Everything had gone wrong. Ethan thought how stupid they were to have thought they could rescue Shadoe. He looked down at her unconscious body in the corner of the room. He could see his three companions being held back by the three distorted brothers and worse of all he could see Teras and Nullens standing over the stone statue of the Troll King Gernoch. Sitting next to them was a gigantic cauldron brewing the potion that could destroy the world as they knew it: Osiris' Tears. Ethan wanted to run over and tip the cauldron over if it weren't for the restraints of a large circular rig he had been tied to. Nullens walked over with a disturbing grin and pulled out a knife. Ethan gasped as he thought this would be the end for him but instead, Nullens cut through the fabric of his class tournament uniform and ripped it from his flesh revealing his chest.
"It's not time yet, highness, but when the time comes I will gut you like a fish." He giggled.
"Teras!" Ethan shouted but Teras did not look up from his brewing. "Teras! You can't do this! It won't work!"
"I think you'll find it will, highness. Now that I have you here it will work perfectly."
"No! Don't you understand what you're doing? Bringing him back will be the end of you!"
"On the contrary, Gernoch and I have made quite a deal." He rubbed his hands together devilishly.
"He's a troll! Trolls don't keep their promises!"
"As a matter of fact, trolls have an outstanding record for honesty and loyalty to their words. It's men that one must not trust." Teras looked back into the potion.
"How do you know him? I was under the impression that trolls don't take warlocks even as prisoner let alone friends."
"It's a long story, really. It would bore you." Teras playfully waved his hand.
"Come on, we have to talk about something while we wait for that potion to finish brewing." Teras looked up at him and shrugged.
"I suppose it would kill the time before it's time to kill you." He smirked and Ethan rolled his eyes. "Originally, I was a student just like you. I even had friends. Friends that betrayed me." He said bitterly. "Then my stupid teacher recruited us for a mission to defeat the Troll King. I thought that perhaps I could make myself a hero but I was wrong." He glared up at him. "They betrayed me and in turn I betrayed them. I went to the Troll King by myself and when I did," He looked down at his friend in the statue. "He tried to kill me. But my power was so great that he couldn't. And then he saw it. He saw that I was special. That I was different from other warlocks. He tested me of course but then he informed me of my heritage. You see highness, I am the last of my kind."
"What kind is that?"
"The true superior kind." He chuckled. "So he enlisted my help but tragedy struck when your little girlfriend's parents," he glared over at Dawn, "and the rest of my classmates joined that pathetic fairy prince. They were foolish though. If they had destroyed him I wouldn't be here today to bring him back." He looked up at him with the look of pride and a sadistic pleasure in his eyes. "You know it is such a pity that you won't live to see them all rise."
"I'm not going to let you do this, Teras." Ethan gritted his teeth.
"What position do you think you're in to say such things, highness?" Teras smirked and walked up to hold Ethan's chin tightly. "You may be a prince, but I'm the only one with true power here."
"You're nothing but a common criminal." Ethan growled.
"Actually, you'll find that I'm quite unique." He slapped Ethan's face playfully. "Almost ready." Teras chuckled with cruel joy.
"What's the point?" He asked.
"Excuse me?" Teras turned back around.
"What's the point of all of this? Why do you want to destroy a world that lives in perfect peace."
"Perfect peace? What delusions have you lived under, highness? The world is not perfect." Teras cackled.
"I only meant that we at least have common understandings with the rest of the world for now. We don't need a war with trolls."
"Who said anything about a war?" Teras cocked his head to side. "I was thinking more of a revolution and a nice quiet surrender by your father."
"My father will never surrender to you."
"Think again. Your father fears me. They all do. They don't understand what I'm capable of." Teras walked back up to Ethan with a vicious sneer.
"What are you capable of then?" Ethan glared down at him.
"Greatness." That was when Ethan felt the blade cut through his flesh. Ethan let out a moan of pain as Nullens made another slash making a large thin X on his chest. Blood began to trickle down as Nullens stopped cutting to crank the rig to raise up over the cauldron.
"STOP IT! PLEASE!" Dawn screamed as she tried to fight out of Caveral's arms.
"Shut her up, she's always so noisy." Teras commanded and Caveral grabbed her mouth to silence her. "I will commend you, highness. Your mission was a noble one. After all, you and your friends survived the Ether Tunnel, not many can do that. I have a free pass. You see, you and I are a bit alike. We both have very special blood."
"We are nothing alike!" Ethan shouted but inhaled from the sharp pain as more of his blood dripped into the potion below. He watched it swirl into the mixture making it the bright blue color he had seen before.
"Sure we are. We both have very colorful backgrounds, mind you they come from completely different sources. We're both very determined to protect what is important to us. You came here all this way for your friend." He waved off to the direction where Shadoe was paralyzed only when Ethan looked up, Shadoe was missing.
She's safe. Ethan heard Agent Zero's voice in his head. She was here. Mr. Slithers actually had sent her to come for Shadoe! Ethan smiled in relief that at least Shadoe would be safely removed from the situation. Maybe she could even get Dawn and the others out.
"I came here for mine." Teras waved to the Troll King's statue.
"Uh, sir." Nullens stuttered but Teras ignored him.
"You know I must admit I was very distressed when they brought me this girl instead of you but once I smelled that aura potion I understood what she had done for you. You can imagine my surprise at smelling only your scent on a girl's body. I thought you might have had a little magical makeover for a moment." Teras giggled.
"Master." Nullens tried to get his attention but still to no avail.
"It's a pity I'm going to kill her as soon as that paralyzing serum wears off. Well actually I'm not going to kill her, Gernoch needs to eat when he wakes." Teras scooped up a ladle-full of the potion and emptied it into a vile before pocketing it.
"I wonder what a meal of air will taste like then." Ethan smirked.
"Pardon?" Teras looked up at him but Nullens finally directed Teras' attention to the now empty corner. Teras growled and walked around looking for where Shadoe might have gone. He turned quickly to the three brothers in anger.
"Weren't any of you paying attention?" He scolded them.
"Sorry, master, she was paralyzed, we didn't think it would wear off so fast." Havren apologized. When Havren spoke it reminded Ethan of sharp needles.
"Well don't just stand there! Go and find her!" Teras ordered. Havren immediately took Kai over to a pillar and tied him there under his chained scythe.
"Havren." Caveral called and threw his knife for Havren to catch before returning his grip onto Dawn. Havren left to search for the whereabouts of Shadoe.
"Now, where were we?" Teras turned back to the potion. "Ah yes, just about to wake up my old friend."
"Wait!" Ethan shouted. "Before I die, tell me what you plan to do when he wakes up. It won't matter since you're going to kill me."
"True it wouldn't matter, but I'm done doing my monologue." Teras smirked and picked up the ladle. All of a sudden the ladle was hit out of Teras' hand by the knife Caveral had given Havren. "What is the meaning of this?!" Teras spun around angrily but instead of a reply, he found Havren being tossed into the room.
"It's her!" Havren coughed from the pain of the impact. His nose and lip were bleeding now and his arm appeared to be broken. On hearing Havren's words Teras immediately fell into a guarded position and was looking around the room for Agent Zero.
"Come out! Come out, Zero! I know you're here!" He called for her as if he were playing a game. "If you don't I'll have Deltho slit the throat of that boy. What a shame it would be to have saved him last year only to fail this time." He threatened. Slowly from the shadows of the corner where Shadoe had once lay, came the agent. It appeared by Teras' next words that she was speaking to him in his mind. "Never. You'll have to do better than that." Ethan looked around while Agent Zero seemed to occupy Teras. He saw Kai looking right back at him with a smirk on his face. He could see him breathing slowly as if preparing to break free. Ethan's eyes widened with excitement as he remembered what Kai was. A Belanbar. Belanbars are basically magical blacksmiths. Of course Kai would have no problem with chains. He just had to build up the strength to do it.
"I'm not afraid of you!" Teras backed away from Agent Zero who was slowly walking towards him. "Whatever you're planning won't work! I'm going to bring him back!" He threatened Agent Zero but it didn't stop her. Ethan's eyes moved to Dawn who seemed to have been waiting for him to look at her. She moved her eyes down to point at her arms which had been folded into her body with one of Caveral's arms as he held the other over her mouth. He could see her slip her ring and pinky finger into her sleeve and slowly begin drawing out the jagged end of the broken mirror handle. He looked to Eugene who was breathing in and out slowly to prepare himself for the inevitable fight.
Ethan began to panic in his mind. There was no way this could go smoothly. Someone was going to die. He knew it. It was probably going to be him, anyways, since he was the one tied up with no hope of getting free. The blood was draining from his system so fast that all of the color was leaving his face and he felt he was on the edge of unconsciousness.
Stay awake and count to three. Agent Zero told him.
"One, two," He whispered while fighting off sleep.
"I'm warning you Zero! You'll be the first he eats when he wakes up!" Teras shouted at her. Agent Zero cocked her head to the side.
"Three." Suddenly Kai broke from his chains and swung the scythe around to knock Nullens off of his feet. Dawn stabbed Caveral with the broken handle forcing him to let her go and Eugene head-butted Deltho and slid out of his grasp. Agent Zero twisted around and thrust her hands at Teras who dropped his ladle and flew backwards several feet from the impact of a lightning bolt. Ethan watched as he quickly retaliated with the summon of jagged shards of ice to shoot directly at Agent Zero who deflected his attacks with speed and a wall of ice for the rest.
He looked over and saw Kai trying to fight off Caveral as Deltho tried to hunt Dawn down leaving Eugene on his own. Ethan couldn't see Eugene when all of a sudden he found the rig moving back down to the ground. Eugene was at the crank moving him down. He had never seen Eugene move his arms so fast and before Ethan knew it he was back on the ground and Eugene was at his restraints trying to release him.
"We have to get out of here!" Eugene panicked.
"You think?" Ethan gave an exasperated reply.
"Zero said she put Shadoe in a safe place, we have to get rid of that potion." He explained.
"Got it." Ethan's left hand was freed and he swung his arm over to his right hand although the pain from movement made the slashes on his chest burn and twinge with pain.
"Not so fast!" Nullens tackled Eugene, sending them flying to the ground. Eugene tried to fight off the lackey but Nullens pinned him. Eugene and Nullens rolled around the floor trying to stop the other. Ethan struggled to get his restraint undone. His fingers were trembling from the adrenaline pumping in his body as the chaotic battle continued. He could hear the epic fight going on between Agent Zero and Teras as they tossed their magic at each other illuminating the room in bright colors of their attacks. Kai and Dawn were attempting to avoid the claws of Deltho and the springy attacks of Caveral who was even spryer than Deltho's monkey-like limbs. He watched as Dawn and Kai ran back into the statue room together and the two brothers followed them in. A pain shot through Ethan's heart in fear that he might not see them come out. Ethan's hand fell loose and he balanced himself backwards to the pillar behind him so he could get his feet out of the restraints.
"You're not gonna get away, highness!" Havren's voice came and Ethan saw him charging at him with one arm flailing the knife Agent Zero had thrown and the broken arm clutched to his chest. Ethan rushed to take the restraints off and just before Havren reached him he fell backwards through the rig and rolled behind the pillar before Havren could strike at him with the blade. He scrambled up to his feet and ran to the cauldron as fast as he could and began pushing. The cauldron was hot and it burned his hands. He let go of the cauldron and tried to remember the spell to tip it over. He thought hard about his spells textbook but his mind was so jumbled with his surroundings that he couldn't focus. Dawn, Kai, and Eugene were trapped trying to fight off the others, Agent Zero was preventing Teras from getting back to the cauldron and dumping the potion onto the lifeless troll king.
"Ya!" Havren shouted. Ethan quickly ducked as Havren swung at him with the knife. Ethan quickly kicked Havren's broken arm making him howl in pain.
"Saqallulu!" Havren raised his hand and suddenly Ethan levitated in the air with his arms and legs pinned tightly against his body. Havren grinned maliciously as he slowly clutched the air moving his fingers slowly inwards and in turn crushing Ethan. Ethan struggled to break free from his invisible hold but even a wounded Havren was strong. Ethan heard the whizzing noise fly by his ear when he suddenly dropped back to the ground. It wasn't until he looked back at Havren that he realized Agent Zero had sent an icicle flying into his wrist. He lay bleeding on the ground coddling his blood-soaked arm with his broken arm. He looked around the room and saw Agent Zero and Teras in the middle of rapid fire. Eugene had somehow knocked Nullens out and was hurrying toward him. Suddenly, he saw Dawn and Kai run back into the room and straight for the cauldron. They all began pushing with him.
"What happened?" Ethan asked as they struggled to push the cauldron over.
"Dominoes." Dawn answered and pushed. Ethan's eyes widened and he looked to Kai.
"Don't look at me, she's the one who did it. I just tried not to get crushed." Kai answered. They all grunted as they pushed the heavy cauldron.
"What are we doing? This is ridiculous!" Eugene stopped pushing. They all looked at him in shock and disbelief. "What's the sensible thing?" He asked and they all remembered his words from the tunnel. They all stepped back and took a deep breath.
"On three." Ethan commanded. "One! Two!" Suddenly Agent Zero flew back from one of Teras' attacks and toppled them over preventing them from completing their spell.
"I will NOT have you ruin this!" Teras shouted. They all cowered in fear of his attack. "ILAT BARAQU!" A massive storm of lightning came flying towards them but Ethan was amazed to find that Agent Zero had sprang back up and was holding a huge blue barrier around them with her arms crossed. He could see the struggle in her limbs as she held her ground. The lightning swirled around them in a huge sphere of electricity. Ethan remembered Mr. Eichorn's lesson about barriers and the kinds you could form. This was the kind that was gathering the strength from the attack and multiplying it with the strength of the one holding the barrier. Ethan quickly looked up towards Teras when Agent Zero spun her position around. The lightning seemed to crush into her hands and disappear for a moment when all of a sudden the lightning burst out of her hands as she thrust them at Teras. Teras roared in pain as he was struck in the chest and thrown into the wall. The stone walls caved in on him, burying him underneath the rubble.
Agent Zero fell to her knees, out of breath from repelling the attack. Ethan crawled over to her but she shooed him away and pointed at the cauldron. Ethan nodded his head and signaled to the others.
"One." Eugene said.
"Two." Kai continued the countdown.
"Three." Dawn finished.
"Nabalkutu!" Ethan shouted and they shot a great force of wind at the cauldron knocking it over and spilling the potion to the ground. Ethan stepped forward. "Abatu ina sihirtu!" He waved his hands over the liquid and flames erupted over it, evaporating the potion into nothing. They all let out a deep breath of relief. It was over. They had won. There was no more potion and Ethan could hear the calls of the Flying Castle agents trying to get through whatever rubble Dawn and Kai had created in the army tomb.
Just as Ethan was about to hug Dawn, the stones that had encased Teras suddenly exploded as he emerged from them in what appeared to be a state of rabid rage. His face had changed into a strange demonic-fanged creature.
"Give my friend a warm welcome, Zero!" He shouted and pulled from his pocket the vile of potion he had extracted beforehand. He threw it at the troll king's statue. Ethan watched as Agent Zero struggled to get up to block it but it was too late as the glass shattered and the potion spread over Gernoch's body. As the liquid sunk into the grey rock they could hear the cracking of the stone underneath the surface. They cracks began louder and fast until all of a sudden the statue exploded and a blinding white light encompassed the room. The blast sent them all flying back against the walls and they shielded their eyes from the light. When the light faded they looked up in horror as the Troll King Gernoch sat up on the slab of granite he had been laying on for decades. He was even more terrifying in person than his frozen self. His skin was a greenish brown and his eyes were sunken in but with a peering yellow speck that moved in a jittery panic. Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth as his crooked, fanged teeth protruded from his lips, almost touching the tip of his elongated nose which sniffed the air. His eyes darted to trace the scent of warm human flesh to feast upon but before he even had a moment to glance upon them, Agent Zero had flung the knife Havren had tried to slash Ethan with into Gernoch's head, knocking him to the ground.
"NO!" Teras shouted and lunged forward but Nullens suddenly pushed him back.
"My lord, they are here! We must flee!" He begged him as the sounds of the Flying Castle agents grew louder.
"I'm coming for you, Zero! I'm going to find you and I'm going to tear you apart!" Teras threatened before Nullens quickly pulled a sack out of his pocket. Ethan's eyes widened as he remembered the sack of phoenix ashes Mr. Watkins had given him. Nullens had taken it! Agent Zero was running to attack them but in a flash of red flames they were gone. Agent Zero picked up a large stone and threw it against the wall in frustration. She turned around and even though Ethan couldn't see her eyes he knew she was looking at him.
"Thank you." Ethan whispered and held his stomach as the pain from his slashes began to return to him as the adrenaline faded. Agent Zero didn't acknowledge his thanks. Instead she walked over to Gernoch who was twitching on the ground. She pulled the knife from his head and green blood spurted out.
"I can't believe you killed him." Dawn said in amazement.
"He's not dead." Kai said. They all turned to him with confused brows. "It takes more than a knife to the head to kill a troll."
"So why don't we kill him them?" Eugene asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Kai looked to the entrance of the tomb as the rocks that had piled up suddenly pushed away. "They want him." Mr. Slithers and several other agents in black came swarming through.
"Your highness!" Mr. Slithers hurried over to him and helped him stand up. "Are you alright?"
"Does he look alright to you?!" Dawn shrieked angrily.
"We'll get you all out of here right away. Don't worry." He put a hand on Dawn's shoulder to calm her down. They watched as the agents wrapped the injured Troll King in chains before taking him away.
“What are you going to do with him?” Dawn asked.
“He will be taken to a secure location. He won’t be any threat to anyone.”
“Is it the same location that Caveral and his brothers broke out of?” Ethan glared but Mr. Slithers only laughed.
“No, don’t worry. We have this under control, your highness.”
“Uh-huh.” Ethan looked away.
“We should clean you all up before we try to move you.” Mr. Slithers signaled to a group of medics to hurry over. The medics of the Flying Castle were just as masked as the agents but instead of being in covered in black, they were covered in white. Their faces were hidden under a bright light that surprisingly did not hurt their eyes. The medics hurried up to them and started treating their wounds. They pulled out a small jar of orange cream to put on Ethan’s wounds after washing the blood off with a wet cloth. Ethan inhaled sharply as the cream stung through his skin but he could feel it fighting off any infection he might have induced from the blades. The medics had him drink an entire bottle of disgusting milky green potion to help rehydrate him from the blood loss that had made his face a ghostly pale. Dawn sat with him holding his hand and helping him finish the last of it.
“Are you well enough to move, your highness?” Mr. Slithers kneeled down to him again.
“I think so.” He stood up with the help of Dawn and Eugene. "Wait, where's Shadoe?" Ethan grunted in pain and looked to Agent Zero but Mr. Slithers answered.
"Shadoe is safe, we must get you back. Your parents are furious with you."
"Where is she?” Ethan demanded. “I want to see her for myself.”
“I assure you, your highness, Shadoe is perfectly fine.”
“I won’t believe it until I see her.”
“Us too.” Kai stood with his arms folded next to him. Mr. Slithers looked to Agent Zero who nodded her head.
“Very well, Agent Zero, would you escort them to the location of their friend?” He asked smoothly and Agent Zero bowed her head.
This way, your highness. She led the group towards the destroyed hall of statues. They hall was fully lit now with agents and researches of the Flying Castle examining the rubble that Dawn and Kai had created. He had no idea that massive and damaging domino effect the two of them had caused.
“They’re gone.” Dawn whispered to Kai. Ethan turned to ask what was gone but kept walking.
“Caveral and Deltho. They’re not under the rubble we left them in.” Kai answered and pointed to a pile of stone that had been cleared away.
“Did you capture them?” Ethan asked Agent Zero who shook her head. “Great, they got away.”
“Are we close to where you put Shadoe yet?” Eugene whined. Suddenly Agent Zero stopped and turned. In front of them was a large dark hole in the wall. Agent Zero motioned for them to step closer to it. The four of them slowly approached the hole. As Ethan peered inside he felt all of his energy drain and he collapsed to the floor in darkness.