It was dim. 

That was the first thing Judah was able to comprehend wherever he was. Only fire torches gave enough light to vaguely see his surrounding. The hallway he was in was narrow. So narrow Judah believed that even walking side by side with another person in the hallway would be impossible. 

The stone flooring was rough and uneven. A red carpet was laid on the floor. The walls were lined with multiple red cloths on them. Each cloth has a picture of a grotesque heart on it. In the center of the heart, an arrow was embroidered into it. 

Judah had never seen this symbol before. 

His breath quickened as he cautiously walked down the hallway. He had no idea where he was, and he wasn't about to just get caught standing around and twiddling his thumbs. He suspected something magical was in the works. One second he was at the gymnasium watching Selena use a badass tornado to fight Ander and the next he was here. 

He walked to the edge of the hallway when he heard footsteps behind him. He paused and turned around slowly. Judah wasn't sure what he expected, but when he turned around he was face to face with a Harplie. Judah let out a scream and instantly threw a forcefield over himself, but to his surprise, the monster walked right past him and turned the corner. 

Judah felt his heart beating a mile a minute. He walked down the hallway and turned the corner down the same passage the Harplie went. It moved with great speed and walked directly to a door at the end of the corridor Judah stood in. Judah ran down the hall and caught up to the monster right as the door opened. 

A woman with light blue skin opened the door. She was wearing next to nothing and had a  red oval gem on her forehead. Her hair was the color of fire, and it was slicked back with a type of oil.  The Harplie saved no subtleties as he looked the woman up and down. She rolled her eyes, but still stepped aside for the Harplie to enter, and Judah followed closely behind. They entered a room that was more lit up than the hallway.

Various fire torches lit the room up. There was a giant wooden bed frame in the center with a plush feather mattress. Red bedding was spread all across it, and large feathery pillows were placed at the top of the bed. Across from the bed was a large antique mirror.

A dresser sat to the side of the bed, and a window was directly above the dresser. On the opposite side of the bed sat a small couch set and a small coffee table sat in the center between them. The Harplie walked straight into the sitting area and took a seat. It took its hood off and Judah was surprised to see a face on this one. 

This Harplie didn't look like any of the ones Judah had seen. This Harplie had no scales. His skin was pale, almost sickeningly so, and his features were sharp and mouse-like. He had rotting teeth that looked as if someone had taken a yellow highlighter and scribbled all around them. His eyes were a piercing blue, and his hair jet-black hair was matted and looked filthy. 

The woman tried to hide her disgust as she sat across from him on the other couch. She crossed her legs and leaned back against the cushion. "He isn't happy, Dullo," she raised her eyebrows and looked him up and down. "He isn't happy at all, you told us that the Harplies would end the threat the Dominions possessed. Instead, you managed to bring us exactly no powers. Yet, you had no problem taking our money." 

"Deidre," said Dullo with a sneer. An air of cockiness oozed from him."I'm not scared of you. Where is Gedeon? He's who summoned me here after all." 

Judah's heart stopped beating for a moment when he heard Gedeon's name. Was that where he was right now? Is this the castle where he resides? He felt a nervous feeling in his stomach and instantly began trying to leave. Maybe if he closed his eyes hard enough he would appear back in his body. 

Judah squinted as hard as he could. So hard his eyes began to water, but nothing seemed to work. Every time he opened his eyes he was still in the room with Dullo and Deidre. At least it seemed as if they couldn't see him. 

Judah realized that he wasn't looking at a Harplie. He was looking at the commanders of the Harplies. Was Dullo a dark wizard? Was he a monster tamer? With his hygiene, Judah was surprised he was anything. He couldn't smell him, but he did not doubt that Deidre, whoever she was, could. 

"He will be with you in a moment. Ander had to be punished for not being able to take on a bunch of untrained teenagers." Deidre scoffed and rolled her eyes. "It's ridiculous. All this time has passed and they're still the luckiest little bastards I have ever seen. They've survived certain death not once, but twice." 

"So you see this isn't my fault," said Dullo. He crossed his legs and stared Deidre down as she raised her eyebrows amused. "They're simply more powerful than you and Gedeon led on."

"If I do recall," Deidre responded with a mocking laugh. "You assured us that there was no power too strong that your Harplies couldn't take on," she waved her hand and a red light engulfed her hands. Just like the portals that they had seen Gedeon in multiple times, a red mirror-like portal appeared in the center of the room. Only this time, Gedeon was not in the frame staring at Judah. This time it was Dullo looking chipper as he placed a cup of beer to his lips. 

"I assure you, King Gedeon," Dullo said. His voice sounded as cheery as his face looked. "There is nothing my Harplies will not be able to overcome. I trained them myself." 

The red mirror disappeared as quickly as it formed and Dullo was left sitting there with his mouth glued closed. "Stupid is the one who takes a drunk man's oath," he finally managed to choke out. 

"Foolish is the drunk who makes them," said Deidre. "You will suffer the consequences of your insolence. Gedeon is not known for his mercies." 

Dullo sighed and leaned his head back against the wall behind the couch. The room held an awkward silence until the door of the room slammed open. Judah felt his heart sink to the ground when Gedeon stormed into the room. He was in an all-black armored suit, and the veins on his bald head seemed to be protruding more than the last time Judah saw them. He was taller than he appeared in the portal. Judah estimated him to stand at about six feet four inches. His black eyes were piercing Dullo like a blade. 

"How in the hell did you manage to screw this up, Dullo?!" 

Gedeon's voice roared throughout the room and Judah felt intimidated by the man.  It was easy to see how Gedeon could take over kingdoms. 

"You had one job! Bring those untrained brats to me! They don't even know how to use their full powers and your sad excuse for a monster left my general high and dry! I was furious with him, and then I realized it wasn't him I was angry at. It was you! Your monsters died almost instantly!"

Gedeon slammed his fist into the stone wall and to Judah's horror, his fist left a dent. The brute of a man didn't even seem to flinch when after he hit the wall. It was as if it never happened. 

Dullo cowered in the far corner of the couch. The once cocky demeanor he held with Deidre was no longer there. Deidre sat on the opposite couch, a twisted smile sat on her lips as she watched Gedeon make Dullo squirm. 

"Well?!" screamed Gedeon. "What do you have to say for yourself?!" he turned to Deidre and scoffed. "This is what we get for trusting a Rullian. There's not an honest person in that entire realm." 

"P-p-p-please your M-m-majesty," Dullo began to stutter. "It wasn't my fault. The kids w-w-were too strong! I d-d-did my best t-t-o prepare them-"

"I don't want your excuses!" roared Gedeon. A dark smokey aura began to shimmer from his body. Judah noticed that his eyes were no longer normal. Now, the blackness had taken over his whole eye. It looked as if two dark holes had taken over Gedeon's face. The angrier he seemed to get, the more aura would leak off of him. 

"That's it!" said Gedeon. "For leading me astray and refusing to take responsibility for your actions I sentence you Dullo of the Rullian kingdom to death!"

"NO PLEASE!" shouted Dullo.

Before he could say more Gedeon clapped his hands together and when he spread them apart a burst of purple energy emerged from his hands. A foreign wind started to blow all around the room. The bedding and pillows began to fly, and Deidre's hair was going in every direction. Gedeon pulled his hands apart until they were a basketball distance away from each other, and before Dullo could say anything else, the purple ball of light hit him square in the chest.

A bright light illuminated the room and when it disappeared Dullo was no longer there. In his place was a pile of dust. Smoke was still rising from it when Deidre got up and led Gedeon to the couch. She sat him down on the couch once occupied by the Harplie master and straddled his lap. She began to kiss his neck when he pushed her off and turned away.

"I'm not in the mood Deidre," Gedeon said. His tone was much gentler than anything Judah had ever heard from him. "It's getting worse. Every time I use the Vein I feel another part of me disappear-"

"It's okay," Deidre said. She began to massage his shoulders, and he leaned into her as she did so. If Judah didn't know any better he'd think the two were just a normal, weird, couple. It scared him how quickly Gedeon went from a murderous rampage to a confiding lover. 

"Look, we have the kids right where we want them. They don't know the powers that we hold. We can take them. Then when you get the Dominions you can expel the power of the Vein once and for all and be the true ruler of these lands." 

"I am the true ruler of these lands!" Gedeon said defensively. He pulled away from his shoulder massage and Deidre tenderly pulled him back. She began to whisper something into his ear, and then she perked her head up. 

"What's wrong?" Gedeon asked. "Why did you stop rubbing my shoulders?" 

Deidre turned her head and looked directly at Judah. The gem on her head was glowing and leaned down toward Gedeon's ear. "I don't think we're alone," Judah heard her whisper. "My magic is sensing something." 

She stepped into the middle of the room and Judah watched her hands glow red. He could no longer feel his legs, and as he stood against the wall he realized he hadn't breathed since Deidre said she could feel his presence. 

Deidre waved her hand around the room and Gedeon's head suddenly snapped toward Judah. They made eye contact, and Gedeon stood with an astonished look in his eye. "I. Will. KILL YOU!" his voice roared as the light once again appeared in his hands. Judah looked around the room panicked and then finally gained control of his legs. He ran to the window and jumped outright as the energy ball slammed into the stone castle. 

An explosion sounded and Judah free fell into the night. A bright light surrounded him and suddenly took over the world around him. Gedeon's scream was the last thing he heard before he woke up and gasped for breath. He was in a dark room and he instantly clenched himself into a fetal position. 

"Judah?!" 

Judah heard Selena and slowly picked his head up from his knees. His breathing was still shallow, but he managed to unclench his body. Asher, Elle, and Jayden were also in the room. Once he gained control over his body he grabbed Selena's hand and pulled her into a deep hug. He sat there like that for a long time before she finally pulled away and began to rub her hand on his arm. 

"What happened, man?" Jayden said. "You look like you saw a ghost.

Judah explained to the others what he had just seen. There was no way that was a dream. The falling, the conversation, the visuals, everything just seemed so real. He had to have astroprojected himself into Gedeon's castle. He had no idea how he did it, but he knew he was there. 

"That's intense," Selena said. She looked at the others. "Do you think he's going to come back today?" Selena couldn't hide the fear written all over her face. "He can't possibly think trying to fight us twice in one day is a good idea, right?" she looked around at the others in the room. When no one answered she snapped her fingers as if no one heard her the first time and she wanted to get their attention. "Right?" 

"I don't know," said Elle. 

A silence hung in the air, and Judah straightened himself out in the bed. "Gedeon is scary. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I wasn't terrified the entire time I was in that castle, but we learned something today. His power is causing him to fade. He wants our powers because they're strong. Which means we are strong. We didn't get the chance to fight him when we were kids the first time," Judah paused and looked around the room at each person. "But he's going to get the fight of his life the next time he faces us." 

He stuck his hand in the middle of the group. "For Glorianna." 

He looked around at the group expectantly. No one moved for a while. Judah held his hand out in the middle for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Elle reached her hand in the middle. "For Glorianna," she said. 

The others placed their hands in the middle and Judah gave a reassuring nod. "Let's find a way to get in touch with Elora," Judah said. "It's time to train."