The dust in the jail really aggravated my allergies, and no one enjoyed my mortal sneezing.

"Wag, can you just can it?" Tom hissed.

I squinted at him.

I knew the only reason everyone was bitter and angry was because we were locked in a dungeon with the complete an udder realization that our friends were now on a mission from a man hell bent on war. Crazy Uncle Claudius was now the one in charge because Faith sat with us incarcerated, and who knew where Liberty was.

Claudius spoke of the Darkness like she was his god, with wonder and pure respect that only leads to control. Unlike everyone else I knew who the Darkness was from old proverbs my mother used to speak to me years ago. Even at that time they were nearly legends, but we all believed in fear they were actually true.

A golden statue stays untouched by mortal hands.

The darkness stays trapped in a golden throne.

Shame I didn't see it coming.

Faith sat silently, which she had been for hours before. Her head bent between her knees, trying her best to hide her crying face. Martha soothed her, although it wasn't working.

No one could have seen it coming.

"We should probably try to escape," I said. "I remember hearing about the darkness a long, long time ago."

"Yeah, we know about her Wag," Tom answered, pressing his face against the metal bars. "She's from the story Lucy told us, and she turns crazy in it."

"She's a lot more powerful than that story makes her seem," I explained. "And I don't believe it's a story."

Lucy stared at me with worry, her eyes becoming hooded.

Tucker leaned up from the brick wall. "So you think my theory is correct. That the darkness is real? That Liberty was wrong and it is actually true?"

"It is true," Lucy stood, and Faith stared at her like she was a madman. "I know because I witnessed it all."

"Liberty never believed me," she scoffed. "But now she's back, and stronger. She has to be stronger to have been under my radar. If you do remember from that story she would have had to escape Matthias cage that he built from his own golden blood eons ago."

"How horribly strong does that make her now?" Mot asked, only thinking of Allyssa most likely. Hope and Jordan had at least gone on their own mission, but Andor, Andy, and Allyssa were under Claudius's orders.

"Horribly," Lucy answered.

Tucker slammed his hand against the wall, dark circles under his eyes. "Just another day in the office," he retorted.

He stared at Tom and me, at his teammates.

"What if the Darkness is what's controlling Sonja?" He started to question everything.

"Tucker, trust me when I say that she wouldn't take the time to control Sonja. She would kill her and then use her corps as a rug," she stated firmly. Her sunny complexion had been dimmed by some clouds and the future didn't look to terribly bright.

"I was only a spec in the cosmic universe when the Darkness came to be, but I saw her rise to power. I saw what she can do. She is ruthless and cruel and insane," she continued. "You cannot stop her."

Tom's pale face almost slipped off the cold bars as he listened. Even though we could never stop her, it seemed wrong to not believe she was real and alive. It seemed like pure denial, which we were all very familiar with.

"Well we have a mission now," I said, trying to watch Mianite's heroes feel like heroes again. "And that mission is to get Sonja and defeat King Ragnar and that's all we can do. Maybe then the Darkness will give up and go into hibernation again."

Lucy shook her head, knowing exactly what I was spouting was bullshit. I knew it too, but what else was I supposed to say. They had to believe they were invincible.

"I wish Dianite was here," Mot sighed. "He could help us right out of this."

"God Mot," Tom whined. "We're tired of hearing about your boy toy please stop."

Mot glared at Tom, who other than his drinking habit, was completely different to him. "I can't wait to see the day you fall in love because you will be a wreck," Mot hissed.

Tucker stared directly at me, and we both knew if we didn't get out of here soon we would kill each other. Than who would there be to kill King Ragnar, save Sonja, and try to eventually sleigh the Darkness but die. No one, that's who.

Someone small cleared their throat, and I almost pissed myself because at this point I would believe the rats could talk.

Faith raised her head and looked out between the Jail bars to see a slender olive skinned boy. His hair sat on his head flat, as white as snow, and his eyes glowed hazel.

A nephilim, a student. They all look like damn runway models.

"Oh," Tom gasped out. "I know you. You're Herb."

His eyebrows arched into an angry state. "My name's Patrick."

Tom shook his head. "No I think-"

Faith zipped up from her spot and glued herself from the bars. "Patrick! Please tell me everyone's okay?!"

"We knew something was wrong when Claudius tried to make us prepare the troops. Olivia has him locked up in the cafeteria," he explained quickly, searching for the correct key.

"What about the people sent to talk to Ragnar? Did you get a hold of them?" Mot asked.

Patrick shook his head no, so slowly that hopefully it wouldn't process as fast.

Mot looked like he might be sick.

"We need you out of her now! Something has happened. One of the heroes called," Patrick said.

"But I thought you didn't get a hold of the people sent to King Ragnar?" Faith asked.

Patrick corked his blonde confused little head, having no idea how important the words he were about to say were.

"No, Sonja Firefoxx called, she needs backup."

"I'm so sorry, you want me to do what?" Andor stood with a knife in his shaking hand, staring at my bloody leg instead of my face.

Most people would ask that in a sarcastic manner to be another way of saying 'hell no', but half of me wondered if he was so shocked he hadn't heard me the first time.

"Sonja, you will bleed out and die," he stated, staring back up at me. His face ghost pale even against my yellow candle light. "What happened to you?"

I could start with when I got taken as a host by the parasite that jumped around in my leg, but that was a few weeks before I got kidnapped by King Ragnar. I could also start with when I made it to his kingdom, and I started to train his army with anger and abuse that I didn't think could ever come out of me. Then again, it wasn't me talking, it was the metal wad of shit lodged in the back of my leg.

We didn't have time. I needed to prep my plan and they were still tracking me with the bug in my leg.

I grabbed him by the shoulders with what leftover strength I had. The raw desperation I had in my eyes made him listen. "I've heard things, Andor. I've heard things that no mortal should know."

He stated wide eyed, the dagger held loosely in his hand. "I - um."

"They tried to create stronger soldiers. The freaking cabbage patch dolls were just the start. They're are infesting people and manipulating them to kill," I explained, my mouth getting dry. I remembered moments of consciousness. Soldiers rotting from the inside. Them, craving for more warriors. A golden statue cracked right in half.

"What, so they have undead soldiers?" He asked. "Like Mianite's army in my universe?"

I shook my head. He couldn't understand, not if he didn't see it. "They are stuffing bodies with something stronger than souls."

Andor squinted at me.

"I was King Ragnar's right hand man during all of this. I know everything, and he's planning an unbeatable war," I said.

Andor shook his head. "But I came to discuss with him, and I was supposed to delegate and help bring peace and-"

I almost laughed, but the hope in his eyes told me he was serious.

"You're not delegating with a human, Andor. You're not even delegating with a crazy human." I stopped midway through the sentence. So much information, so many secrets my team needed to know before they got themselves killed. "Do you know the Darkness?"

"What?" He sputtered.

"Well now it's at full power because of a greedy King," I stated.

Andor slowly blinked, trying to process everything. I had months to pull it all together, but he had been hit with all of this.

I mean the poor kid didn't even know who Furia was.

By the way, that dick was back.

"The Darkness is manipulating him, and including the King she has three men doing her dirty work," I said. "King Ragnar started the whole domino affect around two years before we got back, by messing with necromancy and meeting the Darkness when she was still manageable. Most of her power was still unlocked, trapped away. Slowly she manipulated him. Making him a crazy tyrant that created even crazier Ianites."

"Why?" He asked, all of this so beneath him. All of it so monstrous that a man or creature wanting it was impossible. "What is this darkness?! Why does it want crazy people just running around?!"

"Because now the Darkness gets to go use Claudius to send Jeriah to the Ianite Raiders, preparing a war on a fresh dinner plate-"

"The crazy uncle!?"

I shook my head yes to Andor.

"And now we get to our last but not least member of the Darkness's chess game, who she had run around and start chaos, making all of the Dianites hate ever Ianite they could see in cold, cold blood. He's Dianite's former guard dog, Furia."

His confusion grew greater. His voice got lower. "Who's Furia?"

"Oh, trust me," I lengthened. "He'll love you."

Andor noted that he should further avoid Furia.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" He asked. "We need to get you back to Aura so you can warn everyone."

I shook my head. "No I can't."

"What?" He breathed out. "They've been trying to rescue you for months now-"

I reached out from my pocket, grabbing the gauze and dagger I had gotten before I escaped.

"This thing in my leg is tracking me, and in any moment there will be guards running out of those woods to get me," I pointed to the pitch blackness behind me. "Do you have a watch?" I asked.

I started to wrap the gauze over the dagger.

He reached to his bag and started to fiddle with the straps. "I have -uh - Wagglingtons." He handed that to me. "Does it work?"

"Yes," I whispered, getting worried that they would soon be approaching. I could hear their footsteps crawling over my skin, too far away for Andor yet to hear.

I heard them as soon as I ran into Andor. I knew we couldn't beat them, so I came up with a plan B.

I hoisted the dagger wrapped in gauze to Andor, harshly pushing it into his chest. This time he took it.

"I need you to hide this in your boot," I explained. "They don't know I stole any of it, so when they ask for weapons give them the dagger you have. They won't find what I gave you."

Andor's head did circles in bewilderment. "Are you sure?"

"I trained them." I was sure.

I turned in the watch, speaking into as clearly as possible. "Hey, if any of you guys are out there I escaped, and I need backup in front of the King's Kingdom," I started to put plan B in motion. "Bring an army for your own sake."

I threw the watch on the ground and stomped on it with my foot before I could start to hear static come through. Thankfully Wag would be the least pissed.

"Hands in the air!"

Lights flashed in our faces, and the sound of footprints was as strong as ever. Andor and I both slowly and wearily put up our heavy hands.

A soldier I trained myself smirked at me with a yellow smile that I wanted to punch off.

"You're under arrest in the name of King Ragnar."

Faith didn't want to go to war, but after hearing Sonja's message play over and over in my head I wanted nothing more to choke that bastard King to death.

One hand up for team war, then, I guess.

I didn't see much of a point to it by then. The peace thing. They delegated as much as possible. We sent heroes after said delegates, and what, he still had Sonja trapped up under whatever the hell type of mind control Wag was yammering about.

"How'd she even get a watch?"

"Probably Hope and Jordan."

"So we suspect she's not under his control anymore?"

At this point we were laying hypotheticals over more hypotheticals because we were desperate, and this all made Faith a bit nervous.

"We are doing exactly what my uncle wanted," Faith said sternly. The only stranger she didn't see in our crowd was Lucy, and Lucy had decided that we were all pretty much dead.

"So?" Mot asked.

Faith looked at him, appalled. "I'm sorry? You live here!!!"

"I'm not saying we start a war. I'm just saying that we fight a battle," Mot said.

I already agreed with him for the very reason that I was pissed, though it wasn't very much of a Mianite reason. I glanced at Wag, who was more reasonable than Tom, and who seemed to be silently agreeing with him too.

So I listened.

"Faith, we already know that this is set up. Our society is aware that all of this fighting leads to nothing but destruction, but King Ragnar - he's crazy. He doesn't care about being manipulated be the darkness or any of it," Mot added. "If we let him run loose what happens to the rest of the world?"

Faith found herself speechless, too realizing that this one battle would lead to the destruction of a thousand future bigger battles. At this point she didn't care about the fighting, she would fight. It was who she had to go into battle with.

Kids.

Not minors or anything. It wasn't as if she was throwing thirteen year olds into battle, but still. None of these people in this academy could be older than 25, and they would soon have to fight against necromancers with her responsible for it all.

"Half of these kids haven't even lost their damn virginity yet," Faith whispered to us. "How am I supposed to send them into war?"

I heard someone clear their throat. "Uh ma'am?"

Faith jumped. "Oh, god."

It was Patrick, and he had brought a friend. A girl who I saw around a lot. She had to be about to graduate. She was older than Hope and looked it with a slick black ponytail and olive skin.

"Oh yes, Olivia?" Faith asked in her teacher voice.

"We would like to have input in this matter," Olivia said, crossing her arms against her chest.

Faith threw her head in her hands, ready to have a mental breakdown over all the guilt hanging off of her shoulders. "Yes?" She mumbled in her hands.

Tom raised his eyebrows at her. "Did you loose your virginity ma'am?" He asked. I hoped he would get punched.

This girl who was as tall and almost as old as him gave him a death glare. "Have you?"

Tom got oddly nervous, which wag and I noticed as weird, including the fact that Tom had always given us the impression that the answer was -

"Yes," he got out weakly.

The girl still glared him down, but she had a smirk on her face.

"Ma'am I may have a few words that will make you feel better about the predicament," Patrick's little voice got out again.

Faith shoved her head out of her hands just long enough to listen.

"Ma'am, you're not sacrificing our lives for the mistake of your uncle. You're not making us do anything. If you were making us do something we would have already revolted and thrown in the cafeteria like Claudias."

And then Patrick continued with a quote that I remember to this day when I enter any battle or fight, mostly because he said it with no hint of ego or sacrifice.

"Ma'am, we are not fighting against King Ragnar, and we are not fighting for you. We are fighting for ourselves."

Faith's half covered face smiled, and no longer was she desperate and surrounded by strangers, but surrounded by friends and allies.

"Well alright then. Let's end this once and for all."

Sonja's shoes scuffed against the Kings marble floor as she tried to fight the soldiers grip. The only silent protest they could both give was having useless legs.

Andor found himself walking again as he stared wide eyed up at the ceiling of the castle, which's architecture resembled more of a church from the outside. A portrait, painstakingly painted, lived on the ceiling. A portrait of King Ragnar, fully naked, holding a scale.

"I've never dealt with completely off the walls crazy," Andor mumbled out.

The guards glared at him from their fixed positions, and before he had mistaken them for statues standing at the edge of the long hall.

The hall stopped in front of a thrown, which held a man. A normal looking man at most. He had a beard, tousled hair, and an oily complexion, but he breathed at a normal rate and his eyes flecked around the room a regular pace.

Andor wondered if there could be hope, and then the King opened his mouth.

"Oh thank god," King Ragnar's eyes lit up and he stood up from his thrown, walking down the stairs to his captured guests.

Andor thought the excitement would be for Sonja, but she was ignored. Wiped away from the slate in his eyes, and now there only stood one person of interest.

"Someone with sense," King Ragnar breathed out in relief. "A prince."

Andor, still trying to bleach the portrait out of his mind, tried to say, "I'm sorr- I - Excuse - what?"

"Would you like something before we see you out?" King Ragnar asked. "A drink or a final meal - oh! There is this great treatment where you bathe in gold and then have the finest women lick it off of you. I'll even let you pick-"

"No thank you," he said as quickly as possible.

Andor seemed to remember being given this respect when his mother was still around, and they would enter different kingdoms to visit. He hadn't been treated like royalty in a long time.

"Are you sure?" King Ragnar didn't seem appalled. He respected Andor's opinion, almost nurtured it in a way.

This all seemed odd for trying to settle an agreement.

"Yes, I have a girlfriend." Andor than remembered why he was here. "I'm sorry, but I didn't think I was leaving yet. We're settling an agreement?"

Andor looked back at Sonja, who looked beaten to a corpse and dehydrated. "At this point I'm not leaving without her.