Earl is an idiot...
So I'd Notus. I'm going to kill that guy.
Why? What happened?
Long story...
I'll tell you later.
Okay..?

~Ariadne~

Yeah. Kids and their cliffhangers these days... Am I right?

At least they are not locked up in a cell that smells like rotten something. I don't know what kind of rotten it was, but it was definitely rotten.

Maybe someone had died in here. I don't know. I have never seen or smelled a dead body. It would smell rotten, right?

The cell was small, smelly and dark. Not a good combination.

I know I still had the necklace and could go back to earth, walk a bit and then return on the corridor outside, but the guards would notice my absence, tell the chief and the deal would be off. They would never help us with the war.

That's why I had to endure the torture of being in that smelly cell for four days.

I put my head between the bars.

«Can't I go for a walk to stretch my legs?» I asked for the millionth time.

«No can do. Chief's orders.» one of the guards replied. He had long orange hair and red eyes. The other one had shorter, dark green hair and his eyes were a very pale green.

«What's his name, anyway?»

«That's the funny thing. His name is Earl Chief. Everyone calls him chief because he is the chief, but they actually call him Chief with a capital "C".» the other one laughed.

«What are your names?» I asked them. Maybe if I appeared to be friendly they would arrange me a meeting with Chief.

«I'm Carl Fawne. That's Benny Clive.» the guard with the orange hair said.

«I'm Ariadne Drane.» I told them.

«Aren't you Queen Deidre?» Carl asked.

«I was. I didn't want to use my real name as Queen. I was avoiding someone.» I explained.

«Trouble at home?» Benny asked.

«You could say that...» I shrugged. «My uncle didn't approve of my boyfriend and I ran away from home so he could keep his job. We're back together now.»

«My dad doesn't approve of my boyfriend either...» Carl confessed. Benny blushed. It wasn't hard to make the connection.

«You two are so cute!» I told them. They were. I liked these guys.

«Thanks...» Benny blushed harder.

«Can I ask for a favour?» I asked.

«You want to talk to Chief, don't you?» Carl guessed.

«Yep.» I smiled cheekily.

«I'll see what I can do. I'll be back in a while.» he said and left.

«Wanna play rock-paper-scissors until he gets back?» I asked Benny.

By the time Carl came back, Benny had beat me ten times. I had only won twice.

«So... What did he say?» I asked.

«He'll meet with you after dinner.»

«Which is served..?»

«In a couple of hours.» Carl explained.

«Okay...» I took a deep breath. «What do you guys think about truth or dare?» I asked.

«Is that a challenge?» Benny questioned with interest. I nodded. «It's on.»

The two hours past quickly. Carl and Benny were really cool guys.

From the game I found out that Chief didn't treat his people as equals. He was pretty cruel and bossy when it came to them.

Maybe I could return them the favor of helping me out by doing the same for them.

Chief didn't look happy about out meeting. I told him that. I was going to be straightforward with him.

«What do you want?» he asked me.

«First of all, you should show some respect. You're just a teenager and I used to be your queen. Secondly, shut your mouth and let me do the talking. Thirdly, you're a moron.» I told him.

He didn't respond.

«I need you to let me out of here so I can help the others get the potion. I don't know why you want it but if you help in return--»

«Oh, I am going to help if you get me the potion. The thing is, my help won't be of importance. Amon and I are in terms with each other. He is in terms with all chiefs. All elemtalsist will die apart from four, one of each kind, and we will serve him. We don't want this war to be won. Sometimes the only way to the top is through loss.» he interrupted me.

«Wait, what?! Are you out of your mind? Power isn't everything! You're talking about killing thousands of people just so you can be a dictator's right hand! This is just wrong on so many levels!» I yelled at him in frustration. «That's just your opinion. What about everyone else? You're talking about killing everyone that's like you! You might not see it now, but when that happens s you will feel a hole in your heart that won't be able to be filled...»

«That would be a problem, if I cared. I don't give a damn about the other Elementalists, and the same goes for Amon. From what I've heard, he's holding a grudge against them. I don't blame him. This, this is a curse.» he said and showed me his hands. «But you wouldn't know, would you. You're just a spoiled queen that ran away.» he glared at me.

«Yeah, think again, because you have no idea what I've been through up to this point, okay? I ran away from home so that my boyfriend, whom my uncle disapproved of, could have a future. I became Queen for five years and made sure things were peaceful, and now I am here with the closest people on my life, trying to stop a bloody war! Not to mention that I absolutely understand what you're going through with your powers! You have no idea what kind of hell I'm going through, and it's not over yet. Now I have to get back out.» I exploded. It was good blowing off some steam like that. I had kept all that inside me for far too long. «Before you judge someone and call them Spoiled or anything else that comes to your mind at that time, think about what that person could have gone through. Don't jump to conclusions.» he didn't speak. «I'd like to return to my cell, now, please.» I told Carl and we went back to the dungeons.

That went well...

*Celine*

Climbing down was the easy part and considering the fact that someone almost died, I call that a very disappointing statement.

Now, you're probably thinking: "Again? Is almost dying your hobby or something?"

The bitter answer is yes. We can't help it. We walk right into danger and we don't even know it. It's kind of pathetic, really.

After trying, and failing, to get over what we had just heard about Amon and Effie returned, we started going down. She didn't know anything about all that, so we had to act naturally.

The bloody cliffs were high. One slip and you were tomato sauce. No exaggeration there.

We were halfway down, when bad luck found us and decided to come say "Hi".

Oliver slipped and started falling.

The ropes weren't exactly strong. They were just there to trick us into thinking that everything would be okay if we fell. Yeah, as you can see, that was a huge lie.

«Oliver!» I shrieked. Damon was frozen and wide-eyed, much like Alcyone and Effie, who were flying. «You're flying! Do something!» I yelled at them. They didn't respond. «Dammit!» I muttered and started untying myself.

«What are you doing?» Damon asked me.

«Doing something I'm probably going to regret later.» I told him and let go.

I don't know if Notus had that planned too or not but it was weird that I refused to use my powers and a while later I had no choice but to do so. It couldn't be just coincidental. Whatever the case, Notus was going to hear it later.

I get this was a "prove you deserve our help" or "prove you can actually win" kind if test, but this was an entire country we were talking about. They couldn't just abandon it! It was their home.

As I was falling, I used my powers to try and go faster. Oliver screamed like a little girl. It would have been hilarious if he wasn't falling to his death.

I caught him a few meters before he hit the ground and landed on the ground. He was still screaming. He stopped when he realised he wasn't falling anymore. He had his eyes shut. He was pretty cute.

«Am I dead?» he asked.

«You wish! I'm going to make you wish you were dead after what you did!» I yelled at him but hugged him really tight anyway.

«I can't breathe...» He choked.

«I don't care. Shut up.» I muttered and didn't let go. «Don't do that again. Do it again and I'll kill you.» I threatened him.

«Trust me, I would never do that again on my own free will.» he replied.

The others arrived soon later. Damon had forced Effie and Alcyone to carry him down.

«Are you two okay?» he asked and ran towards us.

«Kinda...» Oliver shrugged.

«No, we're not okay!» I snapped. «You two could have saved him! What if my powers hadn't worked and we had both died? And what was that with the rope? Those were supposed to be there to protect us! What the hell?» I yelled at the girls.

«We were just a little shocked! We- we--» Effie tried.

«You were what? He could have died and I would have to go tell his sister and cousin. They would have to tell his mother. This isn't a joke!» I interrupted her.

«Celine, stop--» Oliver told me.

«No! You could have died!» I yelled at him.

«Yeah, but if you don't stop yelling now, we're all going to die!» he said again. I looked around.

«Oh boy...» we had, sorry, I had been so noisy that the rogue Elementalists had found us. «This isn't over!» I hissed to the girls.

We all pulled out our weapons and got to fighting.

There was a lot, as Echo would say, slashy-slashy and stabby-stabby. Did I tell you about the bloody-bloody? There was lots of that too. It was messy.

And it wasn't just the bad guys'. We all had deep cuts everywhere.

Suddenly, I heard a grunt behind me. I turned around and saw Effie. She had been stabbed.

The knife had gone right through her stomach and you could see its point coming out from her back.

The Elementalist looked like he hadn't meant to stab her. Of course... She had gotten between me and the dagger.

«What did you do?» I panicked.

«I- I didn't s- save O-Oliv-ver, s-so I saved y-you.» she stuttered. There was blood coming out of her mouth. Lots of it. I looked at her in shock.

«No, no, no, no, no!» I rushed and caught her as she fell down. «Don't die on me! Think about your dad! Think about Alcyone!» I told her. Her cousin appeared out of nowhere and froze when she saw Effie.

«No!» she shrieked and ran towards us. «What happened? H- How did it happen?» she asked.

«Never do what pleases others if it doesn't please you too... Don't make the same mistakes I made... Promise me... Both of you...» She whispered. Alcyone nodded a million times. She was sobbing uncontrollably.

«I- I promise...» I nodded too. I hadn't noticed the tears in my eyes until then.

Oliver and Damon found us as Effie's head gell limb on my lap.

They grabbed the guy that stabbed her. He was standing there the entire time, shocked.

«Why did you do that?» Oliver yelled at him.

«I didn't mean to! She got in front of me! We're just fighting for our country! Notus has made a pact with Amon! He won't let us fight him. We just want what's best for Imyrth, and that's not him.» he cried.

«Wait, what?» Alcyone said and stood up. Her voice was sore from the sobs.

«That's what we were told.» he replied.

«I'm going to kill him.» Alcyone decided.

Notus was in huge trouble.