That following night, they arrived at their final camp destination. It was on the shore, looking out across the vast ocean that led to the shrouded island of Kron where the immortals were hiding away, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. You couldn't see it in the distance, but Kida knew it was there. She could feel it. She could feel the energy that radiated from it, basking the sky in a dark, unearthly glow. It sent shivers up her spine.
"This is where I leave," Helio announced when everyone had set up camp. They all looked up, watching him silently. "I should be back by morning to transport you all there. Be prepared, for anything can happen. The ships should be here by morning as well; Kida, you should talk to your brother and tell him to wait. If I am not back when he is back, you must not go through with this plan."
"We'll sort it out," Kida replied, her hands clenched into little fists at her sides. "You should go, quickly. Before it gets too late." So Helio nodded to everyone before vanishing into thing air. Kida let out a defeated sigh, rubbing her forehead as she felt an intense headache coming on. Her stitches were annoying her, but there wasn't anything she could do about that.
She sat on the sand that night, with the wind blowing through her thin clothes as she faced the ocean. She breathed in its salty scent, trying to calm her thoughts. But she was so close... the feeling was unreal. She could finally get her own revenge on the bastard that turned her into what she was. And there was no going back now; as soon as Helio returned and Kieron's ships made it to the shore, they would be on the island in no time, and be able to see how big the threat was. If it was too great, then Helio could report back to the Adranian Council with the information and get a whole lot more soldiers to face off against them. It could work.
For the first time in a long time, Kida thought about her sister. She died basically as soon as they got on the island; Kida didn't have time to mourn, because it happened so suddenly. A knife to the heart, was what she remembered. That was how Kida wanted to kill the Kron leader, but she later realised that he was immortal, and that wouldn't kill him. Perhaps cutting his head off was a little more efficient? That was definitely an option.
Her thoughts then drifted to her parents. They had changed when Kida left; she didn't realise, but they had. And when she returned from Kron, she went straight into hiding; she didn't even think about her family. She just wanted this bastard dead, and the only way she knew she could do that was getting help. Not from her parents. Not from her brother. From a complete stranger. All that time on Kron, when she felt abandoned; that couldn't even begin to compare to how Kida's family must've felt when she was gone.
"Stop thinking," a voice ordered from behind her, and Kida didn't need to look up to know it was Ryia. The assassin came to sit beside her on the beach, the wind passing gently through her dark hair.
"Can't help it," Kida replied dryly, dragging her gaze along the edge of the horizon.
"You're making the shadows antsy," Ryia told her, and Kida glanced around before realising that Ryia was right. The shadows were swimming slowly across the ground and up the nearby trees, swirling around each other in mad drift of anger. She breathed out deeply, and the darkness retreated back to its usual position. Kida returned her gaze to the ocean.
"Why are you here?" she asked, her voice quiet so as not to give away what she was feeling. But Ryia knew. She knew a lot that Kida thought no one knew.
"I wanted to talk," Ryia replied smoothly, and Kida glanced at her suspiciously.
"You?" she scoffed. "Talk? Yeah, that'd be the day."
"I'm serious," Ryia grumbled, lifting her knees up from the ground so she could rest her elbows on them. "I wanted to talk about what happened in Adrana the other day. In the sewers."
"What, with my brother?" Kida asked, an eyebrow raised. "I told him you have issues; he got it."
"Yeah yeah, I figured as much," Ryia sighed. "But I wanted to tell you about it. I know all this shit about you and everyone else, but I don't really feel... I don't know. I don't feel 'included'. Like, everyone else is connected in some way, but I'm just... I'm the outsider."
"You made it that way, remember?" Kida reminded her. "You didn't want to talk to anyone. That's paying off, now."
"Well, I'm ready to talk now, okay?" Ryia snapped. "Are you going to listen or not?" Kida sighed, gesturing for Ryia to continue. "Thank you," she muttered. "I just- I can't talk to anyone else. Not yet."
"So what's on your mind?"
"My family, really. No matter what I do here, I'll never have one again. Those assassins were the closest thing I had, and I managed to ruin that, too. When we finish here, I'll have nothing to go back to. Mercer won't let me back in, I don't have parents or siblings that I'm aware of, and no home. I'm completely alone."
"Not anymore," Kida replied softly, glancing at the assassin. "You have us; we're your family now. And we'd be happy to take you in. You could come live with me and my brother while you figure out what you want; I know you made a good first impression on Kieron, which is always nice."
"Yeah, I'm not sure," Ryia replied after a while, her voice quiet and confused. Kida nodded in reply, but didn't say anything else. It was Ryia's decision, and she was going to have to make it on her own.
All Kida could do was sit and wait.
She kept watch until morning, when the ships had come into sight and Helio was yet to return. In the time it took him to appear, Kieron's ships had already set their anchors down and were waiting for their next orders. Kida spotted the ship her brother was supposed to be on, so they would be prepared to just go all-out when it was time.
"You're back," Arlo exclaimed, and Kida turned to find Helio had just appeared in the centre of what used to be the campfire. He glanced down, frowned and stepped sideways before looking up again, nodding.
"Are you all ready?" he announced, and Kida frowned, jogging over.
"Whoa, wait up," she ordered. "You've been there; you can at least tell us what it was like. You know, give us a sense of what we're about to get ourselves into?"
"It has changed drastically since you were last there, Kida," Helio told her, his dark eyes threatening to turn green. He was on edge, Kida knew that now. "Nothing is as it was."
Kida didn't say anything. Instead, her eyebrows creased down as her dark eyes turned to watch the floating ships out on the water. They needed to hurry before something went wrong. Before they were seen.
"Okay, let's get onto that ship so we can explain the plan to Kieron," Kida announced, grabbing both Ryia and Issey's hands. Everyone else linked themselves together, and with Helio certain that everyone was holding on, the world flashed around them and suddenly they were on the deck of the big ship Kida had picked out as Kieron's, with only Arlo and Quin stumbling at the suddenness of it. Kida nodded to a few rebellion soldiers standing on deck before they were all led down into the base of the ship, where the strategists and planners all gathered themselves around a big table to discuss their tactics. She knew that all the important soldiers would be down there; that was certain.
"Kida, you're here," Kieron announced as she trudged into the room with the big table in the middle.
"Amin merna quen, brother," she replied. "We haven't got much time. Your ships could be seen if we don't hurry."
"Okay, what's the plan?" he asked instead, looking up at Helio. "You have one, right?"
"I do, yes," Helio replied, and Kida sighed out in relief.
"Good, now spill," she ordered, so Helio sighed.
"The entire island is unused, except for one huge castle-like building in the centre. This is where he and his army are. I managed to sneak around inside; there is a staircase to the left of the entrance that leads down into what I assume is a storage room, full of all his potions and elixirs. This is one thing we need to investigate; if we can find this 'elixir' he has created, maybe we can find a way to use it against him. This is something that needs to happen before the soldiers arrive, because we cannot fight an army of immortal beings without a weapon of that strength. Or we can find a way to neutralise them; a paralysis bomb, perhaps? Another corridor off the main entrance will lead to multiple testing rooms; I will personally take myself through these rooms and take any survivors to the apothecary in Milos. But we also need someone to find him. He who calls himself Ìzzøckål."
"What language is that?" Hallee murmured confusedly, and Kida tilted her head sideways.
"It's Kronen," she explained. "It means 'immortal'. How original of him."
"He is dangerous, so we must not underestimate him," Helio warned, and Kida snapped her head up.
"You saw him?" she demanded, but he shook his head.
"No, I did not," he replied solemnly. "But if we will have any chance at defeating him, we need to track him down. See what his plans are. Whoever does this must not be seen."
"And what of the soldiers?" Issey stepped in, determination masking her worry.
"They will dock on the shore and go straight in to attack," Helio announced, turning to Kieron. "When you dock, Ìzzøckål will know you are there, but it will be too late. You can storm your troops inside and hold the army back while we are using the potions we find to eliminate them. We have to work quickly."
"Okay, I'll go to the storage room," Issey announced, nodding strongly. "I can recognise a lot of the recipes, and if he has many ingredients in there, I'm the best chance we have at stopping the Kron army."
"I will come with," Hallee added, nodding at Issey. "You need backup."
"I'll go with Helio," Quin volunteered, and Kida glanced at him. "I want to help the survivors; it's best if I'm not caught up in the middle of something I can't weave my way out of." Kida turned her eyes to Ryia, shrugging.
"Looks like you're with me," she announced, and Ryia frowned.
"What are we doing?" she asked dumbly, and Kieron narrowed his eyes.
"You're going to look for him aren't you?" he said after a moment, and Kida sighed.
"Kieron, please just let me-"
"Quel fara," he interrupted, and Kida hesitated, her eyes wide. Then, a sly smile spread over her lips and she nodded at Ryia, feeling like she could take down an entire army.
"What about me?" Arlo said suddenly, looking around through furrowed eyebrows. "How come I'm left out?"
"You should come with us," Quin told him, glancing at Helio. "We might need the extra hands."
"No, we will be more than fine," Helio replied, shaking his head. "Go with Issobel and Hallee. They will need you more than we." Arlo shrugged, and Kida turned to Helio.
"Then we're ready to go," she announced, and the room went eerily quiet. Even her own voice sounded strange to her. But then Helio nodded, and they all linked arms and hands again. Kida locked eyes with her brother one more time before the world flashed again, and then they were on Kron.
The island was large; much larger than Kida remembered. And it was very dark. Back on Adrana, the sun had just risen and it was a bright, hot morning. But here, it was almost as if grey clouds were hovering above the entire island, robbing every glimpse of blue sky from their eyes as if it were a curse. The ground seemed to be made of black and grey rock that spiked up in random, jagged places that made it inconvenient to run. But Kida recognised the scenery; she had run this way before stealing Ìzzøckål's ship and fleeing the island completely. Some thing hadn't changed, that was true, but so much was different that Kida didn't even think she noticed half of it the last time she was here. There were random pockets of brightly coloured plants or flowers that hadn't been seen in Reichon since... since forever. And that scared her, because a lot could happen in a year. And with Kida not with him to stop him, Ìzzøckål could have a whole lot of new potions brewed up that no one even knew existed.
"This is incredible," Issey murmured, her eyes wide as she looked around in wonder. Kida shot her a disapproving look, but she understood. If it wasn't home to a psychopathic murderous genius that kidnapped her when she was fourteen, Kida would've been impressed too.
As she looked out in the distance, the first thing that drew the attention of her eyes was the massive building sitting in the centre of the island. It was completely humongous; it looked like it was made of metal, but it also looked to be made of the rock that the ground consisted of. Kida settled on the idea that it was consistent of both.
Helio transported them closer to the castle after noting that the coast was clear, and they all took refuge behind the tall, jagged rock-spike things that came up out of the ground as they overlooked the castle at a closer view. Kida could see Kron immortals up on the battlements, patrolling the walls. There weren't many, which made her frown, but she couldn't dwell on it. If there were less, then that was better for them.
"We need to sneak into the castle," Quin whispered, peering up over the rock he and Ryia were hiding behind. Ryia scoffed.
"How'd you figure that one out, genius?" she muttered, and he scowled at her.
"Guys, come on," Issey snapped quietly. "Now's not the time. We can bicker when we get back; right now, we need to get everyone in that building unnoticed. Any helpful ideas?"
"I think I have an idea," Kida announced nervously, "but I've never done it before, so if I kill one of you, it's not my fault."
Arlo paled. "I don't like that idea already," he whimpered.
"There are no others," Helio commented, turning to Kida. "What do we need to do?"
"I need you all to stand in a group," she replied. "I can draw up some shadows and use them as a blanket; you'll basically be invisible if there are other shadows on the ground to blend you in. But you have to be cautious; one small step out of line can blow the entire plan up, okay?"
"We can do this," Hallee assured her, her white eyes looking much paler than usual. Kida didn't comment; she just organized everyone how she needed them, positioned herself at the front and closed her eyes, breathing in deeply.
And then, as if she had been practicing all her life, she splayed her hands out towards the ground and pinched before lifting her arms up, pursing her lips in concentration. She felt the shadows lift up over her head, and she had to twist her body around slightly to drape the cloak of darkness over herself and her friends. When she opened her eyes, what she saw made her smile. They were completely hidden; there was no way anyone could see them if they stayed quiet.
"Alright, let's go," Kida whispered, gesturing to the others before they started walking towards the castle. She expected someone to shout out from the wall, to alert Ìzzøckål that they were here, but there was silence as they made it all the way to the side of the castle. Fortunately for Kida, there were multiple ways to get in, so she chose the easiest and most efficient, leading her group right up to the front doors. Bracing herself for a fight, she screwed her eyes closed and flicked her foot up, watching as the doors swung open after being pushed by the shadows. They walked in very carefully, noting that there weren't any guards on the inside of the building.
Perfect.
"That was a really good idea," Issey commented after Kida flicked the shroud off everyone. Kida shrugged, her eyes glittering.
"I have those sometimes," she replied cockily, then turned to face the rest of the building. There was one long, dark corridor running directly in front of her that led right into darkness. There was a smaller corridor to the right of this one, along with a staircase at the end of another corridor to the left. Kida turned to everyone else, nodding first at Quin and Helio.
"You guys are down the right," she said quietly. Helio moved first, with Quin lingering for a moment as he exchanged a silent conversation with Issey. But he followed Helio, and they both disappeared down the thin hallway to their right. Her heart beating fast, Kida turned her attention to Hallee, Issey and Arlo, swallowing hard.
"You three are down the left," she told them, watching as they all exchanged nervous looks before they disappeared from sight as well. Kida licked her lips, turning to the long corridor in front of them. It was taunting, beckoning to her.
"And we're down here," Ryia murmured quietly, both girls staying quiet for a moment. Finally, Kida narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists tightly by her side.
"Let's go," she muttered, walking down the hall with Ryia right beside her until they too were swallowed by the darkness.