~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Good friends are hard to find, so don't let them go so easily once you do find them."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So they were able to gather everyone in one place," Klyen said making Joyce nod.

"Seems like it, this is a good chance to take out all of them at once," she said. Klyen paused, thinking it over before his eyes flickered over to Seto, who has his arms crossed as he leaned his back against the wall. They are back on the Timeless Isle, in an abandoned castle that they took refuge in. Klyen sat on the throne while Seto was off to the side, Joyce and a few dark wizards stood in front of Klyen.

Seto was listening to their conversation but was keeping to himself, after all, it isn't like he really can contribute with Klyen sealing Seto's voice away. But even then, Seto found it funny just how much Klyen was underestimating Ty and the others.

Seto knows that if they worked together, they could win. But fighting alone is another story, they wouldn't be able to stand a chance against the more advanced dark wizards in Klyen's, what Seto calls, Klyen's cult. Harvey gripped his arms, his eyes looked away as he gritted his teeth. But he hated it, he hated how he can barely do anything to help Ty and them.

"Harvey, where is your staff?" Klyen asked before he snapped his fingers, temporarily lifting the seal on Seto's voice. Seto rolled his eyes, not answering. Yes, he missed talking, but he's gotten used to no being able to speak. Though Seto could tell that his silence annoyed his father. "Leave us," he said making Joyce and them leave. Klyen gets up, going over to his son. "Harvey, where is the staff?" he asked again.

Seto glared at Klyen. "Go to hell," he spoke. Seto first flinched at how hoarse his voice sounds, guessing that is what happens when you keep silent for a long period. Klyen smacked Seto with the back of his hand making Seto flinch on impact. His hands touched the wall behind him to keep his balance.

"I'm getting tired of your disobedience! I'm almost tempted to issue a command seal on you," Klyen said making fear flickered across Seto's eyes. Seto's hands balled into fists. 'If he did that...I would just be some mindless puppet to him. I would be possessed but with little to no chance of regaining control of my body,' Seto thought to himself. While he knows the shackles are bad and all, a command seal turns the victim into basically a hollow shell. The target's consciousness is locked away and they are turned into a mindless slave that carries through any and all orders without flinching since their moral compass has been shut off. Luckily, Klyen hasn't done that yet, but Seto isn't putting it past him to do it.

Klyen's hand lifts up Seto's chin, making him look at his father. And Seto didn't like the smirk he was giving him. "I've already done it once--"

"W-What?!" Seto exclaimed shocked. That was news to him! "W-When?!"

Klyen removed his hand. "Oh don't worry, you'll learn soon enough," Klyen said. He let out a soft breath before he snapped his fingers, sealing Seto's voice away yet again. "Joyce!" Klyen shouted. Moments later, Joyce and others came back into the room. Klyen crossed his arms. "I'm putting a command seal on Harvey again--"

'NO!' Seto thought before he pushed Klyen away from him. He made a break for the exit.

"Halt, Harvey!" Klyen said making the shackles on Seto's wrists glow and Seto abruptly stopped, unable to pick his feet up from the floor. Seto gritted his teeth, knowing what was coming. 'No...No...' Seto thought. He heard Klyen chuckle as Joyce spoke.

"You can do that?" she asked surprised.

"Yes, they are called obedience shackles after all. As long as those braces are on his wrists, I can use his magic against him," Klyen said.

'I can't let this happen...' Seto thought before his eyes shifted to their purple color. 'I...I have to...give them more time. Ty and them need more time,' Seto thought as his hand glowed a purple aura. He let out a shaky breath as he heard Klyen and them come towards him, ready to issue the command seal on him. Seto's eyes water. 'I-I'm sorry guys, but...if they put the seal on me, it's over,' Seto thought before he put his hand on his stomach and hesitated for a moment. Seto closed his eyes. 'Don't ever lose faith, guys...I know you can win. But my father is too powerful with me unwillingly on his side. I have to take myself out of the equation so you all have a chance of victory...I'm sorry...' Seto thought to himself. He desperately wanted to see his friends one last time before doing this but he doesn't have that luxury. He knows that they won't fight back or hurt him because of their history...and he doesn't want to put any of them in that position where they would have to pick between him and the rest of the world.

"He gonna do a spell on himself!" Joyce shouted alarming the dark mages and Klyen. Seto felt hands grab him but he pushed against them, muttering under his breath. The spell hit him, Seto's eyes widen in horror as he gasped. Moments later, large gashes cut all over his body making blood gush out, staining the flooring and the people around him. Overwhelmed, Seto collapsed onto his side, the dark wizards that had grabbed him let go in shock, letting the injured wizard fall to the ground.

Seto's clothes quickly stained red, the puddle under him growing in size. Joyce went to her knees, grabbing Seto's arm. "You f*cking moron!" she shouted. Her eyes looked him over. "He's losing a lot of blood," she said before looking at Klyen. But her sense of urgency died when she saw Klyen's emotionless response. Out of everyone in the room, Klyen was the only one who didn't react to this. Klyen walked calmly over to Joyce, looking down at Seto. Joyce let go of Seto's arm as Klyen kicked Seto onto his back.

Klyen gritted his teeth, irritated but he was also impressed. He went down to one knee. Seto's eyes looked at his father as Klyen's hand glowed a golden aura. "I'm impressed, Harvey. I didn't think you had the guts to do something like this to yourself..." Klyen said. Seto's eyes looked at Klyen before he coughed up blood onto the flooring. "But now you have given me an even better idea. Hold him," he ordered before Seto felt hands grab him.

Seto couldn't fight back, his body was too weak and hurt from his spell to allow movement. He felt Klyen put two fingers on the center of Seto's chest. 'N-No...NO!' Seto thought as he heard Klyen muttering a spell under his breath. Seto gritted his teeth, trying to pull his arms free so he could cast a spell on himself that would kill him instantly but his weak tugs did little justice for him. Seto soon gave up, not seeing any point in fighting back anymore as his eyes watered.

'Please...guys...just kill me, I'm begging you. Don't let me be the reason why my father wins...'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mitch's eyes glanced over to the bed Jerome laid in when he heard a groan come from the demi-human. The archer looked back at what he was doing, which was making new arrows. He didn't pay attention as he heard Jerome stirring beside him. Mitch was sat beside the bed with a table beside him with his supplies on it.

He ignored Jerome until he heard him speak. "M-Mitch?" he heard Jerome muttered making Mitch stop his work.

Jerome picked his head up a bit, looking at what Mitch was doing which was honestly something that he's seen the archer do hundreds of times. But this was different. "W-What are you doing?" he stammered.

"Making tipped arrows," Mitch said. Jerome's eyes soften, instantly picking up the displeasure in Mitch's tone letting him know that Mitch wasn't happy with him...well his tone was an indication and so was the fact that Mitch hadn't even turned to look at the hybrid yet.

"Why?" Jerome asked.

"To kill people with..." Mitch said still not looking at his friend as he resumed his work. He'll admit that the idea of tipped arrows didn't come from him, it was Preston's idea. But Preston has no idea how to make decent arrows so the inventor gave Mitch the blueprints and supplies so Mitch could do it for him. The silence that stood between the two friends was tense and awkward at the same time.

It took about five minutes before Jerome finally spoke up. "I-I'm sorry..." he said making Mitch stop and freeze up. Jerome looked at Mitch, alarmed at his halted actions. It isn't that Jerome is afraid of Mitch, no, it's that it is unsettling how calm and quiet Mitch is right now despite all that went down only hours ago. Mitch pushed the knife up, finishing the carve on the wood before he rested the materials down in his lap.

"Don't you dare ever do something like that again..." Mitch said staring at the floor as his grip tightens on the carving knife and piece of wood.

"But I--"

Mitch snapped his head towards Jerome. "NEVER AGAIN!" Mitch shouted at Jerome. Jerome held Mitch's eyes for a moment before Mitch gritted his teeth and stood from his chair, facing Jerome. "Y-You were lucky I was able to pull you out of the water when I able to. Any longer and you could have drowned! I know you are scared of going feral and hurting us but that DOESN'T give you the RIGHT to go and try to commit suicide!" Mitch shouted. Luckily, they moved Jerome out of the infirmary three hours ago since they were confident he would be just fine and would wake up soon. So they moved him into a separate room that would be his for the foreseeable future as he stayed at Ian's HQ. Jerome pushed against the bed, slowly sitting up, suddenly aware of how constricted his chest felt making him cough a few times.

Mitch bit his bottom lip, looking away as Jerome coughed. Mitch put his knife and piece of wood on the table before picking up the glass of water that sat on the nightstand and giving it to Jerome.

"Alister said to drink slow, you're gonna be coughing for a bit," he said as Jerome took gulps from the cup only to stop and start hacking making Mitch shake his head in both disappointment and amusement. "I told you not to do that," he said as he took the cup from Jerome. Mitch set the cup on the nightstand as Jerome cough a few times, slowly recovering and looking at the archer.

"W-Well yeah, only a-as I drank!" Jerome said coughing. Mitch couldn't help but smile despite how mad he was with the demi-creature. If he was being honest, he really did miss Jerome and is glad he is alive and well. But the suicide attempt put a lot of things in perspective that he hadn't looked at before. Mitch sat back down in his chair, pulling it closer so he faces Jerome, waiting for him to recover fully from the cough attack he brought upon himself.

Once he was done, Mitch gave Jerome back the cup, letting the hybrid drink slowly to help ease his burning throat. Jerome drank the rest of the water in the cup, setting the empty cup back on the nightstand beside his bed.

"You okay? Did you hack up a lung?" Mitch asked with a small smile. Jerome wiped his mouth as his eyes looked at Mitch amused by the question.

"No, not yet, I was close though," he said. Jerome leaned back against the headrest, his eyes looking over at the archery supplies, seeing about ten arrows done and made. But Jerome lost his smile, seeing they weren't like Mitch's normal style of an arrow. "Everything seems to have changed..." he said making Mitch follow his gaze.

Mitch smiled at him. "They look different to let me know which is which. After all, three of them are poison-laced, four laced with a paralysis agent, and the last three are experimental explosive arrows. It is probably a good idea to know which could explode and which is just a normal arrow," he said surprising Jerome. Jerome stared at Mitch. The hybrid knew that Mitch was meddling with the idea of arrows like these with Dan before the Sky Army fell and he knows Mitch has used poison-laced arrows before, but he never really stuck to it since that wasn't Mitch's MO. Mitch never really needed to use arrows with special qualities since his skills as an archer were advanced enough to not need anything special to take someone out. Well...he can think of one person that Mitch would use such arrows against since she used arrows like these against Mitch.

But before Jerome could bring her up, Mitch spoke. "Can I ask you something?" the archer asked him.

Jerome looked at him and nodded. "Sure," he said.

"Were you at Zacan within the last two months?" Mitch asked. Jerome looked away, knowing exactly what it is that Mitch is referring to and asking about. Jerome looked away, his silence was answer enough for Mitch. "You saved me..." he said.

Jerome shook his head in shame. "No, no, if it wasn't for Ashley putting between herself between you and me...I-I would have killed you myself," he said in utter shame. But Jerome smiled as he looked at Mitch. "Though, I am glad to see you have recovered...I...I didn't think you would make it," he said.

Mitch nods, agreeing with him. "Hey, that makes two of us. I was so sure I was gonna die, but here I am, still kicking," he said making Jerome chuckle.

Jerome slowly loses his smile. "You should have never been put in that--"

Mitch put his hand up towards Jerome, stopping the hybrid from continuing. "Stop, Jerome. Just stop. As wrong as this will sound, I think being so close to death is something that I needed. It gave me a wake-up call...and made me realize what Adam must have been feeling before he died," Mitch said. After all, that pain and dread that Mitch had burned into his mind permanently wasn't something he will ever be able to forget. "I've had plenty of bad wounds in the past but I've never been that close to...dying before. It made me realize how much I want to live..." he said. Jerome looks away, not speaking.

His paws fidgeted with the blankets to only have to look up when someone knocked on the door. Mitch looked towards it, getting up and answering. "Yeah?" he asked. Jerome heard someone speaking but couldn't understand their words which he finds strange since his hearing is better than humans' hearing.

But he saw Mitch's surprised look making Jerome push the blanket off him and try to get up only to fall back into the bed when his legs went numb.

"Jerome! Stay in bed, you--"

Jerome shakes his head. "N-No, I want to know what is going on," he said making Mitch's eyes soften before the archer stepped away from the opened door letting a normal-looking Ty in.

Ty looked at Jerome, smiling. "Good to see you are okay," he said before he crossed his arms. "I assume Mitch has lectured you already?" he asked making Jerome nod.

Mitch then smirked. "I haven't caught him up yet, so you might want to..." Mitch said motioning to the commander's headphones. Ty looked at Mitch confused for a moment but nodded, understanding what he is getting at.

"Yeah, probably good to get this out of the way right off the bat," he said before looking at Jerome. "Jerome, you might want to sit down. I need to show you something," he said.

Jerome crossed his arms. "I can take it, show me--"

Mitch shook his head stepping towards Jerome. "No, no you can't, trust me. Jerome, sit," he said. Jerome hesitated but sat down, wondering what they are getting at and want to show that is apparently out of the norm. And considering who they are in the world, they have seen their fair share of strange and crazy.

Ty glanced at Mitch before he lifted his hand to his headphones. Wanting to keep Ty's new features as much of a secret as they can, Master Phil and Dan both came up with a way to hide Ty's draconic features using the commander's headphones as a tool that hides it using strong concealment magic that activates and deactivates from a hidden switch that Dan installed in the headset.

Ty pressed the hidden switch forcing his green headset to shift within almost an instant from green to purple. And to Jerome's shock, Ty's appearance changed from looking like a normal human-like Jerome has always seen him as to an enderdragon demi-creature with a dark purple rash tainted parts of Ty's skin, his eyes going from their discolored of red and green to dark purple, fangs growing from his teeth, black draconic wings that had tints of green and purple on them and were inches away from dragging against the floor and lastly, a tail that touched the floor. Jerome stared at Ty with wide eyes, not knowing how to respond since he could barely process what he was seeing.

Ty smiled a bit, chuckling softly at Jerome's reaction. He crossed his arms. "Yeah, you missed a lot," he said before he flipped the hidden switch again, reverting to his human form. "Thanks to Master Phil, Dan, and Preston, they were able to figure out a way to allow me to revert between a human and an enderdragon hybrid--"

Jerome pointed at Ty. "W-What the hell was that?" Jerome stammered. The demi-hybrid looked at the cup that sat on the nightstand and looked at Mitch. "What did you put in that water? Some types of drugs? I-I thought I just saw Ty shift into some dragon hybrid thing!" Jerome exclaimed making Mitch laugh.

Mitch shakes his head at Jerome. "No, no, I didn't lace it. What you saw was real, Ty is an enderdragon hybrid now," Mitch said before Ty started to explain exactly what happened to cause this. Though that story was short-lived when there was a rushed knocking on the door. Ty looked at it as Mitch went over and opened the door, the person's fist almost hitting Mitch. Mitch grabbed their wrist, stopping their knocking motion before they hit the archer in the face.

"Watch it you twat!" Mitch snapped. The archer let go of the recruit's wrist, seeing their alarmed expression. "What is it?" he asked.

"General Seto was found--"

"What?!" Ty exclaimed going up beside Mitch.

The recruit looked at Ty. "He was found heavily injured and unconscious just outside of Winterfall Pier," they said.

Jerome gets up, recovering from his shock, and was replaced with alarm. "That's not far from Laenadur!" Jerome said.

Ty stepped towards the recruit. "Where is Seto? Is he here--"

They shake their head. "N-No..." they said.

"Then where is he?!" Mitch snapped at the recruit. While they would feel bad for how they are snapping at this poor recruit, they want answers and want them now. They would care about how scared the recruit seems at their attitudes later!

"T-The Arcane Knights took him into Laenadur!" they said. Those five words were all it took to make the three's blood boil. The Arcane Knights have a very sketchy history with the Sky Army, they have hurt Seto on multiple occasions. So the trust they have with that group of wizards is very much broken and will never be repaired.

Jerome pushed through Mitch and Ty, grabbing the recruit by their arms. "They took him?! Those SCUMBAGS TOOK Seto!?" Jerome exclaimed. The recruit nodded fearfully. Jerome gripped their arms as rage boiled inside him. 'The Arcane Knights! How effing dare they take Seto! I'll make them pay!' Jerome thought to himself before Mitch pushed Jerome off the recruit.

"Jerome, stop! You're scaring him!" Mitch said before looking at the recruit. "Sorry about him, where are the others?" the archer asked the recruit.

They pointed to their right. "War room--" Mitch and Jerome bolted down the hallway as Ty sighed.

Ty looked at the recruit. "Are you okay? Jerome didn't hurt you, did he?" he asked concerned for them.

The recruit shakes his head. "No, I'm fine. I get it. I'm just as worried for General Azdel as they are...it's okay," they said.

Ty smiles at them. "He'll be okay, Seto always finds a way to be okay in the end. But thanks for letting us know," Ty said before he rushed down the hallway and heading to the war room where he encountered people who were either just as mad as Jerome and Mitch were or were displaying a calm presence that was just a mask to the anger inside them. Truth be told, Ty is mad about the situation, but he is trying to keep his normal hot-headedness out...He's trying to be a leader like Adam was. Adam was always calm no matter how bad things would get, and it sort of unsettled Ty how calm Adam could be. It made him fearful of what would happen if Adam were to get mad since nothing really seemed to bother him.

Ty crossed his arms, half listening to the loud arguments taking place with Jerome, Ant, Mitch, and Max. Ty sighed, his eyes looking over at Jordan. "Where did the tip come from?" he asked. Jordan turned his head over to Nick, for which Ty looked at the captain with shock since he had no idea that Nick was even... well alive still. "Nick..."

Nick gives Ty a small smile. "Hey, long time no see, Commander Ellis," he said. Ty flinched at the title, still not use to being in charge.

Ian looked at Ty. "I've had Nick be my eyes and ears in the empire and in the blackmarket as well. We have gotten a lot of useful info from there, but this time he encountered--" Ian stopped before he looked at the four arguing officers. "Will you four shut up already?!" he shouted at them making them shut up and freeze. Ian sighed before looking back at Ty. "As I was saying, Nick heard rumors that General Azdel was found outside of Winterfall Pier. He was being housed in a civilian home and was being treated for his injuries until the Arcane Knights came and took him from the home. He's currently in Laenadur, according to our sources that is," he said.

"Alex?" Ant asked Nick.

Nick shakes his head. "No, not this time," he said.

"Getting into Laenadur is going to be next to impossible, at least for any Sky Army that is. No humans and/or Sky Army affiliated personnel are allowed within the city, only mages and demi-humans are allowed in," Mitch said making everyone but Jason and Ty agree which everyone noticed.

Ty looked over at Jason, seeing he is thinking. "You thinking what I am thinking?" he asked.

Jason's eyes flickered up to Ty. "Probably," Jason said before he looked over at Michael. "Michael...think you could break into Laenadur undetected?" he asked the spy. All eyes went on Michael as the spy froze, not expecting that question.

Michael's eyes soften as he looked at Jason. "Okay, I'm good, but I'm not that good. I've broken into plenty of places I'm not welcome before and able to slip in and out undetected. But I've never been able to slip in undetected into any place that has a strong mage connection to it. It is some sort of magic that detects intruders that is invisible to the naked eye," he said.

Jason crossed his arms as his shoulders shrug. "I've broken in before undetected...multiple times," he said making Michael's eyes widen a bit as The Fyre Brothers, Elise, and Kaylen looked at Jason, shocked.

"Wait, multiple? As in more than once?" Master Phil asked shocked. Jason nods at him.

Elise shakes her head. "Of course you have..."

Michael stared at Jason. He was both not shocked at all and shocked at the same time, but he was also impressed. "No offense, General Probst. But I would be surprised if you haven't tried to break into the most protected city on Allaron and have succeed multiple times. I know how you like to test your limits in things like that," he said making Jason smile a bit. Michael looked at Ty. "Why not have General Probst break in? He's basically a master at it," he said.

"Because The Council could be working for Klyen, meaning that so could the Arcane Knights," Wag said making them look at the wizard. "Klyen only needs to make the last of the Three Creatures of Legend, and it is one of the Sky Army Generals. I couldn't find out who, but I know it is either Jason or Ian. So we need to keep those two away from the mage cities until we know who is on whose side," he said.

"What is the last creature?" Ian asked curious.

"The Wither," Jason answered.

Jerome stared at them, very confused. "What? What three creatures and what is a Wither?" he asked.

James sighed, annoyed before looking at Jerome. "Okay, the Wither is a legendary creature, it's a monster that was created by Lord Herobrine, the god of the Nether. The Wither inflicts a decaying disease on its victims, it makes the flesh rot and fall off your body. It's an extremely painful way to die, and you will die because there is no cure for it since the disease in question was thought to be just myth. But since Ty has turned into the Enderdragon Creature, it is clear that they aren't just myths and legends but real and true stories," James explained before Kaylen took over in explaining basically what she had told everyone else when Ty was coming out of his coma.

As she explained to Jerome, Quentin spoke. "Wait, how do you know it is between Jason and Ian? Did you hear that somewhere?" Quentin asked James. Wag looked at Quentin before his eyes looked back at Kaylen, staring at her for a few moments.

"Kaylen told me," he said. Once Kaylen finished explaining everything to Jerome, she turned her attention back to everyone else, ready to answer Quentin's question.

She pointed at Mitch. "Well, first off, I thought that it could be Mitch because of his famed archery skills. The Wither is known for having projectile attacks, so I thought it would be him because of his skilled aim. But that was until Ian told me about how Klyen was okay with Master Joyce nearly killing the archer. Klyen wouldn't let her do that if Mitch was the potential host of the Wither," she said before pointing at Quentin. "There's no way it's you, you aren't really a warrior like the others are. You would be weak host, you would die before you would turn," she said making Quentin's eyes narrow at the wizardess, not knowing whether or not if he should be insulted by that.

Kaylen looked at Ian. "You have more of the physical strength and skills that would interest Klyen. I thought for sure it was going to be you and almost was willing to put money on it...until Ty turned into the Enderdragon Creature that is," she said before looked at Ty. "No offense, but you are the last person I would have picked for that. You don't have the physical strength necessary for it and you--"

Ty puts his hand up. "Okay, okay, I get it. I get it. I'm not what you pictured. You can stop," he said.

Kaylen crossed her arms, hesitating before she looked at Jason. Out of everyone, she would have put money on Ian...but because of them picking Ty, who is not a host she thought would survive such an ordeal...clearly outliners are who they are interested in. And Jason strikes her as just that.

"My money is on it being Jason," she said.

Jason looked at her. "Care to explain that?" he asked curious.

Kaylen gives him a little smile. "I'll admit that your ability to enter and leave as you please undetected has impressed me. You are like a trained thief or assassin. And your ability to be calm in situations that would make others break...you have this inner strength that I believe would be able to handle the Wither Creature. That and Ty was...an outliner. Which Klyen seems interested in," she said.

"So Adam would be the other one?" Ty asked.

Kaylen nods. "Yes, Commander Skylen is perfect for the Brine Creature. From what I heard about him, he's a tactical genius with a heart as cold as stone and combat skills that surpass most. He's...vain--"

"No he isn't--"

Kaylen's eyes shifted to Ty. "Oh really? You don't think Skylen was vain and cruel during his time? I disagree, if he really was the righteous hero that a lot of people say he is...why did he kill first and ask questions later so many times? If he was a hero, he would show mercy to those who ask it instead of killing them as he did," Kaylen said.

Ty opened his mouth to argue back, but stopped himself since he knew that she was sort of right. Adam did kill a lot of people, but those were people who were bad and deserved it. He didn't kill everyone he came across, he showed mercy to those who asked it and sometimes really didn't deserve it but he did anyway. Ty closed his mouth making Kaylen look away from him.

"Your friend, Adam, isn't as righteous and innocent as you say he is. Now, I don't want to get into an argument about him since I have only ever meant him once and that was only briefly. I'm not discounting all the good he did, because he did do a lot of good and does deserve to be called a hero, a legend. But...Adam is the sort of person that you would question if he already had turned into a Brine and just never told anyone," she said.

"What?!"

"No, Adam would have told us if he--"

"Why would he?" James asked as he looked at Mitch who spoke. James nods. "It would explain why Commander Skylen was able to survive his supposed fatal wounds," he said.

Jason looked at James. "It would also explain why Adam was acting so odd after he returned from the Timeless Isle..." he said. Ty tuned everyone else out as he got lost in his head. He remembers when Adam had gone missing, before it was known that time acted different around those set of cursed islands. When Adam returned...Ty could tell that something happened that changed him. But it only went on for two weeks before he returned back to somewhat of himself. During those two weeks, Adam and Seto were talking a lot and Adam stayed mostly in the Mage Tower. And Seto set it that only him and Adam were allowed in the tower, meaning that Ty and them couldn't enter until Seto lifted the restriction.

But to be a Brine? That's something that you would tell your best friend, which Ty is Adam's best friend. So if that is true...why didn't Adam ever say anything?

Ty's eyes flickered up, looking at everyone as he cut Mitch off. "Seto knows something, he was the one who had found Adam and brought him back to the base with the supposed story that Adam was being stubborn and wanted to walk back himself," he said.

"You think he was lying?" Jerome asked.

Ty let out a soft breath. "I-I think that Seto knows more than he lets on. But if he knew about the Brine Creature...why did my condition stump him like it did?" Ty asked. His question hung in the air for a few moments before Kaylen answered it.

"Because we know next to nothing about anything and everything Ender. We know more about the Brine Creature because of Lord Herobrine than he do about the Enderdragon. Harvey may be smart, but he isn't that smart. That and he is really bad at anything have to do with medical magics. He just can't ever seem to get healing spells right for the life of him," Kaylen said making Elise nod.

"Tell me about it, he tried teaching me healing magic but gave up after four days. He's great at making healing potions and such, but when it comes to using his own magic for anything first aid...he's not good and messes up a lot," Elise said.

Kaylen chuckled lightly at her as her eyes looked back at Ty. "Your condition would have been way out of Harvey's league, Ellis. He should have contacted me instead of trying to take care of it on his own," she said. Ty nodded a bit, understanding. He seen first-hand just how bad Seto is at healing spells. So it would make sense that Seto would be stumped with Ty's condition...but what Ty doesn't understand is that he knows that Seto would get outside help if he knew he was out of his league...so why didn't he?

"All in all, this is something we need to talk to Harvey about...when we rescue him that is," Ian said.

"Ty, what's the plan? How are we gonna get Seto back?" Mitch asked Ty. Ty hesitated, staring at the table before he looked at everyone else. He didn't really know what to do. 'What would Adam do? Adam would do something nuts like waltz into the Magic Council building and demand answers while a small team would lurk in the shadows and break Seto out while Adam has everyone distracted...' Ty thought to himself. Ty smiled a bit to himself. He wanted to go with something like that, the only problem is that he doesn't know he could pull off something so daring like that.

Ty sighed. "We should first figure out where they are holding Seto...then we will come up with a battle plan. For now, we continue the search for Seto's two siblings," he said. He looks at Jerome and Mitch. "I want you two, Max, and some recruits in Winterfall Pier to investigate. Ask the people who took Seto in what happened and if they can identify the Arcane Knights in question," he ordered. Mitch and Jerome nod. Ty looked at Jason and Ian. "You two are staying here until we can figure out who Klyen has picked as the Wither Host," he said. Ty looked at the wizards, well, all but Elise since he didn't want Elise out there right now. "Think you guys can investigate the Magic Council for us? Break in and probe them?" he asked.

James shrugs his shoulders. "I mean, I was gonna do that anyway," he said.

Phil lightly hits James' arm. "No, James. You should stay here with Jason and Ian. The Council might be in cahoots and they sent you to the Timeless Isle," he pointed out.

James turned to Phil, staring at him for a few moments. "Fine," he said before looking at Ty. "But I'm not staying here, I'm going to the Sky Army Ruins to see if Harvey left anything else of vital importance just laying out in the open for anyone to take," he said. Seeing that the wizard had made up his mind and wasn't gonna be swayed, Ty agree with James.

Ty looked at Michael. "Michael, I want you to look into what the Squid King has been up to lately. I need army movements, supply routes, messages, anything and everything you can give me," he said.

Michael nodded. "I can do that," he said.

"And I can help him," Jason said making Ty look at him.

Ty shakes his head. "No, you are staying here and that's final," Ty said.

"But--"

Ty puts his hand up towards Jason. "Who's first in command?" Ty asked Jason.

Jason looked away from Ty. "You are..." he muttered making Ty nod.

"You're staying put and that's a direct order, Jason. Besides, I know you are still recovering from your surgery. We need to play this smart, so take it easy and I'll let you know when we need you," Ty told him before he looked at the others to give the rest of his orders.