The heroes hurried down the water-chamber corridors desperately hoping they wouldn’t encounter any more soldiers. Their shoes clanked along the metal floor loudly as they made their way to the front entrance. Expecting an unwelcoming party of elven soldiers, the heroes, much to their surprise (and relief,) saw only a sole officer slumped in a chair behind a wood desk. Two more guards were lying face down by the door. “There’s our stuff,” said Cyrus, pointing to their stuff crammed into a large locker. Two small burlap sacks of dragon powder and Van’s great marshmallow-toasting blade hung out in the alcove.

“Excellent job, knocking out these guards, Oga,” Cyrus said as he fastened the sacks to his belt.

“Huh?” The young elf asked, looking at her supposed handiwork. “I went through the pipes to avoid Severa. I didn’t knock these elves out.”

”Well, whoever did. This is a stroke of luck!” Antonio said as his allies eyed his half naked body.

“Perhaps we should find some clothes for you, Antonio?” Cyrus said to his friend.

“And rob the eyes of beautiful girls everywhere from seeing what the creator has bestowed on mi?”

”Perhaps we can cover up his vanity too,” Van said, rolling her eyes.

“I know,” Cyrus said, raising a finger. “We can disguise Antonio as an elf soldier so none of Severa’s guards will bother us. We can look like his prisoners!”

“Oh,” Van responded. “I really like the way you think, Cyrus. That’d work perfectly.”

“At least my abdominals will still be visible!” Antonio said with a foppish laugh.

They quickly undressed an elven guard and suited Antonio up in aquamarine armor, Placing a single-pointed helmet on his head to complete the ensemble, Antonio’s tall and lean body filled out the armor magnificently except for one problem: No pointed ears stuck out of the helmet’s ear holes.

“What do we do about that?” Cyrus asked.

Van looked around and noticed the guard’s lunch on the table- two bright orange carrots, one with a single bite mark into it. Her eyes glinted and she smirked. Van quickly grabbed the carrots and lodged them into a hapless Antonio’s ears.

Antonio gave a look of you-gotta-be-kidding-me, but Van spoke quickly to marvel at her handiwork. “As you would say, Antonio. Muy perfecto!”

Antonio clutched his magical staff, holding it over his friends as they walked through the corridors. Every time a guard walked past them, Antonio grinned with coolness and reassured them that he was “merely transporting the prisoners for Lady Severa.” Cyrus was impressed with how well the rake imitated the elven accent.

When no one was around, Cyrus spoke to Oga concerning something that was on his mind. “Uh Oga?”

”What is it big Orc Prince?”

“Are you going to be afraid to fight your big sister?”

The little elf gave a sly smirk and laughed to herself. “Fighting Severa will be a piece of smelly orc jerky. My adopted elf father always had me practice sparring with her and I always won. An elf normally is pathetic, but an elf with no magic is even more miserable.”

“I understand that,” Cyrus responded. “But would it upset you to hurt her?”

Oga looked around at her friends before she spoke again with a slam of her tiny fists. “Severa was always mean to me, as a jealous elf would be to an orc. I’m not going to regret beating her up good this time!”

Cyrus realized that Severa hadn’t really done anything to endear herself to him or any of his friends so he just nodded as they reached the throne room doors.

“Antonio, stay on your guard,” Van said. “There could be hundreds of guards waiting to spring us at any second.”

“For you, mi amor,” Antonio said sheepishly “I would slay a thousand guards.”

Van’s eyes bulged in anger before she covered her face. “Enough of that. I told you we weren’t talking about love until we got out of here.”

“Of course, my little chica,” Antonio said. “My silent passion for you roars louder than a thousand waterfalls!”

Van gave a pained grimace as Antonio opened the door to the throne room, and much to their surprise, not a single guard stood in the room. The king’s enormous throne was shoved aside, revealing a veiled door. Oga quickly pointed and shouted “Go in there! That takes us to the Water Sanctuary.”

The four heroes dashed into the Water Sanctuary and for the non-elves in their party, their breath was drawn away by architectural marvel. The flowing waters in the palace all arrived at a giant blue tiled basin. Inside the basin, the water was so pure and clear it sparkled like liquid diamonds. At the edge of the pool, Severa stood with the bounded and gagged Aquarian king. A look of horror penetrated his vision as Severa boldly gloated over him. Oga stepped forward and let out a shout, “Severa, let big elf daddy go free or else I will fashion your ears into a pair of daggers!”

Severa’s expression was unyielding. It was the coldest sneer, Cyrus had ever seen and the ice in her eyes froze his soul to its very core.

“No,” she said. “Not until I gain the powers of the royal family. Powers that rightfully belonged to me but were cruelly stolen away from my ancestral line for no rhyme or reason.”

Severa positioned her elven staff over the king, threatening his life. He recoiled in shock over the betrayal from his beloved daughter. Oga let out a cry and cast her hand at the basin. A large whip of water extended from the pool and slapped Severa’s leg. “Ouch! You dirty scamp!” She cried as she hopped up and down trying to regain her balance.

“Fight me, you celery cruncher!” Oga shouted as she dashed towards Severa.

“Very well,” Severa responded with a smirk.

Severa drew her staff and swung it at Oga

“Oga,” Antonio shouted as he tossed his staff to Oga. She immediately blocked Severa’s violent blow with her new weapon.

The two sisters began to spar back and forth with their staffs. It was clear to Cyrus that they both knew each other’s moves very well. Oga hopped and flipped around quickly, swinging fast and low. Severa’s tall grace allowed her leverage over her tiny opponent but she moved a lot slower.

“It seems you’ve been practicing,” Oga said, panting as she continued to hop around. “Preparing for an Orc invasion mayhaps?!”

“Preparing for the day when I would become queen,” Severa responded. “And that day is today!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Oga shouted and quickly used the staff to draw water around them.

Severa gasped as she realized what Oga was doing. The water that was converging around her formed a bubble. A tight current circulated in the bubble and it helped Oga keep her foe exactly in place. Severa grimaced and struggled but to no avail as the bubble wrapped around her body. “This reminds me of old times, Severa,” Oga responded with a proud smile on her face. “Back when I was an orc in captivity!

Severa turned her head and carried her elegant but snooty nose high in the air. “I have no words for a traitor like you. All I can say, is that if dad truly knew what a delusional little nosepicker you turned out to be, he would never let you be queen. It seems that mental delusion runs in our family, your brain is just as scrambled as mom’s…”

An expression of pain flashed in Oga’s eyes. She let out a loud snarl and took her staff and smashed it right into the top of Severa’s head. Severa cried and once her eyes opened, there was dazed expression in her now blackened eyes. She spit out a fang, coughing up blood but continuing to laugh.

“W-w--why are you laughing?” Oga asked.

Severa’s voice shook and lowered like it had been struck dumb from getting smacked so hard, “He’s…he’s here…”

Oga gasped as she saw the figure appearing beside Severa. The masked Everblood clutched a sinister staff of hardened elderwood, and he tossed it to Severa. Immediately, the bubble burst and Severa was enveloped in a black mist.

“Just in time,” Severa said cackling as her voice grew distorted.

The mist dissipated and Severa was adorned in a whole new wardrobe that suited the darkness of the staff. Wearing pitch black armor with chains crossing over her midriff and a pointed skirt, Severa’s eyes turned the purest shade of blood with blackened pupils. When she grinned, she had a whole new mouth of jagged fangs. “I feel so much power coursing through me,” she exclaimed. “He he he, is this what it feels like to have magic in your blood?!”

“It’s only temporary,” the Everblood said. “But once you gain the power of the royal family, it will be eternally within you. And more so, because you hold the staff of Ayne, evilest Aquarian queen in the world. Perhaps you will be even greater than her…”

“Of course I will,” the now darkened Severa said as she laughed as the pupils in her eyes shrank. She strolled over to the king and pointed her staff directly at his head. “Now nothing will interfere with this blood transfer!”

Oga ran between Severa and the king, hoping to stop her from stabbing him but it was too late. Her staff went through his head. Tears welled up in Oga’s eyes as she slumped to her feet…Then she looked up.

Oga gasped. The king had disappeared.

“The king was never here,” Severa laughed. “My Everblood ally knew your stupid human friends were listening in on us. He told me we should kidnap the king, but in reality, that’s not who we’d need to kill for the blood transfer...”

Oga looked up in fear as her former sister gave a mad grin. Her voice slithered in a way that didn’t belong to an elf. “ Aya,” Severa hissed. “We will need to kill you!”