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   "Why isn't he waking up?" Pearl asked as she gently brushed a damped rag over Hart's forehead.

They were inside a house. Hart laid completely unconscious on a human bed. Riley sat across the room from him, sitting in a regular wooden chair, resting his hands on his knees as he let his sister clean the blood on his face.

"I don't know. He hasn't moved since I woke up," Riley said.

The ceremony hadn't lasted more than a few minutes before a bloodbath happened. There wasn't anything Riley remembered after he blacked out. That time was unknown to him. All he knew was that he woke up in the black fountain surrounded by bodies except Hart's and he had to use a lot of strength to get himself out of Rev. He was lucky that he saw Hart's body being dragged away by monsters otherwise he might not have seen him again for a long time.

Riley suspected from the beginning that it wasn't a good idea to just march straight into Siren's home and just get married. Hart was different now, but Riley never expected the dark prince to submit so easily to the idea of marriage. It seemed like Siren knew Hart's weakness and that weakness was Riley.

It bothered Riley how Hart was able to trust Siren without a second thought, as if they hadn't just destroyed a percentage of her army recruits in a blink of an eye. She would not have opened her doors to either of them, but Hart didn't know hell like Riley did. He didn't spend thirty years in the evil world.

"We need to keep moving, we can't stay here long," Fiona said as she finished wiping her brother's face.

"Why?" Pearl asked.

"Because something feels really bad about this and I can't explain it. While the rest of the Rogues protect Annetta, we should be figuring out what to do about Hart and Siren."

Pearl dropped her rag in a bucket of water and turned to them. "What about Siren?"

"She just had rulers from other cities murdered. Don't you understand what this means?" Fiona said. She raised a finger when Pearl was going to ask the obvious. "It means war, blondie. The cities have nobody on the thrones. There was only one way Siren could gather them under the same roof and that was through Hartheon. She took her chance, knowing very well she wasn't going to get another opportunity like this. Now the other cities are defenseless and are probably in chaos. It's not like hell gets many rulers. This is a timeless place and only humans come back."

"I don't understand her. She can't rule over hell, which is obviously what she wants to do," Pearl said as she grabbed the rag from the bucket again and wrung it, draining the water from the fabric. She dabbed Hart's forehead as he kept sweating.

"I think she believes Lucifer isn't in control anymore, maybe even dead. I mean . . . has anyone even seen him?" Fiona said.

"I've seen him," Riley said.

Pearl and Fiona looked at him in surprise.

"How?"

"When I was on Earth I saw him hurting Hart and Sera. I don't think it was physically him, but it was him controlling the magic. I think he was angry at them and that's why he was punishing them. That's my only proof that he's real and he's out there."

The group stayed quiet for a while, pondering on the whereabouts of Lucifer. There was only one person in hell who truly knew anything about him and had the answers they were looking for. But the silence stayed, their lips sealed and their eyes fixed on The Dark Prince, as the inevitable truth burned into their minds.

"We can't do this alone. We can run and hide but the humans will eventually get caught either by sheer stupidity or exhaustion," Riley said, being the first to break the silence and speaking what was on their minds. "We need help."

"I agree," Pearl said.

Riley's heart hurt seeing his true love so vulnerable and weak. "We need him. And there's only one person that can tell us what's wrong with him, possibly even wake him up."

Fiona sighed. "Jocelyn."

"How about we not?" Pearl suggested. "She's at the prison. How are we supposed to just march through the gates and talk to her?"

Fiona removed the bag around her waist and fetched inside, pulling out a glowing sphere. She looked at the others as she carefully placed the white ghostly ball on the floor. "It's my last one. It will take us there."

Pearl got up, walking over to examine the magic ball. "Shouldn't we be saving it? You know . . . for emergencies?"

"You have me for that," Riley told them. "I can take us out of any situation. I can possibly even have my familiar take us to Jocelyn, but I'd rather not expose her too much. I'm still learning of her strengths and weaknesses. I don't want to harm her if anything happens."

"Her?" Pearl questioned, raising a brow.

"The tentacle," said Fiona.

"Ah."

Riley also got up to stand around the ball. They looked at one another, knowing exactly what this mission meant. This wasn't their first mission together and it wasn't going to be their last, but every time they were prepared for the worst. Riley believed in them. His sister and friend both had fully charged powers, they could do this and come back in one piece.

"I'm in," said the two girls, looking at Riley when he didn't respond.

"For Hart and the humans."

Riley walked over to the sleeping prince and lifted him up using his supernatural strength. It wasn't a struggle keeping him in his arms, his face resting against his chest, but his armor weighed a ton and could even make him trip if he wasn't careful.

As he walked back to the girls, Riley realized he could use his shadow apparitions to hold Hart, but he decided against it, feeling a warmth in his chest having Hart sleeping in his arms. He nodded at Pearl who had her foot on the magic ball on the ground. Pearl nodded back, crushing the ball as Riley's skin turned ominous.

The ball exploded beneath the boot of Pearl, releasing white magic. It expanded over the floor, covering them up to their knees and began to move in swirling motions. Pearl closed her eyes and thought of a destination. When the image popped into her mind, the smoke embraced them before sucking them into a wormhole. They were used to this, since they had done it many times. The ride was short and they appeared somewhere dark and cold, the opposite of Hell.

Because of the infamous Lake of Fire, most of Hell's locations were hot and bright. But there were corners in the world where the heat did not reach and the light could not penetrate. One of those corners was the prison.

The magic ball left them outside of gates, despite Pearl thinking of being inside. They walked forward, watching their surroundings and being watchful of where they went. The ground was colorless and each step taken left a small cloud of ash rising into the air. The only reason they could even see in such a place were the lit lamps high above ground, dangling over the black bars that made up the impossibly tall gates.

"Did you think of Jocelyn?" Fiona asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"It should mean we are near here, right?"

"I think so, but I don't see an entrance, do you?"

"I think this is where I help," Riley said, closing his eyes and calling out to Kroxia.

The Guardian released a chilling screech as she dove from the sky, tentacles curling as they reached the surface and picked them up one by one. The gates were taller than they had imagined and could not have guessed from ground level. It meant the gates were doing a well job holding anyone who was inside and keeping out foreigners. Fortunately for them, the ones who built this prison did not think of flying beings or a witch who could summon tentacles from the sky.

Inside the ground was smooth like marble, but still old and cracked and grey. They ran further inside, looking for a sign of Jocelyn. They had to be super close, they were already sure about that, the teleportation ball was never wrong. But they had never been here or even imagined of such a place. The prison was rarely used so most likely the only living being inside was Hart's mother.

They reached a dead end. Somehow, to them it felt like they had been tricked. The prison was just endless nothingness. It was a maze without walls and obstacles. It just went on and on and it was dark and lonely and gave them bad vibes. Until of course, they reached the dead end they thought they would never see.

The end was just the edge of a cliff and on the other side of the cliff was a bottomless pit and a hundred feet from the edge was a black wall. There was nothing else in this place and they were getting frustrated because they were running out of time.

Riley gently laid down Hart on the ground and used his shadows to cool his body and hopefully help with the fever or whatever was happening to him. His obsidian claw hovered over the royal armor of The Dark Prince and he wondered if he could rip it off and give Hart more comfort and room to breathe.

"Is that my son?" a voice echoed.

Heads turned but the echoes were falsely guiding them in all directions. Even after seconds passed, the voice still swam through the air, bouncing as if they were in a new, unfurnished room, except they were out in the open with nothing around.

They looked down, holding on to each other so that they wouldn't fall off, but there was nothing to see at the bottom it was all darkness. She could be down there, it made sense to keep here there where she couldn't escape.

But they were wrong.

"Guys, look!" Pearl pointed up, being the first to notice the dangling witch on the large black wall in front of them.

The lamps in the prison weren't strong enough to give them a clear view, but with focus they managed to see a young woman hanging at the top of the wall by her wrists. There were two chains holding her in place that jangled whenever she moved. It was Jocelyn and she was naked.

"Yes, it is," Riley answered.

"Why isn't he awake?" she asked, her voice sad.

"That's why we're here. We need your help."

She laughed softly. "My help? Why do you need my help?"

"Hart and I did the ceremony . . . we got married," Riley said.

"YOU DID WHAT?" the witch screamed, pulling the chains furiously. "Why? Why would you do that?"

"Siren told Hart it's what he needed to do in order to answer all of his questions. You more than anyone know Hart has always been lost. He wanted to do this and I agreed to do it with him. Now he won't wake up."

"Get me out of these chains!" Jocelyn said desperately, her words drawing out into a wail.

"You're scared," Fiona said.

"That ceremony was a trap and you fell for it. It's real, but it's much more than you can understand. It's the awakening of the apocalypse. We're all doomed."

"Why is Hart asleep?" Riley asked, ignoring her cries. Her tears meant nothing to him and they never would.

"I won't answer any more questions until I am set free."

"You have magic, why can't you set yourself free?" Pearl asked.

There was a hint of a smile on Jocelyn's lips and with the rest of her face hidden in shadows, it looked menacing.

"This is an anti-magic prison. It's one of a kind."

"So you can't use magic?"

"I can. We can. But I choose not to."

"Why? If you can just leave, why stay?"

Her head tilted down as if she was looking at the drop beneath her that would surely kill her if she fell. It didn't explain why she couldn't use magic to break free and escape. There was nothing stopping her. But there she was, the hanging witch being totally punished for her wrong doings.

"There's something down there," Pearl said who was examining Jocelyn the closest. Her foot was tapping against the edge of the cliff, but too afraid to take a peek. "Figures this prison wouldn't be so empty and unguarded. You can't use magic because of whatever is down there and you're purposely not telling us so we use it instead."

"I'd prefer if you didn't, actually," Jocelyn assured.

"What's down there? Tell us and maybe we can help you out of here," Fiona said.

"Seriously?" Pearl gave her a look.

"We're wasting time! What is she gonna do that's worse than what Siren is going to do? Besides, I'm putting a lot of trust on my brother and his weird partner."

"Partner?" Riley raised an eyebrow.

"To think that all this time . . . you've been The Obsidian Witch. I'm quite shocked, honestly. But in a strange way, it makes perfect sense. You've had one hell of a journey, haven't you?" She laughed, causing more echoes to bounce through them. "I will help, but not for you or for my son. I've been playing games for many years but never did I think I would end up here, being told that a ceremony that brings the end of everything has been completed."

"Why do you keep saying that? The end of everything. Ever since I became Obsidian, that's all my mind can see. Why was a marriage ceremony and me becoming The Obsidian Witch mean the end of everything?"

"Not many in this place are aware, but there was a prophecy told by Lucifer. One day he will create a child born from his blood and the ashes of Hell. This child will grow up with a piece of his soul and will use that power to one day awaken him from the depths of the fire. But there were forces against him and everything went wrong. One child become two, splitting the already broken soul in half, further weakening it and forcing his plan underground."

"So Hartheon and Seraphina were meant to be one? And their purpose all this time was to find Lucifer and awaken him with their powers?" Pearl said.

"Lucifer has been weak for a very long time. By using a part of him to create life, he hoped to create something that would grow in power, hopefully one day overpowering him."

"He wanted to create a child that could defeat him? Why would he do that?"

"No, you stupid girl. He knows he's dying. He needs someone to be there when that time comes. Someone who can rule over Hell and continue his work even after he's long gone. And by him using a part of his soul, he would always live on forever through them."

"What about the ceremony? The marriage . . . what was its use?" Riley asked, being the one mostly curious considering he was now a married man and it wasn't a traditional marriage, but something else that turned out to be a trap.

"The ceremony of binding was a temporary solution to the problems caused by the forces trying to bring down Lucifer. Hartheon and Seraphina were too weak when I gave birth to them. They were supposed to grow fully within a year but instead turned into many years. Not to mention I died and Lucifer wasn't able to bring me back fully. They were supposed to perform the ceremony together in Hell."

"Hartheon and Seraphina were supposed to get married?" Pearl grimaced, her tongue lingering in the air in disgust.

"IT'S NOT MARRIAGE, YOU MORONS! IT'S A SOUL LINKING SPELL MEANT FOR TWO SPECIFIC PEOPLE!"

"What was it supposed to do?" Riley asked calmly, but his heart was beating fast. He was nervous at what this spell meant for him and Hart. He had no idea what they had done and the waiting for answers was killing him.

"It was supposed to merge them into one being, like they were meant to be since the beginning. And it would have start a power infusion process, which is what's happening to Hart. His mind is somewhere else while his body prepares for the transformation. But he's supposed to be doing this with Seraphina, so I don't know what's going to happen."

"My brother also fainted, what does that mean?" Fiona asked.

"Get me out of here. I can't do anything if I'm here."

"Are you going to tell us what's down there?" Pearl asked, getting impatient.

"You already know what's down there."

Fiona gulped loudly. "A Guardian."

"I went from not seeing a single Guardian in over thirty years to almost seeing all of them," Riley muttered, unimpressed. The worst part was he was right. Siren was working with Guardians, which means she had more power than they could ever imagine. Siren put Jocelyn in this prison, meaning the Guardian below their feet was working for her.

"If you use magic, it will smell it right away and kill you. That's why there's nothing here. But I'm sure it's nothing to an Obsidian Witch."

"No," Fiona said quickly, looking over at her brother.

"You don't know the power I feel swimming through my veins" Riley told her, a smile sneaking in. "I wasn't joking when I said it feels incredible. And I know you're scared of me, but I am not scared."

"I'm not scared of you, I'm scared of losing you. To either death or to becoming something that you are not."

"Fiona, don't you understand what I am?"

"No, I don't!"

"I am, too, a Guardian," he said, tapping his solid chest with his sharp fingertips, a clinking sound following. He dragged his claws down, releasing a piercing noise. "All of those years worrying about when I would turn was just my version of a power infusion. I don't know why I was chosen but I was."

Except he did know why he was chosen. The forces that Jocelyn spoke of were the same beings that created The Obsidian Witch. The chosen had to be a witch who was capable of possessing either white or black magic. But they needed a white witch who was unafraid of the unknown, who wasn't afraid of doing what was necessarily regardless of morals. And that witch could not exist because of the balance.

Somehow, Riley broke that balance when he became a black witch with a different set of thoughts. Something about who he was made them choose him. He wasn't good nor evil. Thus, being the perfect specimen.

If it weren't for Hart, Riley would have become a white witch.

"Okay, then do what you have to do."

"Hold on to me, it's about to get dark," Riley told the girls.

Pearl and Fiona hopped behind him, their hands slithering around his eerie body. Riley closed his eyes and called out the shadows from within. They appeared like a morning fog, settling just under their waists like soft harmless clouds. A loud rumbling sound came from the bottom of the endless cliff. Riley summoned more shadows, covering everything around for miles until they drowned in pure darkness.

They waited, hearing the footsteps of what seemed to be the Guardian walking up the side of the cliff. When the sound wasn't heard again, they knew it had to be close to them, watching them. Riley moved his hand in front of him in circular motions, swirling the shadows and pushing it out, creating a temporary tunnel of vision. A mouthless creature stared back at the end of the tunnel.

"I should've known. It's The Caged Spirit of Venemun," Pearl said.

Venemun was the second biggest of all the Guardians; at least fifty feet long. It had long limbs, a long crooked spine arched like a curious lizard, a head shaped like a heart with no mouth, only big beady eyes and a cage trapping said head.

"I don't want to fight it," Fiona said, scared.

"We actually shouldn't. If it breaks that cage around its head, its true face will be revealed to us, then we die, painfully," Pearl said.

"But we can't die."

"Mm, I wouldn't be so sure of it."

"No, we shouldn't fight it," Riley said as he closed the tunnel with his hand. "These Guardians were created to have limitless power in order to defend, protect and serve. I don't know the purpose of this specific Guardian, but I think I can get Jocelyn out without it ever spotting us."

"How?"

"Shadows."

Riley kneeled and sunk into the ground, appearing on top of the wall where Jocelyn hung. Unfortunately, he could not do this to just teleport anywhere. There was a limit on how far he could go.

"I could use magic to break out, but I really don't want to die," Jocelyn said to him, her head tilted back so she could see him.

"You swear you will help us?" Riley said, grabbing the chains but stopping his actions right there, waiting for a response.

Jocelyn rolled her eyes. "Yes, I will. Who do you think created the ceremony?"

Riley touched her bare skin and pulled them into the wall, appearing once again beside the two girls in the blanket of darkness. Jocelyn clawed the shadows, grabbing pieces as if they were solid and attached them to her skin. Slowly, the shadows enveloped her like clothes on her skin. No longer was she naked.

"What?" she said, catching them staring at her as if she was crazy. "You're not the only one fond of shadows."

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[Author's Message]: Oh, boy. Things are about to escalate. There are only THREE more chapters left of this story and it's going to be crazy. This chapter was more of an information chapter, to fill you guys in with more answers. Hopefully things make even more sense. I know a lot of this series is confusing because you have to keep reading to know the answers, so I hope the wait was worth it. Please PLEASE leave comments. Last chapter didn't get many and I don't know why. Maybe the chapter was just bad and people didn't like it. I am trying my best to keep you guys interested. The plot of this entire series has been finished for a long time I just needed to write it so I know I worked my ass off trying to provide the best experience possible. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait to write the next one.