With Milius and Sirius gone, the daily additions of useful spells and runes to aid in boosting the Tower's protection had halted. Shakil was seated in his room, examining his sword by the sunlight streaming in through the window. The silver gleamed in the bright light, and he amused himself for a moment, shifting the sword's position and casting the reflected light against the bright blue walls, which were studded with sapphires; the light glanced off the jewels, causing them to sparkle.

After a while he sighed, dropped his arms, and looked around. He was exceptionally bored. He found it quite odd that he was, given everything that was happening outside his walls, but the dullmess in the atmosphere was undeniably heavy.

Shakil tried to occupy himself for a few moments by reading some lines of the ancient tomes he had taken from the library, coming across an ancient creature called a garula, a huge, worm-like beast that lived underwater, with massive poison sacs attached to its eyeless head, and which killed thousands of sailors before it was finally set to rest by an archaic wizard known as Moracio. But even that wasn't enough to drill some excitement into him. Tossing the book aside, he stowed Oceannerva in its scabbard and headed out of the room, contemplating what he should do along the way.

They were not allowed outside unless for special occasions such as scouting missions, not with Alcyeoneus’s forces out there, surely waiting for them. As he strolled along the corridors, he thought gloomily that he would simply visit Aleia in the large stone room one level below. But before he could get there, he spotted Ariana.

She was halfway down the hall, leaning out of a window, Stormpyre resting against the wall beside her. Her usually sleek hair looked disheveled, and she was muttering to herself.

"They'll be back," he said. She started, apparently having been unaware that she was not alone in the hall. She focused on him, looking nonplussed. "Sirius and Milius," Shakil added to clarify. "They'll be fine. They're too . . . stubborn to die."

Comprehension dawned upon her face as he grinned. "Oh!" she said, chuckling. "No, I know they'll be all right. I was actually thinking about something else."

"Freedom?" he said bitterly, joining her at the window.

"No. Well, yes." She smiled too. "But actually . . . Diana."

"Really? Why?"

"You know why." She nudged his arm with her shoulder. "Why did they want her? What would they get by killing her?"

"You think there has to be a reason?"

"You don't?"

"Of course I do," Shakil said. "But that doesn't mean there really is one. Listen, back when we'd just freed Malidreus, I met the Original Sapphire, just like Milius met the Original Amethyst. He told me everything about their time, how the Dragonknights came about and why, and how Alcyeoneus ruled. He's just . . . evil. No other words to describe him. He just killed because he could. Why wouldn't that extend to gods, too?"

"But look at the sea king's palace!" Ariana said. "He just got up one day and decided to take a dive, just so he could kill a few merpeople? It doesn't add up."

"I mean, there could definitely be more to it," Shakil said, shrugging. "I think so. But what's it to us? There's nothing we can do until we know more."

"But how will we know more," Ariana said in a loud and exasperated voice, "if they refuse to let us out?"

"An interesting question."

Ariana and Shakil both jumped and spun around. Basil and Aaron had appeared at the end of the hall. Ariana snatched her sword from the floor at once.

"Elders," she said, nodding. "We didn't know you were there."

"Because you're getting sloppy," Aaron said calmly, walking towards them, Basil trudging alongside him. "Quite understandable, seeing as we've been putting off training recently, for the scouting missions and research and such. But we have the perfect remedy to that."

"What do you mean?" Shakil asked, his heart beating a little faster.

"We have received another distress message," said Basil. "This time on land," he added quickly. "You may investigate, if you wish."

"Of course!" Ariana said quickly. "I will — we will."

"Good. Then meet us back in the main hall for a quick briefing. And bring that Cole boy with you, it's high time he did something useful."

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Within fifteen minutes they had tracked down Cole and entered the main hall, where the Elders were waiting for them. Almost automatically, Shakil looked around for any sign of a magical beast, or anything that may have delivered the message. But he saw nothing.

"Excellent, now listen closely," Aaron said. "We received word earlier from another deity who believes he is being pursued by Alcyeoneus’s forces. His name is Aether, the god of light."

"How did he manage to send the message?" Ariana asked.

"He's a god, they have their ways," Aaron said simply, but seeing that they were all still curious, he added, "It was a message woven in the light, quite literally, similar to a form of Braille. He hasn't confronted his pursuers yet, so he's not entirely certain that these are the same people who had attacked Diana. But apparently, the moon goddess sent out a message of her own before her capture, warning the rest of the pantheon to seek cover, remain hidden for a while, contact us if they sense danger.

"I find it hard to believe that it could be anyone else. You three will need to find and secure Aether, and find out as much about these people as you can."

They nodded. Ariana was inwardly excited at the prospect of finally leaving the Tower, finding out more about the situation outside; she had not had many chances to leave, even the scouting was done by the boys. Shakil, on the other hand, was worried, though he did not show it. Cole, however, was downright alarmed.

For the past few weeks he had been training under the Elders, improving steadily, but had still not reached the level of any of the others. Now he was being thrust into an important mission such as this, without even a warning.

Still, he did not protest. They were given the rest of the mission's details, then, having stocked his equipment, he sheathed his sword, Gaiaden, and headed down to the dragons' holding area, along with Shakil and Ariana. Shya and Lucas had opted to remain behind, seeing that Milius and Sirius had already left.

Cerea was waiting for him. Her head perked up as he approached, the shower of golden grass sprouting from her mane swaying as she caught sight of him. She surveyed him for a moment through her large, dark eyes, then bowed, lowering her head to the ground so that he could mount.

Cole hesitated. He glanced over and saw Ariana and Shakil, who had already taken their places atop Vrydius and Aleia, watching him. He swallowed, then climbed atop the dragon's neck.

The great beasts turned to face the front wall, along which ran a large grooved circle. As though on cue, the wall shifted, the stone retracting into the grooves of the wall to leave a massive hole in its wake. The dragons spread their vast wings and took flight, soaring through the hole and out into the bright evening sunlight. They flew in plain sight, not having had Demus cast a Cloaking Spell over them, or to bother using the final dregs of the Invisibility Potion. They had no idea how long it would take to find the god, and Aether's light, they had been told, would pierce through their cloak nevertheless.

Cole was still not used to the sensation of flying. The dragons moved with an alarming speed, cold air rushing forward to slam into him. He tightened his grip on clumps of Cerea's grassy mane, afraid that he would fall off. But it never happened. The flight remained smooth all the way through.

Night was upon them now, the moon rising slowly to light the blackening sky. Basil had informed them that they would only be able to find Aether at this time; unlike most other gods, Aether assumed his divine form during the day, transforming into pure light to accompany his sister, Hemera, in the skies. At night, however, he and his sister would retire to a dark, enclosed space until the next morning, while the gods of the night reigned. As they flew, they kept their eyes trained around for such a place.

After about an hour they had left Halgaria behind completely, but they slowed down, looking around more carefully. If Aether had wanted help, he couldn't be too far from them. . . .

"Look!" Ariana said, pointing suddenly to their right. An enormous stretch of caves rose below them, gleaming in the moonlight. "I say we check it out."

Cole and Shakil shrugged, grateful for the chance to stop moving at last, and swooped towards the mouth of the cave. Peering inside, they could make out a kind a luminous blue fluid staining the lower walls.

"Yep, he's in there, all right," Shakil said, moving forward to examine the trail.

"Which means they can't be too far behind," Ariana said, jerking her head towards the dark sky outside.

"So let's go then," Shakil said, and they began to move through the cave.