Though he was in a bad mood, this surprise visit shocked him. "I will be there in half an hour," he said and Holly left. He went to the bathroom to attend to his wife first.

Not half an hour later, but an hour later Brantley was sitting in the meeting room along with Ileus and the rest of the people. Bianca had to go to the head cook to order the evening's menu.

​​

Flanked by his cousins on either side, Ileus was looking strained. He wasn't in the best of the moods. There had been a fresh attack of the Shadows in the region between the werewolf realm and Aztec. There were too many bodies scattered in the forests. People were fleeing their town and establishments to seek refuge in the wizard kingdom. His raven black hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, and his clothes were dirty and smelly.

"That means Sedora has unleashed a fresh attack!" said Nusgroth, shifting in his chair. He closed his eyes and wrinkles appeared on his forehead. "God knows how many Shadows she has created. Pity those souls…"

"They are almost everywhere. The towns, forests, meadows—whatever comes in their way, they just eat it. It is becoming horrible, gory by the minute," said Ileus. "I passed through many ghost towns where not a soul is seen. Either people have died or they have fled. Some people who tried to flee via the river, the Shadows followed them there too. Now the rivers are littered with floating half-eaten dead bodies. If we don't do something now, at this rate, things are going to be horrifying." His tension was radiating from his body. "I hope we contain them as soon as possible, because Sedora plans on sending these Shadows to the human realm too!"

"What?" Daryn almost jumped out of his seat. He looked at Dawn who was equally flustered. If anything happened in the human realm, it would be their ultimate responsibility because after all Sedora was Daryn's mother.

Dawn had never seen Daryn so agitated, so panicky. "Is she planning on taking over the world with her dark powers?"

"She is!" Ileus rasped.

Brantley narrowed his eyes. "Have anyone of you come up with a plan?"

"I have," said Lazarus.

"Elaborate," Brantley said.

"I am leaving Aztec tonight. I will be manning the forests along with my people between werewolf realm and Wilyra."

"Shadows would hardly go that side. Their main target is the human realm after they destroy the Lore," said Ileus. "In my opinion, you should rather take your men towards the south of the werewolf realm and north of Aztec."

"Or maybe spread them between that band," said Daryn.

Caleb countered, "But the main threat is to Ixoviya. Sedora will kill every sorcerer and sorceress because they are the main threats. Plus we can't forget that the moment Bianca is out of Aztec, rather out of this palace, who knows that Shadows would attack her?"

Brantley shuddered at the thought. He got up from his place and walked to the window to look out in the dark night. The garden in front of the window was lit with dim torches. It had begun to drizzle and fire of the torches swayed in it. He clasped his hands at the back and stood there, looking into the darkness. An argument started at his back. No one could come to a conclusion. No one was talking about how to stop the winged demons. And time was passing…

"I have a plan," he said as he turned to the group.

Everyone fell silent. They stared at him with expectant eyes.

He walked to the map, which was rolled out in the center of the table. Pointing at Zor'gan, he said, "This is the place we have to attack first." He ran his fingers along the periphery of the kingdom of Zor'gan. "Nusgroth, form five group and dig tunnels to reach as far as possible inside Zor'gan." With a red marker, he marked the places where he wanted the dwarves to create tunnels. "Once the tunnels are created, you must send us a message. Carry ammunition along with you." With a black marker, he created lines where the tunnels would lead. They were all leading to the palace—to the foundations of Kar'den's palace.

"Lazarus, your men have to patrol the forests along with some of the wizards that Ileus must spare, as already mentioned by the group. Use your ability to parthon to dodge the Shadows or kill them. I can't emphasize enough that you must tell your men—I mean—don't let your men feed on the Shadows. We want their souls returned to heaven or hell and not as vampires and stay back in this world." Saying that he took an orange marker and made crosses in the region where he wanted his men to be stationed.

Lazarus nodded. "I will do that. Besides, my men feed on blood, not on flesh."

His sentence sent shudders down the spines of people.

"Ileus, you will have to stop them from entering the human realm. Every Shadow that goes past Lazarus has to be taken care of by you and your men. If possible create a time bubble where they would be trapped until the war is over. Once it is over, we can release them. But you just can't let them cross over to the human realm!"

Ileus nodded.

Brantley turned to Dawn. "You will have to guard the ocean front where Serpents live. They are allies of Sedora and Kar'den. You have to thwart any attempts take." He marked the map towards the ocean with a blue marker.

"I would need Adrianna's help with this," she said with narrowed eyes.

"No, Adrianna will be accompanying Bianca, Daryn, Caleb and Lazarus to the moors of Gaira."

"Yes!' said Ileus. "But my father, Dmitri, is going to be with you. And as for my kingdom, Haldir is more than enough!" Haldir, the elf, had been the trusted General of the wizard kingdom for a long time now. Due to a blood bond formed between him and his mother, Haldir was bound to Ileus in a way that he could never leave this realm and go back to his. "But first, I must take you all to the hut!"

"Great!" Brantley straightened his back.

"But first I will take the four of you to the wizard kingdom and from there we can go to the Land of Gaira. We need my mother and Isidorus to create the portal to that place. Not that I can't, but I think it would be better if we all move together from now on," said Ileus with urgency. "And we have to be there before the sun rises. You have to prepare Bianca… We need to move out as soon as possible…"

Brantley's heartbeat increased. He tried to calm, but he just grabbed a chair and sat down on it.

On the outside, Bianca was standing and listening to the conversation. She had pressed her hand to the crafted dragon on the wood. The dragon seemed to wriggle under her touch. "You have to prepare Bianca…" her heart pounded against her ribcage. She pressed the wood harder to support herself but suddenly she felt as if her hand was getting swallowed by the wood. Every particle of the wood separated like water rippling away and she entered the meeting room through it. Wide eyed, confused as hell, as soon as she entered, the door went back to its shape behind her.