They did not spend any further time searching the woods for Diana. They knew, even though they had no idea how they knew, that she was really, truly, gone. What bothered them most was not the goddess’s inexplicable disappearance, but the disappearance of those who were after her. Why had Zagreus, Tartarus, and Mors simply vanished like that? Had they too sensed that Diana was gone, deemed the case a lost cause, and simply returned to wherever their father was now residing? But if that were the case, why had they left without attempting to haul any of the Dragonknights, or Shya, along with them? Hadn't they themselves proclaimed that they would be taking both Diana and those who had come to aid her? Hadn't they provided them with a choice of concession or death?

What could have happened to make them withdraw, without fulfilling either end of their declaration? And what had happened to Diana? Shya and Shakil, well-versed as they were in mythological matters, explained that Diana’s sudden supernova had been a result of her shedding her mundane skin, manifesting in all her godly brilliance.

The light, reflected from her true divine form, had destroyed all the shadow creatures that had set eyes upon her, and would have done the same to Milius, Shakil, Shya, and Ariana had they not looked away at precisely the right moment. But how did this cause her apparent dematerialization, and what about the others? Tartarus, perhaps, as a non-god could have perished in the flare, especially seeing as he had already been thoroughly weakened by Palpatunde. But what of the other two, who were divine beings themselves?

They picked their way through the forest, back to the dragons, and rode back to the Tower in silence, where they were met by their very anxious-looking peers. They recounted everything that had happened since they'd found the goddess, all the way back to her unexplainable disappearance.

Milius had imagined, optimistically, that perhaps the Elders, in all their wisdom and experience, could provide a satisfactory explanation as to what may have transpired. But he was disappointed. The old men agreed with everything Shya and Shakil had said themselves, but couldn't imagine why anyone else had disappeared in the sudden burst of godly radiance.

“So we couldn't save her,” Shakil said bitterly. “And we still don't know why Alcyeoneus was looking for her.”

He seemed to have taken the failure of the mission very hard indeed. Milius did not know what to say to comfort him, so instead he asked what had been truly puzzling him on the way home, the question that had forced him to keep his eyes on the moon all the while they glided below it, looking for any sort of change. “You said Diana was the goddess of the moon, right?”

“Correct,” said Calder.

“Does that mean that . . . if something really had happened to her — would the moon —?”

“An interesting question,” Calder said thoughtfully, placing one gnarled hand on his chin. “The thing you need to understand, Milius, is that nature gods did not create the aspects of the world over which they rule. They were born from them. It is their duty to protect and to preserve, and, yes, to grow. But no. I do not believe that their domains would vanish along with them should they disappear. The worst-case scenario would be that said domains would gradually deteriorate without the on-hand involvement of their patrons, but an abrupt, total destruction — no.”

“So even if something did happen to her, we can't know by looking at the moon,” Milius muttered, more to himself than anybody else.

“Unfortunately not. The death of her brother Apollo eons ago in the first war proved that, seeing as though the sun remains as ever it was. But there is reason to believe that the goddess is still alive.”

“What do you mean?” Shakil asked at once, looking immensely hopeful.

“I would assume that you already know this, but only a god can claim the life of another god, Shakil,” Calder said. “Hence why Alcyeoneus could only be sealed in ancient times; clearly no nature god was powerful enough to defeat him. With two deities apparently on the spot in the case of Diana, however, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that one of them could have finished the job. But then — why did they not return?

“The fact that they did not means that there is the tiniest chance that Diana managed to escape, and they left you behind in order to follow her, in that, whatever reason they had been sent out initially, we can assume that securing her would be a greater priority than killing you.”

“So she might still be out there,” Ariana said eagerly. “But she's wounded, and vanquishing all those creatures probably cost more energy than she could afford to expend. They could easily catch her now! Is there any way we can find her again, a spell or —?”

“Calm yourself, Ms. Worler!” Elder Aaron said sharply, and Ariana fell silent under her mentor’s disapproving glare. “You're getting carried away. This is all hypothetical, but if the goddess truly did manage to escape, she will not evade capture much longer in her weakened state, as you rightly said. There is nothing to be done for her."

“But —” Sirius began.

“Enough,” said Demus. “Aaron is right. We waste time we do not have worrying about a god. Our priority right now should be the Void Giant, and the rogue black dragon that you seem to have all forgotten!”

Milius’s eyes widened at the mention of Malidreus. He felt a sudden rush of embarrassment; everything that had happened over the past few days, the loss of Minerva and Frederick, the destruction of the Cave, their frequent scouts, and settling into the Tower had pushed all thought of the missing steed out of his mind.

“Isn't there any way to track him?” Shakil asked.

“Under normal circumstances, yes. The obsidian blade is directly linked to the beast. A simple bit of magic should be able to locate it, but from what you have told us, it may not work if the dragon is indeed capable of shrugging off the enchantments that are supposed to bind it. That is if the girl would even be willing to relinquish the blade in the first place; she's been sobbing over it nonstop,” he said, and Milius knew he was referring to Hestia, who alone was nowhere to be seen in the main hall. “We may have to find the creature a different way.”

“How?” Cole said. “It can fly. It could literally be anywhere in the world."

“We will have to —” But Demus’s words were cut short. A strange, high-pitched pulsing was suddenly filling the room. Everybody looked around, bewildered. They began to move, following the sound, and filed into the corridor beyond, trailing cautiously through the hallways. Eventually, they came to the rooms that the Knights had been assigned upon arrival. The pulsing was coming from Milius’s room, and through the half-open door, they could see a multicoloured light washing over the amethyst-coloured walls.

Sirius unsheathed Vulcatrix. “What is that?” he said.

Milius, however, did not draw his own sword. Neither the colour of the light, nor the sound that was accompanying it, gave off a sense of menace; on the contrary, it sounded almost urgent. Ignoring the protests of the others, he flung open the door, and he saw that the source of the disturbance was the very Orb of Triton he had left on his bed earlier.

He hurried over to it and picked it up, and as though it had been awaiting his touch, the pulsing stopped immediately. The Orb’s crystalline surface shimmered, and a sudden fog swam within the pearl. It settled, and as though he were watching some kind of film, moving images began to flicker along in sequence: the others crowded him and, peering into the pearl's depths, they saw the wreckage of what looked like enormous slabs of coral, with glowing fragments of metal strewn across a flight of wide, abalone stairs; a palatial room full of water, whose walls were lined with mosaics composed of seashells and full of enormous, lidless glass cases, strung with mutilated bodies of what looked like giant sea creatures; and near the front of the room, a man with skin the same colour as Oceannerva’s jewel upon a cracked throne of solid ice, cowering beneath a towering, dark-robed figure, screaming and screaming, and then — blank.

The orb fell dull, glittering innocently once again. There was a stunned silence. Ariana broke it.

“What — what was that?” she said, sounding terrified.

“A cry for help,” Milius said vaguely. “That was Phontus’s palace, I recognized it. Alcyeoneus stormed their castle. He killed them all.”