I walk towards the left from the door while Luke and Fleur take the right. My eye scans every part of the way I'm walking. Every turn I take makes me more comfortable with the castle. I somehow start having flashes of the memory of this place.

The chandeliers, the huge doors, the paintings. It looks very familiar. I take the right, then left and then right again. Still no sign of Eva. The path through which I'm walking leads me to a room where I see nothing but antique paintings.

They are portraits of people - beautiful people. Suddenly, I see a portrait of a woman, seated on the throne. It attracts me close to it at once. I walk towards it. She wears a crown on her head, her face giving the most elegant smile ever. She wears a rose-coloured gown and one of her hands kept on the other.

Below the portrait, I read the text "The late queen Clarissa- The Elegant"
I look up again at her eyes. The shades of light brown, just like mine. I recognize her now. "My mother?" I ask myself. I touch her hands, her face and her hair. I feel sorrow. I don't even know how Alaric would have hurt her. Would he have tortured her or killed her instantly?

I look at the portrait next to it. A man wearing a crown, sitting on the same throne my mother sits, smiles at me. He's wearing a white and golden robe and has a sword in his hand. He looks like one of the kindest men I have ever seen.

His eyes are the same shade as that of Evanthia's fawn eye colour. My eyes find the text below it. "King Hal - The Bold"

I keep my hand on his hand and smile back at him. "Father?" I ask myself. I feel so attached to him.
I can't imagine how Alaric would have killed him too.

I move on it the next painting. I see mother and father holding hands. My mother is holding a baby in her right hand and father is holding another baby in his left hand.

The text below says "The Royal Family- The Queen, The King and their two daughters, Callidora and Evanthia respectively." I slide my palm on the word, 'Family'. Drops of warm and round tears from my eyes fall on my left arm. I ignore them and slide my fingers on Evanthia's little face. "I couldn't save mother and father, but I won't let Alaric take you away from me. I promise."

I look at mom and dad for the last time before I leave the room. "I promise I'll kill Alaric, restore peace in Bellendis and make you proud." I wipe away my tears and storm outside.

My walkie-talkie beeps and as I press the button, I hear Fleur's voice. "Did you find her Fleur?"

"No. But I'm still searching. South is clear, no sight of her."

"Okay, I checked west. That's cleared too."

Just then, I hear Luke's voice.
"East is clear too. Couldn't find her anywhere."

"Then the only way left is North. Cal, you'll have to search over there. I need to handle..." Fleur says and the line gets cut.

"What? What happened, Fleur? Hello? Hello?"

"Luke, you go and search in the dungeons. Meanwhile, I'll head to the north side."

I keep the walkie-talkie in my pocket and walk at a faster pace, towards the north side of the castle. Over the stairs, through the corridors, I just keep looking around for Evanthia.

After ten minutes, I observe my pendant glowing. I follow the light of my pendant and somehow reach the place it glows the brightest. It takes me to a narrow corridor that leads to the dungeons. It's a little dark, but the glow of my pendant lights the path. I look around for Evanthia, but can't see her anywhere. I start taking steps backwards to check whether my pendant is glowing brighter. Suddenly, I feel like I've bumped into something. I'm startled and take out my wand and turn back.

"Luke! Are you crazy? You scared me!" I say as I see Luke holding a sword himself. He has the same startled expression as me. "And so did you!" Luke says. "Anyways, you told me to check the dungeons, so what are you doing here?" He whispers.

"The pendant led me to this place. Evanthia is definitely somewhere here." I whisper back.

"Shhh...I can hear something." He says.

"What?" I whisper.

"Footsteps...someone's coming." He says.

"Are you sure? Cause I really can't hear anything." I reply.

"That's because you don't have these bunny ears. These ears can never deceive me. You go ahead and I'll guard this place until you come back with Evanthia." He says.

"Okay. Stay safe." I say and resume my path forward. The dungeons are empty. I can't see anyone there. I keep on walking until I find myself in front of the last dungeon. I can't see anyone but still, my pendant glows brightly.

"Evanthia? Evanthia? Where are you?"

"Cal?"

"Eva? Where are you?"

"Righ... in front...of...you."

"Why can't I see you?"

"There's...a...wa..ll...between...us"

"What? But I don't see any wall? And are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"The wall is invisible. I'm okay but you...shouldn't..have...come."

"Are you mad? Why wouldn't I come? You're my sister."

"It's too late. Go...back home. Leave...me."

"I already did a huge mistake by leaving you. I won't leave you once again!" I hold the metal grills of the dungeon and try to shake it. I move back and chant a spell using my wand and try to break it. It doesn't work.

"We've tried that already." I hear another voice, very familiar.

"Who are you? How many people are in there? Is my sister okay?" I ask.

"We knew you'd come to help us get out of here." The voice says.
"Answer my question first. Is my sister okay?"

"Alaric's extracting her power. So you have to get through the wall quick."
"How do I do that?"

"Turn that light upside down."

I look for the light that she's talking about. I run towards it and try to turn it upside down, it's quite heavy but I manage to finally do it.
At once, a hear the sound of a door opening and run towards the dungeon again. I can see Evanthia now. "Evanthia! Oh my god, you're bleeding!" I see her sitting on a chair and gasping for breath. I see a white machine with wires attached to her head. I wave my wand towards it and break the wires. She falls off the chair. But no matter how hard I try to break the grills of the dungeon and get to her, I can't. Nothing works. No spell, no sword. Nothing.

"I'm going...to...die...anyways. There's no...point..of wasting your time here."
"No. I won't let you die, do you hear me?"

Suddenly an idea pops into my head. I remember the time he had recited the prophecy together. It had given us so much strength and power. "Evanthia, can you try making it to me. Just come and hold my hand? Please?"

She looks at me. I can see the pain that she's going through.

"Come on, you can do it. Just a little bit." I say as I stretch my hand to her.
She starts crawling towards me. I get a grip of her fist and pull her towards me. I hold her hand and tell her, "We have to say the prophecy together. Do you hear me? Quick."

She's lost her energy and looks at me in despair.

"Come on, Eva. Just put in a little effort for me. You can do it." I slowly encourage her to recite the prophecy with me, and with a subtle tone, I start and she joins me.

'We are the ones who'll never fail
Darkness, sorrow and hatred will leave a trail...
When brightness, affection and love shall prevail.
The seas of joy the soul sisters will sail.'

At once, golden and white sparkles surround us and I just can't see anything. Then, slowly my sight falls on Evanthia, her face is as clean as ever.

There isn't even a sign of any blood stain. She's standing now, dressed in yellow. She looks as energetic as ever. I feel energetic too.

"It worked! Didn't it?" She says.

"It did!" I say and embrace her in my arms.

"But Alaric knows that you've come now. He would have got the signal." She tells me and pulls away gently.

"Yes, but don't worry about that. He killed our parents, but I won't let him get away with it." I say.

"First, we have to help these people escape." She says.

I'm confused. "Who people? Are there more invisible walls?" I ask.

"Yes. Come, help me." She goes and turns the lights present in front of each dungeon, upside down. I wave my wand towards the dungeons, and the invisible walls break.

One by one, people come out of the dungeons. I recognise them at once. "The mentors and The learners! You all are alive!" I exclaim with joy.

"Missed me?" I hear a voice and her footsteps coming closer to me.

I look at the mysterious person and I'm stunned again.