Tensing, Bren narrowed his eyes at Drar.

"What should we do?" Atu murmured quietly behind them.

"We run back to the ship?" Eboni replied, equally as quiet.

"What are you talking about in there? How to escape? How to kill me? My men? You do not seem to have taken my warning as seriously as I had hoped." He feigned a deep sigh. "I guess I will just have to prove how serious I am." He snapped his fingers and two cloaked figures emerged from behind a densely leaved tree.

Kas and Atu sucked in sharp breaths as they saw who they were dragging alongside them.

The wise eyes of their mother were searching in the darkness she was consumed in, her grey hair messy and matted with leaves and twigs.

Both of her sons were shaking from fear and anger as they watched her being thrown at the feet of the leader. Drar looked down, his eyes nonchalantly scanning the woman in front of him. Even now she looked strong, her eyes narrowed and she puffed out her chest.

"They will destroy you! Cowards! Every one of you! Light will prevail" Their mother shouted as loud as she could, and after taking a deep breath and shutting her eyes, Drar reached down and wrapped his fingers around her neck and which a sharp crack she fell unmoving to the forest floor.

"No!" Kas roared releasing himself from Eboni's grip he charged forward towards Drar, stumbling to a stop a moment later when he became blind once more. Atu was stood motionless staring at his mother's body. Slowly he looked up and narrowed his eyes at the man who was now grinning at their group.

The wind began to shuffle along the floor, picking up before swirling through the trees and flying through the air. The Dark Ones had to hold tightly onto their cloaks to stop them from flying off. But Drar still stood there- Grinning.

Eboni reached out to Kas as he fell to his knees. Wrapping her hand around his he regained his sight, looking up he found his mother's body and with a flick of his free hand vines sprouted from the ground covering her like a casket.

"What are you going to do now?! Blow me to death?!" Drar roared over the wind. "I will kill everything and everyone you love until you are broken and beg for Darkness to consume you. There is no where you can hide! You! Boy- you are one of us!" He said pointing to Bren "Join me and I will show you what power is. Where you came from. Who your true family is!"

The wind grew stronger, trees were uprooted and the soldiers began to flee.

Kas clenched his fist, sending tree roots and hanging vines straight for the Dark Ones- rooting them in their place so they could not get away.

"You killed my mother!" He shouted clenching his fist tighter, a vine shot out towards Drar but instead of trapping him the Dark One grabbed it firmly, turning it into dust.

"Eboni do something!" Iasa shouted her eyes wide- Her skin was still pale. She barely had enough energy to conjure fire let alone stay awake.

"Atu-Stop! We have to go now, I'm sorry but we have to go!" Eboni shook the Chief who was still stood glaring at the man who murdered his mother.

The wind stopped dead.

Atu breathed heavily next to her, his fist clenching and unclenching as he tried to control his anger and hurt.

Eboni placed Kas's and Atu's hand on Bren's shoulders, leaving her hands free. With Bren's hand still on her shoulder she walked forward, the shield melting away.

"Look around you." She said trying hard not to cry as the vines encasing Kas and Atu's mother began to sprout flowers. "Your men are not leaving here. There is a time and a place for a fight, and this is not it. We will not come quietly."

She raised her hand pointing her palm towards the men held rooted to the ground by vines, slowly she curled her fingers, with each movement drawing a little of their life energy out of their souls. Her had shook from the exertion, quivering as gold energy snaked its way around her hand and up her arm, pulsating as she held their lives in her hand.

Drar looked around, his expression neutral as he took in his comrade's capture. "You do surprise me. I will give you that. But Darkness will prevail! We will meet again, and when we do, you will not be so lucky." He took one last look at the group before spinning around and disappearing in a flash of black smoke.

Bren let go of Eboni's shoulder, her vision no longer stopped by the mist. She channelled golden energy wrapped around her arm down into the earth beneath her feet. It was wrong to absorb it, to gain strength from someone else's life, but the earth could use the energy to grow and nourish.

Kas and Atu embraced, shaking as silent tears fell down their cheeks.

Bren let go of Iasa and backed away. His eyes wet with unshed tears.

"You are not like them Bren. You are not evil." Eboni walked forward and grasped his into a tight hug.

"It explains everything. Why I can see through the mist"- He pushed away from Eboni and sat down on a fallen log, his head in his hands.

Sighing Eboni turned to Iasa who was stood swaying as exhaustion threatened to take her again. Her eyes were flicking between the vines on the floor and Bren- confusion etched onto her face.

"We have to go- they took you from the village- what if? What if they did something to it?" Atu choked out his words stumbling as he walked past his mother's fallen body and continued through the forest towards the villages.

Kas followed silently behind him.

"Go- I will stay here with him. I am too tired to walk." Iasa said urging her to follow the brothers as she tentatively took a seat next to Bren on the fallen log.

Nodding, Eboni walked after Kas making sure to keep a small distance between them. They trudged through the wind battered trees towards the village. Emerging into the clearing she sighed with relief as she watched Atu run and embrace his wife and Doli.

Orlan was stood in the clearing giving orders to Kas's men. On seeing Eboni, he raced forward. His eyes grew wild as he noticed Bren and Iasa were not with them.

"The Princess, they just took her and Bren. I couldn't do anything! I couldn't see anything! What happened?" He grabbed her shoulders in a panic.

"She is OK. Just tired, she stayed with Bren in the forest." Eboni assured him "- we have captured a few of the Dark Ones. But their leader got away. Not that we were ready for a fight."

Eboni gazed heartbroken as Atu's wife fell to the floor in tears. Kas walked over to Orlan, his face passive, his eyes broken.

"What happened?" He asked his voice devoid of any emotions.

"We were preparing lunch, and everything went black- I called for your men to get ready with whatever weapons they could find but it was no use, they came silently and grabbed Iasa and Bren. Why didn't Bren stop them!?" Orlan asked turning to Eboni.

"What could he do? Even though he could see, it would be have been him versus sixteen soldiers. He did the right thing in getting to us without alerting them that he wasn't blind." Eboni defended him, knowing he would have stopped them if he thought he could.

"Then what?" Kas ordered him to continue.

"We were blind for a long time, by the time we regained out sight there was no way of knowing where they had taken them. Then Dena told me that your mother was missing. I started a search party with your men, taking turns looking through the forest- but we couldn't find her. Is she with Iasa?"

"She is dead." Kas said before turning back to his brother.

"How?" Orlan asked once Kas was out of earshot.

"Their leader Drar. He snapped her neck. There was no warning, I thought he brought her out to bargain with us. After, he said he would kill everyone that means something to us so we surrender to the Darkness willingly." She laughed bitterly. "That will never happen."

Atu and Kas walked up to the large rock by the river. Standing on top Atu called for his people's attention. The village came to a standstill to listen to their chief.

"Just moments ago, a group of men who call themselves the Dark Ones from the land of Tozaro invaded out land and killed my mother- our mother."- the village collectively gasped and many began to cry. "-These people worship the Darkness. They will not stop until they have claimed every land and killed all those who follow the light of our creator.

My brother and I have been gifted with power from our Creator Elementi- along with Eboni and the Princess Iasa. They came here to ask us to join them on their quest and we have agreed. The only way to stop these people is to find the last element and defeat them in battle." He took a deep breath.

"I am leaving now, with my brother, to find the last element, and together we will destroy the Darkness that has taken my mother and threatens to take many more. My wife Dena and my trusted friend and Warrior Tiri will lead you in my absence. I ask you to follow them as you did me and to stay strong. We will win."

The village cheered and many rushed into action. Large woven bags were being filled with fresh fruit and bows and arrows. Kas and Atu were surrounded by well-wishers- Eboni noticed Isi hanging from one of Kas's arms as her father talked to Atu. Looking away she saw Orlan going into the hut they had been staying in, returning with their satchels and other belongings.

"He has made the right decision." Orlan said watching as Kas and Atu were ladened with bags and weapons for their journey.

"They have a reason to fight now." Eboni replied.

Leaving the village behind Orlan and Eboni followed Kas and Atu through back through the forest to Iasa and Bren.

The Dark Ones were still trapped in the chains made of vines, their life drained to the brink of death, the only sign of them being alive were the blinking of their eyes or the twitches of their cheeks.

Iasa was asleep on the ground by Bren's feet. He looked pale and tired, his eyes full of anguish.

"What do we do with them?" Orlan asked as he woke Iasa. Bren stood away from the group eyeing each of the soldiers individually.

"They are Dark. We kill them." Kas said his eyes wandering down to where his mother laid.

"Show no mercy. Make them feel the pain we are feeling." Atu agreed, the wind around them picking up again.

Iasa stumbled into Orlans grasp. "I know what to do." She lifted her arms, willing the little power she had just collected from her sleep- lighting balls of fire - before collapsing back into a deep sleep. Atu raised his arms, the wind swirling around each of the Dark Ones, protecting the forest as the screams of the soldiers filled the air.

"The wind will stop once the fire is out." He said, turning his back on his creation.

"Good." Kas said, turning his back to the clearing. "Let's go."

Leaving the bodies of the soldiers encased in tornadoes of fire, they made their way back to the ship.