Okay if you live in the States you know that there is a crazy storm going on right now, and I live in an area that is just HAPPY HOLIDAYS, HERE IS 1 AND A HALF FOOT OF SNOW, so yeah, I haven't been able to go to the coffee shop to post anything. Don't even ask how I got this chapter to you. So yeah, this chapter was posted fast and not very efficiently, so, unfortunately, there are going to be a lot of spelling mistakes. Not much I can do about that now. Sorry!

Alexios opened the door for her mother, spying the other elves behind her.

"Mom, thank the gods." Alexios breathed.

"Where are these devices?" Maria asked, pushing past her son and into the room. Dex gave one of the devices to Maria, who held them up and observed them in the light.

"I have never even seen devices like these, much less sensing them. What do you know?" Maria asked Dex. Dex was taken aback by the woman who matched his expertise in devices, and he quickly started to explain.

"This is elven tech, which might explain why you had trouble sensing it. As I was walking with Alexios to the Guildhall, I felt something on my walk over here, and I didn't think much of it. But when I was in the upper tower looking at the statue, I noticed that I felt the same weird feeling in my core. I found one underneath Amalia's statue, hidden underneath her bow. I found another in the lampshade in the same room. As I was rushing down here, I felt them all over the place. And see this?" Dex pointed to the set of lights, especially the red one.

"A Neverseen light gauge," Maria answered for him.

"Exactly. The Technopath at the Neverseen creates their own light gauges to show the progress of their inventions. Red meaning inactive, but not disabled, if they were disabled, there would be no lights whatsoever. They are unique and only used by the Neverseen. So we know for a fact that these are Neverseen honing devices." Dex said, placing it onto the large table everyone was gathered around.

"Do you know when they were planted?" Kia asked, a troll assassin.

Maria held the device in her hands, using her intense technopath powers and knowledge to analyze the devices.

"Guessing by the state of the tech, I would guess around... nine, maybe ten years old?" Maria decided.

"Of course!" Mansi gasped.

"The fall of Inalia," Alvar breathed. Everyone went quiet at the mention of the attack.

"Is it possible that the Neverseen planted the devices during the fall of Inalia? They didn't know if they were going to occupy Inalia or not, so it makes sense that they would place the devices when they did." Fitz reasoned.

"And since they occupied Inalia until three years ago, when Amalia came home, they had no need to activate them." Luram Bak added.

"Dex, do you feel it as well?" Maria asked, turning to the young technopath. Dex nodded, but all the Assassins were confused.

"There are signals being sent to the devices, trying to be turned on from a distance. They are like a small hum being sent through the air, I had a feeling Dex could feel them as well. The Neverseen are attempting to turn on the devices from one of their bases." Maria explained.

"The Neverseen are trying to learn the location of Inalia? Why now, of all the times?" Maha asked, stepping forward.

"Well..." Maria breathed, everyone turned to her.

"Mom?" Alexios asked. Maria rubbed the back of her neck and sighed.

"TheNeverseenArePlanningASiegeOnTheLostCities." Maria stumbled out, just getting it out of her. The room went quiet...

And then turned into chaos.

People were jumping out of their seats, yelling questions and panicking. The Elves were honestly scared of the angry and panicked Assassins, but Alexios put his fingers to his lips and let out an ear-piercing whistle. Everyone went quiet and turned to Alexios, who had his hands holding him over the table, his knuckles white.

"Please tell me I heard you wrong. There is no way that the Neverseen are planning an attack on the Lost Cities." Alexios breathed. Maria shook her head, and the entire atmosphere of the room grew even colder.

"I intercepted a transmission from the Elven council to all Council members. They are having an emergency meeting to discuss the army gathering near the Cities. The army seems to be tucked out of sight behind the mountains to hide their numbers, but the Elves know they are there. They are estimating almost 7,000 men and women. The Elven Council is down three members, and the Elven public knows nothing. They are panicking beyond belief." Maria sighed. Alexios turned to Maha and Alvar, his face stern.

"We are a bit more capable of these kinds of things than the Elven council. Alvar, I need a scouting party checking out this army. Weaponry, plans, numbers, anything and everything. Send in a couple of thieves from our thieves quarter as well, hopefully, they can snag some plans or something. Maha, I want you to return to the elven cities, see what you can learn with your spies. Also send out information to both our allies in the ogre kingdom, Lith territories and the others. Even the trolls, even if we are not on the best of ground they should still know." Alexios decided.

"The Council is down three members?" An Assassin asked.

"After Amalia called them out when she escaped, they were all brought to trial, Emery, Viela, and Nolan. The Council has discovered their crimes and has removed them from their positions, along with holding them in containment. They haven't decided to Exile them, but they are being held in containment." Maha answered before leaving the room. Though everyone was glad the traitors were brought to justice, they had no time to celebrate.

Suddenly, the doors were swung open, and two assassins were carrying in a somewhat conscious Vespera. The vile woman was brought to a chair in the middle of the room, this chains wrapped around her hands and holding her to the chair. Alexios swallowed before walking up to her and snapping his fingers underneath her eyes, waking her up with a flash of blue light. Vespera snapped her head up, gasping and darting her head around. She quickly gathered where she was, and she sat against the back of her chair, smiling.

"Well, it's been a while since I have been in the Guildhall."Vespera cooed. Maria walked forward, her shoulders broad and her chin high, her ocean blue eyes glittering with danger. Though Vespera's face was cold and emotionless, unpleasantness flickered in her eyes.

"Vespera, remember me?" Maria snarled.

Vespera leaned forward, a small smile decorating her face.

"Can't say I do, but you seem familiar. Have we met before?" Vespera purred. Vespera remembered Maria vividly, but she knew how to get under Maria's skin. Maria clenched her jaw, her knuckles white. Maria scoffed and pivoted, grabbing one of the honing devices off the table and holding it in front of Vespera's face.

"You know what this is, don't you?" Maria asked.

"IS it one of your puny inventions?" Vespera countered. Maria snapped her fingers, and all the water out of the washing pots and sinks flew out, and the next thing Vespera knew, she had multiple pointed spikes of jetting water pointed at her. All the other Assassins were backed up in fear, except for Linh, who had bright eyes when she saw the power of the other hydrokinetic.

"Don't play these games with me." Maria snarled. Vespera looked at the spikes with a bored face, and she sighed.

"It is a honing device." Vespera sighed.

"Yes, we figured that part out. And why are Neverseen honing devices all across Inalia and our Guildhall?" Maria asked with a careful voice.

Vespera just shrugged.

"We planted those devices during the fall of Inalia. We thought that after the attack we could use the honing devices to get an official location of Inalia. But since the Neverseen occupied Inalia after the attack, we had no need to. The Neverseen members occupying Inalia weren't able to contact me since my mind was wiped of the location of Inalia, but they were here nonetheless they were using Inalia. Until three years ago, when they all came crawling back, saying the Assassins guild was still alive, and Amalia somehow managed to kick them out of Inalia, along with wiping their memory of the location of Inalia." Vespera explained nonchalantly. Maria nodded as if lining everything up in her head. That was true, Sophie managed to kick the Neverseen out of Inalia three years ago, wiping their memories last minute. Everyone was relieved because the location of Inalia remained hidden from the Neverseen at long last.

"So, we have been trying to contact our honing devices. But, since we had no idea where Inalia was and since we placed them so long ago, therefore the tech was old, we were having a rough time." Vespera explained casually.

"How many are there?" Mansi asked, walking up behind Maria. Vespera let out a little chuckle, rolling out her neck.

"Hundreds. Hidden in every little nook and cranny of Renisanca and Grecia." Vespera purred. The Assassins gasped and murmured amongst themselves.

"How close are you to finding Inalia?" Maria asked. Vespera puckered out her lip.

"Last time I was with the Neverseen, which was two days ago because that is how long you have been holding me in your pitiful dungeon..."

Vespera shrugged.

"We were only days away from finding it. Probably on the verge of finding Inalia any day now." Vespera decided. Everyone went quiet.

"Y-Your joking." Alvar stuttered.

"Oh, and, have you been in contact with the other Inalian leaders? Who said Inalia was the only one we were tracking?" Vespera said sweetly. The murmuring grew louder, and Vespera chuckled, casually lounging in her chair.

"Why are you telling us this? You aren't being very closed-lipped." Luram Bak asked.

"Becuase you know just as well as I do, there is nothing that you can do. We are on the verge of getting the official location of Inalia, along with the other Vatarian cities, and you have to find hundreds of honing devices scattered throughout your humongous city. I'm telling you this because you are absolutely hopeless." Vespera snarled as she leaned forward in her chair, her chains rattling.

"Vespera, what are you thinking?" Tam piped up. Everyone turned to Tam in surprise, including Vespera, but instead of surprise it was recognition.

"Oh, you!" Vespera joked.

"You are actively tracking all six Vatarian cities, making underhanded deals with men who can control Mirthless, and sieging the Lost Cities! You are exerting too much, and it is unlike you to be so rash. With all of what you have going on, the Neverseen are going to need time to recover, and by doing that, you will be vulnerable." Tam explained, walking through the crowd towards Vespera. Vespera blinked, the only hint of shock she showed.

"The Neverseen are marching on the Lost Cities?" Vespera asked. Tam surprisingly didn't show any shock on his face, and he just crossed his arms.

"You don't know?" Tam asked.

Vespera just looked at Tam with a blank face.

"An army of Neverseen soldiers has been spotted outside the western mountains of the Lost Cities." Mansi explained, her voice steady and careful. Vespera's mouth turned into a thin line, and she just chuckled.

"I don't know how you Assassins learned of this plan, but you are obviously trying to mess with me. The siege wasn't planned for another six months." Vespera laughed. Everyone was quiet, looking amongst one another, and Vespera's fake laugh turned into a snarl.

"You mean to tell me that my armies are dispatched outside of the cities right now, and here I am stuck with all of you groveling thieves?" Vespera drawled. Alexios smirked and stepped forward carefully.

"It sounds like you have the information we want, and we have the information you want."Alexios chuckled. Vespera crossed her ankles and sat back in her chair, and her anger was threatening to break through her, but her face was as cool and uncrackable as stone.

"I'm not giving anything to you." Vespera snapped. Alexios was the gutsiest out of them all, and he just shrugged.

"Then I guess you are going back into our prison, where you are going to rot for the rest of your days, while we destroy every single one of your soldiers that you seemingly have no control over." Alexios teased casually. Even though Vespera's face was still calm, her eyes were fiery as Alexios teased the aspect of her armies no longer in her control.

"Or I could break out of these chains and activate the homing beacons now." Vespera countered.

"You won't take one step before you get cut down," Mansi snapped, but then her hands at her sides started to flicker with hot fire, and she held them out, rolling her wrists so Vespera could glare at her power.

"Or get burnt to ashes." Mansi cooed. Vespera knew what flames could do, she was allied with Fintan, and that threat really seemed to get Vespera's attention.

"Fine," Vespera snapped, crossing her legs over one another and blowing her once immaculate raven hair out of her face.

"Give me your stupid questions. It's not like you are going to ask the right ones anyway." Vespera chuckled. Alexios smirked at his mother, who was at his side. The finally found a crack in Vespera's perfect plans.

And they plan to use it.

Now, Sophie knew she shouldn't be screaming as she fell through the black abyss, but it was a pure impulse to be flailing around like a bird trying to learn how to fly as she plummeted. To be fair, Biana was just like her, twirling around and flailing in the darkness. They couldn't see Lilac and Keefe, the only thing discernible in the darkness was the slight tinge of luminescent blue at the end of the tunnel that was growing closer and larger as they fell. The light grew larger and larger, and so bright that Sophie cringed at the bright light. When she opened her eyes, they fell through the light and into the cavern of the Dunmer Kingdom.

Sophie gasped at the sight of it all, the beauty of the Dunmer Kingdom. The Dunmer were amazing creatures of power and exotic beauty. They had all sorts of wings on their backs, feathered and leathery bat wings. They had different swirling tattoos or straight lines decorating their bodies, of all different types of colors. Most of them black, some white, some other vibrant colors. The Dunmer kingdom itself was breathtaking, even though it was underground. It was like an entire canyon underground, the sides of the walls layered with luminescent purples and blues molded in the layers of dark rock, illuminating the amazing city. The large buildings built both into the rock sides and onto the different layers of the rocky floor. Long stone bridges connected the buildings, with long vines and flowers growing from the bottom of the long bridges. In the distance, Sophie saw the reflection of an obsidian and onyx Castle in the distance. Sophie heard Biana gasp at the beauty of it all as well, but Biana also snapped Sophie ou of her amazement. Sophie snapped back to reality and then realized...

They were still freefalling straight towards the rocky cavern floor.

"Ah-WHAT DO WE DO?!"Biana cried out as they plummeted through the air.

"Uhm, let me think!" Sophie cried over the wind. Before Sophie even needed to think of a plan, she felt a vortex of wind surround her and Biana. It wasn't like the vortex of cold air that felt like needles, like the one Ruy described, but a vortex of warm air that kissed both her and Biana. Biana and Sophie slowly slowed down, the wind slowing them down. The winds flittered their hair and clothes, and the wind started to direct them away from the cavern floor but towards an elevated stone platform tucked near the back of the cavern walls. The two were gently placed on the stone platform, where they now saw Keefe and Lilac running up to them.

"Are you okay-"

"THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" Lilac and Keefe laughed, shaking Biana and Sophie by their shoulders. The four of them pivoted and marveled at the beauty of the Dunmer kingdom, and there was a polite clearing of someone's throat behind them. They all whipped around and Sophie gasped.

Standing on the platform was a beautiful woman, black-feathered wings on their backs. Her skin was a deep brown with a golden sheen, her hair only a tad darker than her skin tone, with deep red highlights running through her short bobbed hair, which was a beautiful natural mess. She had a deep blue dress that complimented her curvy figure, and she walked forward with kindness, her arms wide. Her arms were covered with gold and black lines and curves, just like all the other Dunmer, but she had an aura of kindness. On her head were a pair of ram-like horns, dark brown with gold powder in the creases of her curled horns. Underneath her bobbed hair, there was a gleaming circlet of silver and gold that brought everything together.

"Sorry, was landing too rough? My powers have a tendency to go a bit haywire sometimes." The woman asked, stepping forward.

"N-No, It was fine." Biana stuttered out.

"Who are you?" Sophie asked, stepping forward. The lady pointed her head towards the castle in the distance.

"I'm the Queen of the Dunmer. My name is Queen Sarai." She said sweetly. Sophie clammed up, she didn't know what she should do! Should she bow, or was that lame and cliche? Did the Dunmer have a specific thing they did with their royalty?

"Oh-OH! Oh my gods, thank you, your highness! I-"

"There is no need to be so flustered Mentore Amalia, I need no formalities." Queen Sarai giggled. Sophie still awkwardly shuffled her feet, and the queen just chuckled.

"Come on now, I will bring you to the castle. I have a feeling I am going to be answering a lot of questions." Sarai said warmly, turning on her heel and walking down the stone stairs, her heels clicking on the stone.

They were finally here.

They were in the Dunmer Kingdom.

I should go to bed, I know that, but... one more episode of The Dragon Prince!