Mei shakes her head, perplexed by the answer. "What do you mean?"

"We stay here and wait for the vortex to reopen. Hopefully, by then, Jasmin should be here."

"What if Jasmin is captured like the rest of them? She must've come at the same time."

Lemir turns back around to the stove, not giving it a second thought. "Jasmin is very cunning. They wouldn't capture her so easily. It's only been a day. Let's wait and give her some time."

"How can you be so calm about this? They all could be dead by now." Mei said, standing up, raising her voice.

Lemir slams his fist down on the counter, his back still facing them. "What do you want to do? Storm into that castle and free your friends? All of you couldn't even handle a troll without one of you getting hurt." Lemir yelled while Kenji slowly covered his shoulder.

Lemir turns once again but with fury in his eyes. "Once we enter that castle, we're as good as dead!"

"Okay, so we'll sit here and talk about the weather for the next four years."

Chung looks up at Mei and grabs her arm, worried this will only escalate further. "Mei, calm down. We don't know how dangerous they are. We're not from here."

"She's right. You are not from here. No one trained any of you in any of the major arts. Those soldiers will kill you without a second thought and they are but mere pawns in there. What would you do if you faced someone with real power? I sit here every night wanting to storm that place and kill whoever is in there. I desire nothing more than to make them pay for every cruel thing they have done, but their power is too great."

Kalindil puts down the food and stands between the two, wanting to offer some type of mediation. "But Lemir, they split up their kingdom after taking over the fallen ones they destroyed. This would be the best time for a rescue."

"But what about Rathmal?"

"He went off. Rumor has it he's visiting Callimor in the Dark Kingdom."

Lemir's eyes filled with horror at the sound of the news. "The Dark Kingdom? Again? That could only mean horrible things for this world."

"I don't know. But right now, I think we should go. It might be our best chance."

"No, it's still too dangerous."

"Lemir, we should at least think about this." Valier said.

"Think about what? We don't even know those people in there. Why would we risk our lives for them?"

Mei slams the table and storms outside. The rest struggle to stand up and soon follow.

Valier crosses her arms and stares at him in disappointment. "Well, you could've handled that better."

Lemir sits down and looks up at Valier, overwhelmed by the fear of returning to that castle. "You know as much as anybody how dangerous that army is. How much more must we lose?"

Valier puts both hands on his shoulders and crouches down, looking straight in his eyes. "Jasmin entered that vortex a day ago. She would never have taken this long unless she went to rescue them. If we wait and do nothing, there's no one to save her."

"Jasmin would risk her life for any of us. Are you really going to abandon her?" Kalindil asked.

"Of course not. But there has to be another way."

"Train them. Who knows, we could always use more allies and if they're anything like the warriors from our world, they would be a great help." Kalindil said.

"Absolutely not. If we're doing this, it'll only be us and Aureim. This has to go as quietly as possible."

Mei and the others sit on a bench outside the cottage, feeling helpless and lost.

"What should we do?" Mei asked.

"What can we do? We don't have dragons or magic." Ito said.

"Mei, I'm with you all the way. If we die, we die together." Chung said, while leaning her head on her shoulder.

Sungwoo nodded in agreement.

"I'm out." Hiro said, confused why they would risk their lives to save the others. "Why are you guys so confident? They are going to kill you."

"He's right." Lemir said, opening the door. "They would kill all of you, so that's why it'll only be us three and one more. The rest of you stay here."

"What? What if you train us? With you three to teach us, we can help."

"You expect us to stay here, while you risk your lives?" Kenji asked.

"It's way too dangerous, and no offense, you all would only get in the way."

"I know we can be of some help." Kenji said.

"No, end of discussion. Don't cause any trouble. We have a lot of preparation to do." Lemir said, shutting the door.

"Why is it that every time someone says no offense, it's always very offensive?" Sungwoo asked.

"Well, that's good news. I guess we should see the others soon." Ito said.

"I don't know. I still want to learn. What if they don't return? Then what will happen?" Sungwoo asked.

"Yeah. I agree." Mei said.

"Hey." Kalindil whispered while swinging his arms, hiding behind the cottage. As they all look at him, he motions to follow him to the back of the barn. Mei and the others, unsure of what's going on, hesitantly follow him.

As they follow Kalindil, Hiro walks behind them, wondering what they're thinking. "Hey are you guys crazy? This is exactly what happens in a horror movie."

"That's why we're all going. It's safer if we all go together. Plus, Kalindil was trying to help us in there."

As they make it to the back of the barn, they see Kalindil looking around, scanning to check that no one else is there. He then turns to face them, with a serious look on his face. "Are you all serious about training?"

Hiro immediately rolls his eyes and walks toward the cottage.

"Yes, we want to help and maybe we can be a backup plan if things go bad." Mei said.

"Meet me here tomorrow at sunrise. That's when your training will start."