“What?” Seretha gasped. “No… That… that’s impossible!” She turned her head and looked at Aathy’s family. Every single one of them had wide eyes… but seconds later, Aathy’s mother burst into tears and fell to her knees.

      We had all returned to Seretha’s house to have our meeting and figure out what we were going to do next.

      But what we had to do before that was tell Aathy’s family what had happened.

      “She’s not dead!” I said, trying to reassure her. “I’ll find her. I promise!”

      I turned to Chirpy and Serpethion to help me out, but they were both looking down at the ground, sadly.

      “The King of Warriors…” Chirpy started.

      Master Odysson narrowed his eyes.

      “He’s…”

      “He’s not dead.” I finished. “He’s gone too… but not dead.”

      Master Odysson sighed and I could see on his face that he thought I was in denial.

      I was about to argue with him but he spoke first.

      “You said her body just vanished?”

      I nodded.

      He looked down at the floor. “And Aarvind?”

      “I don’t know… we didn’t find his body.”

      “But Keroshan has the mark of the King of Warriors.” Serpethion said.

      Master Odysson’s head shot up as he looked at me. Suddenly, his eyes changed. He looked… as if he felt unbelievable sorry for me. “Keroshan… that means… you father…”

      “He’s not dead.” I said, raising my voice. “And this time, we really can’t waste any time!”

     Master Odysson stood up. “Keroshan is right.” He said. “This isn’t just about us now. All of Raakshya is involved.”

      I felt a little relieved.

      “Keroshan… if you’re the new King of Warriors that means you need to pick up your game and lead an army.”

      And now I wasn’t. “What?”

      “You’re not a child. Not anymore.” He said. “Your job is to lead our warriors and you will do just that.”

      “But-”

      “We need all the help we can need.” Master Odysson said. “Your father was the only one who could be a match for Darius… and if he’s gone… we’re going to need that army.”

      “But they just attacked Chirpy, Serpethion and I! How can we trust them?”

      “We’ll just have to.” Master Odysson said.

      “I’ve got him!” We all heard.

      When we turned around, our hearts lifted at the sight of Aryan, who had been spending most of his days in the North with some of his distant relatives.

      “Where is he?” Chirpy asked him.

      “The Prof didn’t want to be carried. So he’s just catching up. He’ll be here in a minute.”

      Seretha smiled at him. “It’s been quite some time, Aryan.”

      He nodded at her. “When Chirpy came and asked for help… I knew I had to come…”

      “What’s going on in the North?” Odysson asked him.

      Aryan shook his head. “North of the Northern villages are completely destroyed. No one understands what happened. It just suddenly… exploded.”

      “How big was the explosion?” Master Odysson asked.

      “Massive.” Aryan responded. “Hundreds are dead. Most of them were women and children.”

      My hands clenched into fists.

      “Odysson?"

      I turned my head and saw the old Professor walk into the house.

      Seretha looked down at the floor, bowing her head and showing her respect. “Professor.”

      The old man nodded his head at her. “Seretha.”

      He then turned to me. “So the rumors are true?”

      “Depends in what you're talking about.” I said.

      The professor shook his head at me. “You believe that Darius did this?”

      I nodded.

      “And Aarvind… is he…”

      “He’s gone… I don’t know where.”

      “He might be dead though.” Master Odysson said. “We need to consider that possibility.”

      I swallowed hard.

      The professor sighed. “And I was really hoping to have a nice dinner with him.”

      Master Odysson crossed his arms. “Professor.”

      “I’m sorry.” He said as he looked up. “You were right to get us all together... Because whoever planted those attacks, Darius or not, must be punished.”

      “What happened with the attack on Central Raakshya?” Master Odysson asked.

      The professor crossed his arms. “He got the Temple… the Temple of Vinon.” He said. “Many of Raakshya’s strongest warriors were stationed there and most, if not all of them were killed.”

      Master Odysson’s eyes widened. “The temple…”

      Master Odysson looked like he had realized something, but I stared at him, confused… not understanding.

      He then turned to Aryan. “What part of the North was attacked?”

      Aryan hesitated, but then he looked like he realized something too. “The village closest to the entry of Kyrian’s temple.”

      Master Odysson took a deep breath. “He’s going after the jewels.”

      Then my eyes widened. “Oh no.”

      “But…” Serena started. “Those temples are well hidden.”

      The Professor turned to me. “Even when we were headed there… it took the power of the Guardian for us to enter.”

      “I’m sure Darius is still going to try.” Master Odysson said.

      Serena shook her head. “We have to stop him.”

      I bit my lip. “But what about Aathy?” I asked. “We have to save her!”

      “If Aathy’s alive…” Master Odysson started. “Getting to Darius means getting to her.”

      I looked away angrily. “We don’t have that kind of time.”

      Master Odysson ignored me. “Keroshan, I need you to go back to Central Raakshya and fix things there.”

      I looked back at him. “What?” I asked. “We can’t waste any more time!”

      Master Odysson gave me a stern look. “We have no queen.” He said. “We have no trained King of Warriors. Many Raakshyans have been killed. And all the Raakshyans are confused.”

      I bit my lip.

      “What those men and women need now is a leader.” He said.

      “And the best person for that role…” Seretha started.

      “Is Keroshan.” Serena finished.

      “You are the son of Aarvind. You are the closest thing these people have to a leader. And they need one.”

      My heart was racing in a strange fear.

      “You have priorities right now. Right now, we need to stop Darius from causing more damage.” He said. “Are you willing to take this up, son?”

      I took a breath and let it out.

      Master Odysson didn’t wait for a response. “We need to get the warriors from the North, South, East and West to go to Central Raakshya. If Darius returns, he will most likely go there.”

      He turned to Serpethion. “Serpethion you go south and convince the warriors there.” He said. “Aryan, you do the same in the North, Chirpy, get to the west and Serena, you head east.”

      “What about you?” Serena asked.

      “The professor and I are going to go to the tower. We’re going to see what the Guardians have to say. The tower is the only way to speak to them all at once.”

      “And what do you want me to do?” Seretha asked.

      “You stay here.” He said, turning to her. His eyes then fell on Aathy’s devestated family. “They need you.”

      She hesitated and then nodded.

      Master Odysson turned back to us. “Once you have all returned to Central Raakshya with the warriors… meet us in the Throne Room of the palace. We will discuss what our next plan is there.”

      “Right.” Chirpy, Serena, Serpethion and Aryan said together.

      “Hurry.” Master Odysson said.

      And they all disappeared, returning to Raakshya.

      Master Odysson looked at me. “I thought you said we had no time to waste.”

      I looked at the floor and sighed. “Aathy is gone.” I said. “I don’t know if she’s dead or not and you want me to go do nothing to find her?”

      “You are not doing nothing Keroshan.” Master Odysson said. “You told me Jacob said that Darius wants to take over Raakshya. If that’s the case, we need to stop him.”         

      “But Aathy-”

      “We can’t find Aathy if we don’t stop Darius.”

      I took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye before I left for Raakshya too.

      I guess I just had to trust him.