While they were returning back to Bainsburgh along with Neal and five other clan members, they missed Gayle a lot. In the private jet that they sat in, Neal said, "You have to be crowned as the King of Silver Clan."

Daryn gathered his brows. A pain flickered in his eyes—pain which indicated that he flinched at the word 'king' because he missed his father and perhaps mourned his disappearance more than ever. Gayle always stood by him like a pillar of support, always backed him with his ventures and did whatever possible with an ever-growing absence of his mother. With Gayle gone, he missed the love of a father as well as a mother.

​​

He exhaled heavily and turned his head to look out of the window of the jet. They were flying over the Amazon jungles. Images of their aircraft crashing flashed in his mind and he shuddered. Where are the airhostess and the pilot? He highly doubted that they survived. He tried his best to save the air hostess… With the last episode of his life, Daryn was totally shaken on the inside. So many things suddenly cropped up. His mother was the queen of the sorcerers—that fact rattled him to the core. He was on the verge of insanity when he discovered her vicious plans. All he wanted was to kill her. The only anchor to his tumultuous mind was Dawn. Although he didn't want her to be there, with her presence he could control and calm down his nerves. Still, he wanted to kill her, but before that he wanted to know about his father.

Daryn's gaze turned to Dawn who was sleeping right beside him. Her feet were on his lap, her head rested on a small pillow. He adjusted her blanket and covered himself also with it. He had told her to go and rest in the cabin in the rear of the aircraft, but the girl refused. She wanted to stay with him. As for him—he wished to stay with his men and Neal, just for the reassurance that they were safe and were going back with him.

"Daryn?" Neal broke his reverie. "We need to hold the ceremony as soon as possible. It is extremely important."

"Why?" he asked as he placed his hands on the thighs of his wife.

"The clan members can't be Headless. The position entails a lot of duties, which you have to take care of. If we go without it for too long, chances are that there would be rebellion. And at this time, when Dawn is pregnant, your father is missing and Caleb is yet to come, you are not really left with options," said Neal with slight irritation in his voice. He knew that Daryn was feeling terrible about Gayle's disappearance. It wasn't really an ideal situation, but then when did he ever face ideal situations? Both he and Dawn were facing one problem after the other. The last one almost cost their lives.

Daryn nodded. The Lore was cruel. He didn't know where his mother was at the moment. "Okay…" he said. "When we reach, you have to send feelers to find my father. Sedora could be anywhere in this world. I want her dead or alive."

"Yes, definitely. Brantley and Ileus too would be searching for her," he assured him.

The aircraft reached Bainsburgh five hours later. It was midnight and Dawn was barely able to hold her eyes open. Daryn carried her in his arms outside the aircraft. He looked around the quiet of the night and took in a deep breath filling his lungs with the air of his hometown. It was lovely to be home. The car was waiting for them on the tarmac. He carried Dawn to the car and cradled her in his lap.

---

The King of Zor'gans, Kar'den, King of Faes, Áed Ruad and Sedora had come together to form an alliance called Mozrath. The alliance was formed to bring the dark forces together and then rule the Lore. The alliance was spearheaded by none other than Áed Ruad whose inner desires to control the Lore, had gone out of control. He was young and a very powerful Fae. The King of the Dark Elves, Thierro, was also a part of the alliance but after his daughter Volara's death, he was in mourning.

After Sedora's downfall, the entire plan had backtracked and Áed Ruad had to disappear immediately. He had gone back to his kingdom.

When Sedora disappeared from the cage, she took Gayle with her. She didn't know where she was going but she had used all her powers for one last time to create a portal for her. Using Dawn's lightning, she chanted the spell and disappeared.

Gayle found himself getting sucked in dense smoke and dirt. He landed so hard on top of what looked like bones that for a moment he felt dizzy. When he looked up, he saw a circle of black smoke with its tendrils traveling out. Suddenly he heard someone shrieking and saw that Sedora was coming out of the portal as if being thrown. She landed atop him. His breath knocked out from the lungs. The bones on which he was sitting shattered.

He coughed and shoved Sedora away from him. After what seemed like eternity, Gayle got up. Sedora rose to her feet too.

"Where have you brought me?" asked Gayle in a seething tone. "Send me back!"

Sedora sucked in the air and started coughing. She spat blood on the bones and scanned her surroundings. A smile came up on her bloodied face. She got up to her feet feebly and stepped down the heap of bones.

"Where are we?" Gayle asked again.

She started laughing while coughing in between. Gayle kicked around the skulls as he made his way towards her and yanked her to look at him by holding her upper arm. "Perhaps you didn't listen to my question. If you don't answer, I will wrench that head of yours from its body. Trust me I am so itching to do that."

The sky was a combination of orange and purple and red. The ground was covered with sand and rocks. The heat was unbearable. Not a trace of green vegetation. Even the trees were all burnt up, standing black against the rusty background.

"We are in the Kingdom of Zor'gans," she said as she spat more blood. She pulled herself away from him. On her right, several miles away, lights shone in clusters. "He has granted refuge to me."

King of Zor'gans, Kar'den, had opened up the gates to his realm when she had knocked to seek protection.

Gayle's eyes were wide with shock. "How is that possible? His daughter, Dolgra was just killed by Dawn. Why would he do that?"

"Princess Dolgra was just another child he had sired from his queens. You see that demon maintains a harem, and that girl was one of his many children." She didn't explain to him further that the girl was used to fetch the scepter from Ileus, but sadly she failed.

Not her problem. She shrugged.

Gayle was so sick of the explanation that he felt he could vomit. Masking his disgust, he barked, "Send me back, you bitch! Because of you our life has turned upside down! Let us live in harmony."

"Send you back?" Sedora mocked with a frown. She pulled away her hand from his grip, turned to look at the cluster of inhabitation and started to walk towards there with a limp. "I can't Gayle. You are my security, my key, to go back."

Gayle came behind her and shoved her back towards the side where the portal was created. "Sedora, send me back," he said in a menacing tone. "Else I am going to murder you."

Sedora fell on the rocky ground and her body ached badly. Gayle was a strong Lykae and she knew that he was capable of killing her within a few seconds. It would be like playing with a toy. "If you kill me, you will never be able to go back," she replied, wiping the blood from her face with her sleeve. "You need me as much as I need you." The blood loss from her body was making her dizzy by the minute. If Kar'den had opened the portal for her, chances were that he had sent his men to fetch her. And she wished they came sooner. Her body was becoming cold.

"I will not stay in this land with you!" he yelled. "You better create that portal and send me back."

"I am too weak to create portals," she replied. "You will have to wait for me to recuperate."

Before Gayle could say anything else, he heard fluttering around them. There was a knot in his stomach when he saw a group of about a dozen winged demons flying towards them. In a few seconds they surrounded the couple.

"King of Zor'gans, Kar'den, welcomes you to his land, Sedora. We have come to collect you and take you to his palace," said their leader.