When the men arrived at the base of the castle, nothing has changed much regarding the newly developed lake, it's still burning, the flames still very much alive.

The men watched the lake with awe and fascination.

"I wonder when the flame will fade away?" Agran asked.

"It could take days, weeks, or maybe months?" Jegun answered.

Zemeth looked at Jegun. "Who do you think made all this? Why is this even possible when we didn't see anyone transforming the castle into a lake in a literal sense?" he asked.

Jegun smiled. "I think, all these changes are part of the formation that the girls' father had created before he died. Maybe... he designed the remains of the castle to turn into a lake after it was destroyed. Just my wild guess, I could be wrong. I stand to be corrected anytime. What we saw with our own eyes are open to different interpretations," Jegun answered.

Their attention remained fixated on the newly created mysterious lake.

They didn't notice the five magic carpet approaching their location.

"Hello my friends, I'm back!" the king of the elves announced his presence.

The men turned around to see the king.

Jegun smiled at his friend. "My friend, we're waiting for you!" he said.

"Good!" the king smiled. "Guys, go ahead, board the magic carpet so that I can take you to the cave," he said.

The men leaped into the magic carpet and they started their journey towards the king's territory.

Their journey lasted for one full hour.

They arrived in a forest occupied by towering trees, wild animals, tall mountains, lakes, and streams.

They went deeper into the woods and landed in one of the biggest trees in the forest.

They went inside the cave's opening a few meters away, partially hidden by the huge trunk of the tree. The men followed the king and his men.

A few minutes later, they were brought into a chamber with wooden beds. There they saw their four friends lying on the bed.

Happiness broke into their faces as they saw each other again.

They were hugging each other and looked into their cheerful faces.

"Brothers, how have you been?" Ramza asked, super relieved to see them alive and healthy.

"Can you tell us exactly what happened, bro?" Zemeth asked Simuz.

There were tears in Simuz eyes while talking to Zemeth. "We were resting in the forest under the shade of the tree, we just came from finding grandpa, but we failed to find him..." his voice faltered for a moment.

"Continue..." Zemeth said softly.

"I thought we will die after seeing my comrades falling into the ground, having difficulty breathing just like me. That's how I realized that we were poisoned. But we don't know who poisoned us because we didn't see anyone near us. I feared that we will die on that day... then we passed out. The next time we opened our eyes we were already inside this cave save by the king and his men. We tried to get up but we can't do it because our bodies were still weak. We were worried that you are facing the enemies alone and you will be overpowered. But the king didn't permit us to leave, telling us that the poison that entered our body is very strong. That is why we have to continue taking the magical healing potion every day and take a long rest," he gave them a lengthy explanation.

Jegun smiled. "Worry no more, guys, the battle is over, we won!" he said.

Ogeme looked at grandpa in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean by we won, grandpa?" he asked.

"The castle was already burned down, no more monsters and dark shadows to kill," Jegun continues.

"Yes, that's the truth," Ramza confirmed.

Ogeme, Bhork, Dredo, and Simus looked at each other, realization dawned on them.

"D-did Granny Esmeralda committed suicide?" Simuz asked. He knew that she is the only one who can bring the castle to its knees.

Jegun nodded his head and released a deep sigh. "Yes, Esmeralda had enough because the vampires released monsters and dark shadows in succession, that is why she decided to end her life once and for all," he replied.

It's now time for Zemeth to tell the four what happened during the darkest hour of the battle.

"The dark armies throws a net made up of poisonous vine over us and trapped us underneath it. The vine emitted a foul-smelling odor that filled our nostrils and making us weak. We can no longer fight the enemies and worst, the vine healed itself quickly after we cut them with our swords. As we lies in the ground on the verge of losing our consciousness, suddenly, help arrived in the form of butterflies sprinkling dust particles in the air killing the dark shadows instantly. Then the king of elves arrived together with his men to administer a magical healing potion to us. We managed to regain our strength, then that is when we noticed that the castle at the top of the hill was already burning and crumbling into the ground," Zemeth concluded his narration.

"Thanks to the butterflies which Grandpa believes to be Immortal Vearah's spirit animal, we are saved by the nick of time," Agran added.

"And thanks to Esmeralda, she sacrificed her life to bring an end to the bloodbath," Ramza said.

Zemeth inspected his comrades' condition. "Brothers, do you want to continue recuperating on the island?" he asked them.

"Yes, we want to! We no longer want to continue imposing on the king and his men. They already had done so much for us. Time for us to leave the cave and continue recuperating on the island," Simuz speak up for his friends who are eager to see the daylight and the outside world again.

The king of elves went to Simuz's side. "Are you sure you're okay now?" he asked worriedly.

Simuz smiled brightly at their savior. "On behalf of my friends, thank you very much your highness for saving us. We owe you our life. Don't worry about our health, we feel much better now and we can already move our body," he said.

The king of elves smiled. "Alright, I won't hold you back in going home to the island. Don't worry, I'll hand more medicine to Jegun so that you can continue medicating in the island while recuperating," he said.

The king handed a bundle of medicine to his friend. "Here's the medicine friend. Take care of the boys," he said. "Now that you already know our home, you can drop by anytime to visit us. You're all welcome here," he told the visitors.

Jegun smiled and hugged his friend. "Thank you for saving the boys' life, my friend. And thank you so much for the medicine. We will take our leave now," he said. "I'll visit you more often now that there are no more monsters and dark shadows to fight, I'll have more free time to kill," he said grinning.

The king of elves smiled. "That's good! I'll wait for your frequent visits," he said.

"We're going now," Jegun said.

"Okay, take the magic carpet with you guys if you want," the king offered.

"Sure, it's super nice riding the magic carpet, I love the ride!" Jegun said. He looked at the four men. "Guys, get in the magic carpet so that we can travel back to the island," he said.

The men obeyed grandpa's instruction.

They waved goodbye at the king and his men. A few minutes later, they disappeared from the king's view.

The men reappeared in the location of the castle so that Simuz, Bhork, Dredo, and Ogeme can see the mind-blowing transformation that happened to the castle.

Simuz jaw opened in shock. "Oh! Is this true? The castle was gone replaced with a lake? This is unbelievable!" he said in awe.

Ogeme stared at the black liquid in the lake and the burning flames. "Why this lake filled with black liquid and still burning?" he asked in astonishment.

"The black liquid is the soul of those dark shadows, monsters, and other evil creatures inhabiting the castle," Agran replied with a joke.

Bhork looked at Zemeth. "How did Granny Esmeralda end her life?" he asked curiously.

"And what about Ivy? Where is Ivy?" asked Dredo.

There were a few minutes of silence as everyone's faces turned sad remembering how Esmeralda died along with Ivy.

Jegun broke the silence. "Brothers, the magic crystal ball has all the answers to all your questions. Once we get back to the island, Aspen will show you how Esmeralda ended her life that brings the castle to its knees and you will also know what happened to Ivy. So, let's proceed to the island now," he urged them.

"Okay," Simuz said.

"Guys, you proceed now to the island, I will remain here for a few minutes," Zemeth said sadly.

Ramza patted his friend's shoulder. "I'll accompany you here, my friend," he said.

Jegun, Aspen, Agran, and the rest of the men teleported back to the island.

It's been a few minutes already since Jegun's departure.

Zemeth sighed heavily while watching the mysterious lake, he was wearing a sad expression on his face.

Ramza sighed. He knows that his buddy was still agonizing over Ivy. The pain of parting with his beloved is hard to bear. It's the first time that his best friend fall in love with a woman, unfortunately, it was not destined to be a happy ending. A love story that ended in tragedy. He shut his mouth, not saying anything, allowing his friend to continue grieving in silence.

Tree hours later.

Zemeth finally told Ramza that they will go back to the island.

They left.

One hour after they were gone.

The rain starts falling from the sky, followed by thunderstorms and lightning. The rain fell in torrents into the lake.

The rain continues falling in that area, all day and all night long.