Conor's PoV -

It was now morning and I hurriedly dressed myself for the day. I rushed downstairs to meet up with my friends for breakfast. I wondered, could I still call Rollan my friend, he still kept giving me the cold shoulder? I found them all gathered around MacDonnell's table. The servants were placing steaming bowls of what looked to be oatmeal on the table. This brought back thoughts of my time as a servant to Devin. The Trunswick family ate oatmeal a lot and I always had to help serve them.

I missed Devin and somehow I knew he felt the same way for me. I was worried for him and I wanted to help. It was obvious his bond with the wildcat was unnatural and therefore dangerous to both the cat and to Devin. I couldn't get his yellow-green eyes out of my head. He was being controlled by a greater force of some sort and he couldn't control it on his own. He had fought it off just long enough to let me escape.

I took a seat at the table next to Abeke. After breakfast we planed on exploring MacDonnell's gardens. We would look for his spirit animal and more importantly, try to find Rumfuss the Boar. We thanked MacDonnell for our breakfast and then we set out.

MacDonnell's gardens were even bigger than what I had expected. This place would take all day to explore. The five of us split up to cover more ground. I walked through row after row of apple trees, the garden was so quiet except for the occasional chirp of a bird. Then I heard the snap of a twig from behind me. I turned quickly to see Devin and the Nilonian boy from earlier. "What are you two doing here," I demanded though my voice gave away my nervousness.

"The same thing you're doing here, I don't think I ever properly introduced myself, I'm Karmo," Karmo stated.

I had to play dumb, how would the Conquerors know about Rumfuss? "And what might that be?" I asked.

"Conor, there's no need to play dumb, we can practically see through the eyes of you Greencloaks," Devin's eyes glitched from blue to the yellow-green color, "We know you're here looking for Rumfuss the Boar and we're here looking for him too," Devin cooed.

Just then the loud sound of falling trees broke the silence of the garden. We all turned to see the giant Boar standing over us, "I was looking for who disturbed my rest," Rumfuss stated with a inpatient snort.

More footfalls were heard rushing through the rows of apple trees, I turned to see dozens of Conquerors racing towards us and my three friends and Rollan, racing through the trees. "Is this a trap, I will make you all pay, you will never get my talisman!" Rumfuss commanded in a deep voice and I knew talking wouldn't work anymore, we would have to fight.

Rumfuss charged at Karmo, Devin, and I. Karmo immediately jumped to the side and hurriedly joined his fellow Conquerors in battle with my friends. I jumped to the side, away from the deadly tusks but Devin seemed frozen in place with fear. I couldn't stand here and watch him die, with a sigh I jumped and pushed Devin out of the way only to get nocked into the sky by Rumfuss's tusks.

I landed with a painful thud not far from where my friends were battling. Finn was trying to reason with Rumfuss but Rumfuss didn't seem to care, to him we were not separate opposing sides of Greencloaks and Conquerors but we were all measly humans trying to take his talisman.

"Ugh," I groaned, my stomach had been impelled by one of Rumfuss's tusk and I was quickly bleeding out.

     Blackness threatened to overtake my vision but I had just enough time to turn my head and see my friends facing off against the odds. Darkness fell over me, "Conor, wake up, wake up right now, I love you," Devin's voice was the last thing I heard before blacking out completely.

     I love you too, Devin Trunswick!

     I awoke to find myself laying on the soft green grass, trees surrounded us and I knew I wasn't in the apple tree garden but instead the forest. I tried to sit up but the pain in my stomach was too much, along with a pair of semi strong arms gently pushing me back down to a laying position. "You need to take it easy for awhile," Devin's caring voice pleaded.

     Devin scooted near me and then gently placed my head on his lap. I smiled up at him, "Devin, you saved me!"

     "I can't take all the credit," Devin smiled but bent over and kissed my forehead anyway.

     "Believe it or not, I helped too," I recognized his voice before I seen his face, Rollan, "I couldn't just let you die."

     Rollan sat down next to Devin and I. He twined his hands in my own, "You know you had me worried, don't ever do that again!"

     I smiled up at him and gently squeezed his hands, "I'll do my best but our task here isn't easy, we have to save Erdas, that asks a lot out of a person," I replied.

     He fake punched me, "Whatever, just don't die..." he glanced self consciously at Devin, "Ill leave you two alone."

     When Rollan was just out of sight though he called back to me, "Hey Conor, are we good again?"

     "We're good," I called back at him.

     I heard his footsteps leave us after that. "Who won the battle?" I asked.

     "Don't worry, you guys did," Devin cast a glance at the ground.

     "Are my friends okay?" I asked.

     "Yeah, they're good, all safe," Devin replied and then burst into tears.

     I cupped his face in my hands, "There something wrong?"

     "I don't want to be a Conqueror anymore, I hate this voice in my head and I hate fighting you!" Devin sobbed, I managed to sit up next to him and hug him.

     "I love you, Devin, what can I do to help?!" I pressed our foreheads together.

     I whipped his tears away with my thumbs. "You've already helped me more than you know," Devin replied, "you forgave me!"

     I'm not sure I was ever really mad at him, I don't think it's actually possible for me to be mad at Devin, I had tried sure but it never worked out. I kissed him passionately and we stayed like that for a long time. "Let's get you back with you friends," Devin stated after we had broke the kiss and with that he carried me back to MacDonnell's manor.

The first thing I noticed, from my bridal style position in Devin's arms, was Karmo in handcuffs with Rollan standing extremely close by and was that a arm Rollan had around the Conqueror boy's waist?! Meilin was trying to reason with Rollan while Abeke stood nearby watching anxiously, seemingly afraid to state her opinion. Finn was talking to Lord MacDonnell. After seeing Devin and I, Meilin rushed over and began angrily shouting at Devin, "Give me your hands, you're under arrest."

"I saved your friend and this is the thanks I get?" Devin stated angrily but gave me a small kiss afterwards just in case.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you were really worried about me and our plans on saving Erdas, you just wanted to save your boyfriend after you dumped him, mind you, he actually saved you first!" Meilin continued her yelling.

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, I instantly felt everyone's eyes turn to me, with a nervous gulp I continued, "no one is arresting Devin!" I clung to my boyfriend's chest.

Devin looked down sympathetically at me, "I have to, Conor, I won't have to fight you then," Devin stated logical and with a sigh he gently laid my on the grass and held out his arms, which Meilin gladly handcuffed.

Rollan had apparently been trying to get Karmo out of jail too but Meilin was persistent and both Karmo and Devin were taken away. I started to cry, just when I thought I had my boyfriend back I lost him again. Rollan had tears in his eyes as well but he helped me to my feet and the five of us made our way to camp for the night.

     It was early in the morning and I woke with a startle, it was still dark out so I was in my sheep form, a small pebble had hit me on the face and woken me. I looked around, my friends were all still asleep but in the nearby bushes I found the face of Dawson Trunswick, he was motioning me to come talk to him. So I wiggled out of the sleeping bag and trotted over to him. I made my way into the brush. "Firstly, I'm sorry Conor but my father says if you don't hand over the Iron Bore to me tonight then he will make your family suffer," Dawson stated almost with tears in his eyes.

     My breath caught in my chest and my heart raced, my family, I couldn't let the Earl hurt them. I let out a nervous bah. "He means it too," Dawson stated with his hands over his eyes, hiding his tears.

     I knew that all too well. With a heavy heart I made my way back to camp and found the talisman and brought it back to Dawson. Dawson apologized again but he vanished quickly after that with the talisman in hand, I had failed my friends.

     That morning I was woken to the panic struck voices of my friends as they rummaged through all our supplies, trying to find the talisman. I took a deep breath, "Last night Dawson woke me and said that if I didn't hand over the talisman then my family would be punished, I'm so sorry but I couldn't let that happen to my family!" I was sobbing and all my friend's faces looked hurt and angry, Finn just stared off into the distance with a sad face.

     Rollan started complaining and Meilin slapped me across the face, followed by some more shouting. Abeke's expression was blank but I may have seen a small tear on her left cheek. I felt horrible.

     The walk back to Trunswick was so silent it was almost unbearable. Once there we found Tarik who was thankfully doing a lot better, we had to fill him in on all the details. Everything hurt, I couldn't stand my friends anger.

     There was a lot more adventures after we left Trunswick, we went to all the continents, we faced life threatening battles, we shared laughter and tears, we got sick and we got better, then Meilin and Abeke were taken by the Conquerors and once again my heart felt heavy and hurt. Next, Tarik died and Rollan cried, I rubbed his back and cried into his shoulder. Everything was going wrong and I wished this was all over, I wish it had never begun in the first place. Meilin and Abeke were finally reunited with us but Tarik's death hurt us all.

     Then at his funeral, Shane betray all of us but especially Abeke. He stole all our talismans, except for a few accidentally, which we would later find out, and escaped on the back of the Great Eagle. It looked like we would be defeated but there was still fight left in us, for Tarik, for our friendship, for Erdas. I thought to myself, for Devin, he was still in that prison, stuck there with that voice whispering in his head, The Conquerors had to be defeated for him to be free from it all. I had to save him.

     Then came the Evertree and all the deaths that came with it. Once the dust cleared though it was us, the Greencloaks, who stood victorious. The first thing I did after we left the Evertree was find a boat headed for Trunswick, once there and a day's walk later, I would have Devin in my arms once more.