After setting up a makeshift stage and getting Khel to come into my room, I shifted into the shape of a man, then walked out from behind the red wall of thornless roses. “Hello, everybody! Today, Mensal Exypnos and Khel Guanya will be demonstrating their magical powers. Let the demonstration commence!”

Still disguised as the man, I walked back behind the curtain. I heard mumbling outside; Hope seemed confused about where the man came from.

“Psst… Khel, we’re up!” I whispered to him, then continued, “You remember the plan, right?” He nodded and gave a thumbs up.

I summoned Iris, and she flew right over the group of 6 spectators. They all screamed, and I chuckled silently.

Iris, are you ready?

Yes. This will be funny!

Iris turned invisible, and I came out of the stage, and then started walking on the invisible Iris.

“Umm… guys, is it just me, or is Mensal walking on thin air? I think I’m going crazy.” Tagarth remarked.

“Well, then we’re both going crazy because I’m seeing it too!” Logarth gaped at me.

I reached a tall rock, which I stepped upon. “Hi guys, to start this show, I’m going to jump off this rock.”

“What!!! Don’t do it; you’ll die from the fall!” Hope screamed, and when I jumped over, she covered her eyes.

“Here goes nothing!” I curled into a ball and then rolled across Iris’s invisible body.

“How is he doing that?!” Ted wondered out loud.

Iris, now!

Iris revealed herself and everyone screamed as loud as a howler monkey. After recovering from her shock, Raina questioned loudly, “Where did that dragon come from?!! I mean, we would’ve seen a dragon fly in!” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Khel sneaking around them while they were surprised by what I just did.

Just when I was about to explain what just happened, a group of assassins dressed in black approached me.

The one in front, who seemed to be their leader, pointed at me, “You. You’re the one who defeated Gerui. Now you will pay!!! We now know that you are subject 2413768. We will capture you and bring you to Kyodasz as a captive along with his other captive, your sister.”

Hold on… Kyodasz has my sister?!! I quickly shook that thought away. Iris, do you have a good plan?

No. Do you?

I’m thinking that we get Khel to sneak around, surprise them, and then attack them. Can you tell Khel?

Sure!

After Iris delivered the message to Khel, Khel met eyes with me and that gave me the signal we were ready to go.

I drew in a big breath and readied Revanis and Kosmar. “All right, you honorless assassins, I accept your challenge! I will fight you, but don’t get too excited because the only possible result is a victory for me and defeat for you!”

“Ah, but there is one thing you forgot about!” The lead assassin pointed at his men. “These men here have taken your friends captive. You cannot defeat us; you are only one person!” I turned around to see if he was telling the truth that our friends were taken captive; alas, they were.

“You assassins have no honor. However, you are incorrect that it is just me fighting all of you. Are you so simple-minded that you think I’m fighting you alone?” I taunted them.

“Do you think we don’t know? You won’t unleash your dragon on us because you would risk burning your friends as well.” The lead assassin replied.

“You think I’m talking about my dragon, but I’m not.” I chuckled.

While all of the assassins were attempting to figure out what I was talking about, Khel let out a battle cry and charged into their midst. While the assassins were busy dealing with Khel, I teleported into their midst and grabbed all of the captives, which included those staying in Khel’s room.

Khel raced to us, and Iris turned invisible. One of the assassins noticed that, and informed the lead assassin, “General, the dragon disappeared!”

“That’s because she went to gather reinforcements, of course!” I laughed, and the assassins thought that it meant we did not have enough power to defeat them, so they charged at us.

Right before they reached us, they crashed into the force field that Iris and I had created.

“All right, Iris, now! Use Firestorm!” I yelled.

Fire started raining upon the assassins and they attempted to find cover. I quickly located the rock they were hiding under and teleported over and created a hurricane there, which canceled out the Firestorm but still threatened the assassins.

I teleported away so I would not be affected by the hurricane. Soon, the hurricane launched the assassins out of the area, and then I saw Yuiops returning. He snatched the assassins out of the air and burned them to crisp, then gulped them down.

Yuiops seemed a bit confused why a meal just flew into his mouth, then he turned back and flew to where he just came from.

Khel and I looked at each other, shrugging as we thought about why Yuiops would come back here and then leave right after getting a free meal.

Iris, do you think it’s something as simple as Yuiops coming back for a meal or did he have an ulterior motive?

I think he has a warning system that goes straight into his brain that tells him if there are intruders on his property.

That seems like a reasonable explanation.

I then realized that our guests were still bound and gagged. I quickly untied the ropes and took the gags out of their mouths.

“Are you guys ok?!” I asked them in a rush. A few moments later, I realized that they were just staring at me silently. “Hello?”

Then, they all disintegrated into dust. The dust constructed a note, which read, Ha! You fool, did you really think we are so naïve that we would keep the prisoners there? Come to the Griffin’s Den to turn yourself in and save your pathetic friends. You know it is inevitable; we do not want innocents to suffer unnecessarily. You will come to us. If you volunteer yourself to us, we will only destroy Yadurige. We will not destroy the human race. However, if you do not give yourself up, we will let Thazzomos, the current king of demons, unleash his horde of monsters, devastating the world. Surrender now, or suffer the consequences.

I noticed the ticking timer at the bottom, and thought, Oh no, not another exploding note! I quickly copied everything on the paper and then quarantined it in a forcefield. Then I ran out of my room with Iris and then hopped on. “Come on Iris, to the headmaster’s house!”