It was a cold and lonely night for Arrow. He lay on the rough hard floor of his cell in his ancient, dirty cloak, hoping he’d at least get some rest. He listened to the rain and thunder high above his lonely underground cell, wishing he could feel the water drench his body and the wind run through his mane, wishing he could feel happiness once again. The ceiling leaked slightly, and a puddle had formed in his cell. He stared into it, his red eyes staring back. He stroked his messy, black mane. It felt like there was more dirt in it than fur. He lay down on his back. Then, out of the darkness, a voice spoke to him.

“Arrow Mordera,” It said. “It’s your father, Kakos. I’m here to make a deal.”

Arrow stood up. “What the- why are you here? And what kind of deal?” He said.

“As you are aware, under my rule, dark magic was legal. But once your brother Denali took over, it was illegalised and you, a dealer and user of it, were imprisoned. Isn’t that unfortunate? Well, I can help you. I can get you out of here and overthrow your brother, I can reclaim the throne and make you my heir.” Kakos explained. Arrow considered for a moment.

“What’s the catch?” Arrow asked.

“There is no ‘catch’, necessarily, but there is one condition…” Kakos explained. “I ask that you help me overthrow Denali by gathering dark magic from places across the world. The royal scientist, Veritas Malous, has found several areas throughout the world where there is a large amount of dark magic. I ask you, alongside him and the rest of a group I have assembled, to go to these places and collect the dark magic. I shall use it to threaten Denali into giving up the throne.” Kakos explained.

Arrow shuddered at the thought of working with Veritas. He always creeped him out as a child. He sighed. “If that is the only way I can get out of here…” Arrow said. “I suppose I have no choice but to agree.”

“Come with me.” Kakos said. He drew his wand, which seemed to be made of darkwood, a rare type of wood capable of harnessing dark magic. He cast a portal spell with his wand, opening what looked like a dark, empty abyss in the cell. “Just go through here.” Kakos said. Arrow cautiously stepped into the portal. Everything went dark for a moment as he entered, and strange, otherworldly sounds echoed around him. In less than a second, he arrived in a dark, dreary room barely lit by magical torches throughout it. He saw four figures around him. He recognised one immediately as Veritas Malous. He was a tall and thin lion; he had a white mane with a strange green tint to the tips of it. He wore a lab coat and sandals as well as glasses with green spirals in the lenses. There were two draconians and one other lion. One of the draconians was an old man with a large, red crest on his head dressed in some kind of armor and a cloak. The other was a young girl wearing a black hoodie. She looked strangely out of place and Arrow’s gaze lingered on her slightly. The other lion was an old man with a white mane. He was shirtless and wore a leather jacket and his chest was covered in scars and other healed injuries. He had a tattoo of a screaming mouth on his stomach, and a tattoo of a broken heart on his chest. Arrow couldn’t help but let out a quiet laugh upon seeing them. Kakos followed Arrow through the portal and entered the room.

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“Let me introduce you to the rest of the people you’ll be working with,” Kakos said. “That is Vipereus and his daughter Serna.” Kakos pointed to the draconians. Serna awkwardly smiled and greeted Arrow. Arrow ignored it. “This is Anui and his friend Veritas who you have met before.”

“Yo.” said Anui.

“Why, I haven’t seen you since you were a child, Mordera! You were so stupid and annoying, and you spilt orange juice on my ray gun…” Veritas said. His voice was deep and grandiose. He sounded like the villain from a cartoon Arrow used to watch when he was younger.

“It’s rather late, so if any of you wish to go to bed, there are six bedrooms in this part of the castle, one for each of us. I recommend you do get some rest as tomorrow you shall go to the first location Veritas has found.” Kakos said.

Arrow left the room to find his bedroom and found a long hallway with three doors on each side. They had the names of the others there written on them. Arrow found the one with his name on it and went in. There was a large bed in the middle of the room with pajamas on it and next to it there was a wardrobe. Arrow looked in the wardrobe to find a purple waistcoat, black trousers and a purple bowtie.  He got dressed into the pajamas, which were too big for him, then got into the bed.