Orias stomped through the grimly silent corridors of the royal palace, completely ignoring Emanuel calling him from behind. Orias marched to his chambers and slammed the doors hard behind him. Emanuel Cursebinder came running after him within a few minutes.

  “My love, please calm down,” Emanuel managed to say while catching his breath.

  “Calm down! My nephew, the only one to carry our blood into the next generation, is kidnapped and no one is doing anything. Yet you still want me to calm down?′ asked an enraged Orias.

  “That is not true. The King and I are doing everything in our power.”

  “Ran is only trying to save his beloved daughter, and you need to protect the heir of the Gainsworths. I’m the only one trying to save him earnestly.”

  Emanuel peered at his lover with hurt eyes. “You know I’ve always been fond of that child. Ever since Regal passed away I’ve been taking special note of him. My love and care for him has only grown after Edwin’s passing. I see my childhood in that boy. I would never let anything bad happen to him,” said Emanuel as he slowly approached Orias.

  “Then what are you doing to get him back?”

  “Everything in my power. The Gainsworths are scouring all of Areliam looking for Ethan. I’ve also locked his energy to mine. I’ll know the moment Ethan will be in mortal danger. I’m also persuading the ancestors to help locate him. I will bring him back safely. I’ll bring both him and Lore back safely. Trust me, my love,” said Emanuel, caressing Orias.

  “I worry for him, Emi. I worry for our whole family. So much of the family is already lost as payments of our sins. I don’t want to lose the remaining few. With Ran favoring his adoptive children more than our blood, I have to protect him. You understand?”

  “I do, my love! Also, don’t worry. I consider Ethan as my adoptive son. And you know I can do anything and everything for the ones I love. The crown, the power, and all of Areliam will be our Ethan’s. Just wait and watch. He will be back by our side very soon.”

  “You promise?”

  “I do.”

  Orias smiled and pulled Emanuel closer. “Only Anorea can help your enemies. No one can best you. I’m so lucky that you love me.”

  “That you are, my love,” said Emanuel as he shared a passionate kiss with Orias. However, the kiss ended abruptly as Emanuel jerked away.

  “What happened?”

  “It’s Ethan. His life is in danger. I can feel it!”

  ***

  The children hurled down the darkened interior of the machine. Their small bodies smacked into several mechanisms operating it. After what seemed an endless amount of time falling, they finally hit the bottom. Leo felt the bitter taste of blood inside his mouth. A few of his teeth were knocked out and blood flooded his mouth. The rest of his body felt shattered as well. Near him, Leo heard the sounds of Des moaning in pain and the desperate cries of Lore. Yet Ethan remained silent.

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  Leo reached for his backpack with shaky hands and took out the fireflies. The fireflies powered the internal light crystals. Once light illuminated the space, the damage was seen. Des was all bent out of shape, her body dangling from one of the lower ledges. Her legs were bloody and twisted, and her right hand was broken. Ethan’s condition was far worse. He laid unconscious, face down on the ground in a pool of blood while holding on to Lore.

  “No!” yelled Leo as he crawled over to Ethan. He waited for his Hearth-Bringer powers to fully heal him. Once that happened, he started helping the others. He turned Ethan over to see his belly pierced by multiple sharp parts of the machine. Leo quickly pulled out all the big parts and bandaged his wound with clean clothes. Then he took out healing potions from his backpack and pushed one down Ethan’s throat. He looked up at the still weeping Lore and said, “Shut up! It’s all your fault.”

  Next, he ran to Des with another potion in hand.

  As Leo was tending to Des, he felt weak all of a sudden. Dang it! With our entry, we already took out the teleportation device placed at the top, but the siphoning stone is activating now. We will be drained of all our energy and left to die unless that stone is either destroyed or disconnected from the machine.

  “Ancestors, please protect me,” Leo called out and immediately felt his body revitalized again. He took out the crossbows and started equipping them while trying to find the siphoning stone. It didn’t take him long. In the middle of the triangular-shaped floor laid a giant clear crystal. It was protected by an electric fence and surrounded by numerous amassing crystals powering it. By its side was another fenced-off mechanism that operated the shield around the machine. That device was also powered by the numerous amassing stones around it.

  These crossbows won’t do much damage. Did the Elementals know it wouldn’t work but still sent us to our doom? Was Ethan right about them wanting us to fail? No, that can’t be it. Atlas won’t risk Des’s life. They gave us everything they could to take down this machine, but it just wasn’t enough. Plus, the exact make of this machine is not common knowledge. If it was, there wouldn’t have been tons of dead Elementals who didn’t know how to stop it. Des and Ethan are both down, and that troublemaker Lore won’t be of any help either. Then…I guess I need some help from above.

  Leo moved Des, Ethan, and Lore to a tucked-in corner then walked out to the middle of the floor and looked up while smiling. He pointed the crossbows upward and shot. He specifically targeted joints of the nuts and bolts holding bigger mechanisms in place. This commenced a downpour of debris and heavy parts falling.

  Leo ran for his life as parts of the giant arms used to kill many fell right beside him. He barely escaped from being cut in half under a falling rotating blade. He managed to jump just in time before another huge part of the machine crushed him. Once he reached safety, Leo looked back to see if the siphoning stone was destroyed. It was, along with all the other stones besides it. The mechanism powering the protective shield was also damaged. All that stopped the children from leaving the machine was its thin walls. So, Leo used the rest of the crossbow bolts to create another hole on the lower wall that led outside.

  Leo used that hole to drag his injured friends out. He laid Des and Ethan right by the exit to the surface. Then he fed them the rest of the healing potions. After that, Leo proceeded to get some food for himself. He fed Lore some as well. Next, he tied Lore to himself. “Don’t want to take any chances with you, troublemaker. Too bad your brother didn’t get to see my heroics back there. But you saw everything, right? You know I’m very smart. I can get us out of any trouble, but I would rather rest now. So, will you please keep out of trouble for a while?” asked Leo.

  “Gugugagagagagah,” said Lore as she curled up beside Leo to sleep. Leo laid down and took one last look at the exit as he closed his eyes. Soon, very soon, was his last thought as he fell asleep.