust in us." Leo replied.

"We do not intend to disappoint them." he finished confidently.