Ander woke up to the smell of cooking food. It had certainly been a few days, but him and Flyte weren't in a familiar place at all.

Getting up and feeling quite sore, Ander began to walk over to the source of the smell.

Slowly, he began to recognize something about his surroundings. The stone walls were cracked, and while there were no cobwebs, the patterns of stone suggested that the building must have been the as the oracle's tower.

'Did the tower have a basement?'

It appeared that it did, as when Ander passed by a corner, he saw the oracle herself.

She was dressed in a more casual clothing than her ceremonial oracle attire and she was cooking eggs on a metal plate held over flames.

"What is going on?" Ander asked, his hand on his sword's hilt.

"Oh, you're awake," the girl smiled. "I'm cooking breakfast."

Feeling like he wouldn't get a better answer, Ander asked another important question. "How many days has it been?"

"Just three," she answered. "Do you want to sit? There's some sausage waiting for you."

Ander sat at a short table. "That's a lot of food. Did you know that I'd wake up today?"

She chuckled. "I'm an oracle, you know, and you're not the only one waking up today."

"Flyte is too?" Ander asked.

"Yeah," the oracle said. "You might want to warn him, he bumps his head on the way here."

Ander heard a loud thump accompanied by a short "ow" across the hall.

"I guess I was too late," Ander said, taking a forkful of eggs.

Flyte walked into the room and credulously grabbed a plate of food.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Ander said.

Flyte didn't respond as he shoveled down food.

Ander reached to grab a cup to quench his thirst but found himself unable to grab it.

He looked down at his stub. "Oh, that's right," he said out loud. 'Caedric, it looks like I'm becoming more like you daily'

"You know," the oracle started, still having not eaten. "You can fix that."

"What?" Ander asked, confused.

"Yeah, all you have to do is get some compatible stone and use your magic to form it and make veins in it. When that's done, attach it to your arm and your curse should do the rest."

"Huh," Ander began. "How come I didn't know that before?"

"I couldn't tell you that," the oracle said. ""Although, it likely has to do with you killing the curse's creator."

"That would do it," Ander said tiredly.

"So," Flyte started, having already eaten all the food on his plate. "Are you going to do something to prevent Guror from possessing you again?"

"I've already taken care of that," the young oracle said. "I allowed Pila to reside within me instead."

"Oh, that's goo- wait!" Flyte seemed to realize something. "Did you seriously allow another demon to possess you?"

"You don't have to worry about that demon, Flyte," Ander interjected. "When I was trying to help out a friend, I studied about demons a lot, and Pila is one of the most trustworthy and good dreadlords around."

"Dreadlords?" Flyte questioned.

"The title of dreadlord is dependent on strength, not character," the oracle explained. "Each of the ten has a separate power and Pila's happens to allow her host to have a hand on the wheel. I'm me during the day, and she takes over at night when my consciousness rests or whenever I'm in danger."

"What does she want in return?" Flyte asked.

"A body," Ander answered. Demons as a whole are pulled by a desire to inhabit a body. Some wait to grow enough strength to create their own, these are demonborn, like Kayr; some take control of a living being, such is the case with Pila and Guror; and some inhabit nonliving bodies, potentially prepared for them, such as eviscerators."

"That's right," the oracle said. "Pila gets a body and I, in return, am defended from wicked demons such as Guror. Pila takes good care of my body while I sleep too, making sure not to injure e and keeping the laws. A lot of nights so far she has just worked out and made breakfast for me."

"Huh," Flyte said. The boy's questions having been answered, he continued to eat after stacking more on his plate.

After seeing everyone finish eating, Ander asked a question of his own. "Oracle, I'm sorry to ask this after the Kindness you've already shown us, but do you think you can prophesy for us?"

"Sure," she smiled. "It's no chore after you helped me to be free from Guror. Also, you can call me Lylian. It still feels wierd being called by my title."

"Lylian it is then," Ander nodded.

"Alrighty then," Lylian said. "Let's go up on the tower."

Lylian led Ander and Flyte up the tower quickly, deftly dodging leftover cobwebs.

"Okay," Lylian started once they reached the top. "If you sit down, I'll walk you through this." She pulled out a rolled mat, unfurled it, and sat down.

"Okay, so once I begin, make sure that nothing disturbs me." She paused for a moment, then remembered something. "Also, I can't help by rhyme when I'm predicting, so remember that the message I give might be cryptic or twisted up somehow."

Lylian closed her eyes and deeply breathed out, calming down. When they opened, they had changed from brown to light blue.

"These words you must hark,

Beware the consuming dark,

If it overtakes your friend,

Then it shall his life rend,

When the sun begins to hide,

Your foes will begin to deride,

As the abyss begins to stare,

Then all will be forced to care,

That knife you now hold dear,

You may soon begin to fear,

Words shall soon rain down like thunder,

Hereafter all will be torn asunder,

When you finish your foe,

It is yourself that you will know,

Be your friends' shield,

For neither side will yield,

If you hear of Rush,

Make sure that you hush,

The liars are on their way,

To them, 'no' is the best to say,

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Not a new alliance,

Rather just one defiance."

Lylian broke out of it, her eyes fading back into their original hazelnut brown hue. She held her head, but she didn't seem agonized, rather tired or as though she had a headache.

Quickly, the oracle regained her composure. "What did I say?" She asked. "I can't remember what words I said during my predictions, but Guror possessing me reminded me that the prophesies talk about me too."

Flyte recounted her words with surprising accuracy. Ander supposed that if the prophesy could be so impactful that it only made sense for him to memorize it, but Ander didn't know that the distactable boy could do it.

"Thank you," Lylian said. "I don't know if it applies to me at all yet, but it's good to have on hand."

"No," Flyte said. "Thank you. You helped us much more than we helped you, or at least, you helped us more willingly, we didn't have much of a choice."

"That being said," Ander began. "We need to get going. Our army is going to be worried. It's been three days, and it's almost concerning that they haven't tried to break in yet."

"They did," Lylian said. "They even succeeded; however, they didn't find the basement."

"Well," Flyte began. "That's probably for the best anyway. It is almost more pressing that they've broken in already though."

"Yeah," Ander said, starting to move. "Let's hope they didn't leave."

----------------------------------------

They hadn't, but Ander was joking when he proposed that idea in the first place.

Elliot certainly seemed happy to see the two of them, even if Ander had less surface area than the last time that Elliot had seen him. Everyone asked where his arm went except for Elliot who simply asked how their trip was.

"It went well," Flyte answered for both of them.

"Yeah," Ander agreed. "Too bad it cost an arm and a leg."

"What leg?" Elliot asked, trying to be witty. "You both have yours."

"I'd show you," Flyte said with a straight face. "But we had to give it in order to get into the tower."

"That poor passerby," Ander muttered solemnly.

Flyte nodded along while Elliot looked between both of them. "You are joking, right?" he finally asked.

"No."

"Yes."

"Oh," Flyte said sheepishly. "I thought we were going to keep going."

Ander smiled, but that smile was short lived. "Elliot, during the prophecy, it was said that when darkness overtook a friend that that friend would meet their end. I think that's likely you, so can you please moderate your use of your magic. Ot's an unknown danger that you just shouldn't take."

"Yeah," Elliot said. "That'll be fine. Keep watch over your friends and make sure that you haven't misinterpreted it though. I wouldn't want your focus on me to be a friend's doom."

"Good," Ander said. "Now that that's settled, I've got rocks to find."

Flyte and Elliot followed Ander to the coast where they would be most likely to find intact stone.

Ander focused on the density and general make-up of the stone remaining in his arm; feeling for it with his magic; his eyes closed.

Getting a small glimpse of it in his mind, Ander combed the beach for similar stone. He felt some a few feet below him and pulled it up through the sand.

The piece wasn't nearly large enough, but it was a start. After an hour, Ander figured that he had enough stone.

"Anyone have an idea as to how I'm supposed to put veins in this accurately?" he asked.

Easy,"" Flyte smiled. "Glow, can you help us out."

"Of course," Flyte's spirit friend whistled. "What do you need today?"

"I was wondering," Flyte started. "Could you help Ander shape his stone arm and position the veins?"

"Finally going to have me do my profession?" Glow cheerfully asked. "I'll gladly help."

The yellow-tinted spirit changed forms, looking less like a miniature person and more like a beveled board or the bottom of and arm.

"Follow my lead," Glow whistled.

Ander began to mold his stone easier than he could mold clay as Glow slowly progressed to be a bigger and more whole model of his arm until it was complete.

The complete stone arm was perfect in its design from size to placement of ridges where it would fit onto Ander's stub. Ander stuck it on his stub and it fir on like a puzzle piece. Black smoke poured out of the crack in Ander's arm as the pieces bound together.

Ander felt whole again. It was, however, odd to him that missing a cursed part of him had felt so strange.

Maybe it was time to embrace his arm. The stone may have made his arm slower, but its durability had gotten him out of countless scrapes in the past.

Ander wriggled his fingers and noticed no difference in their movements with his older stone arm.

"Thank you Glow," Ander said smiling.

"No problem," Glow whistled while her body changed to a miniature smiling person.

Then the spirit left back through the rune that Flyte had prepared for her on his gauntlet.

"How does it feel to be all the way back?" Elliot asked.

"Good," Ander said. "Really good."

"I suppose it's time to go into the desert then?" Flyte asked.

"Yeah," Ander said. "I think it's time."

"Are you ready?" Elliot asked Ander.

"I hope so," Ander said. "It's going to be a rough few weeks."

"That it will be," Flyte said. "But at least we'll have each other."

Ander chuckled lightly. "Yes, we will," he commented. "I didn't think anyone could o through this much in just a few months. It's been quite a journey."

"Let's finish this last leg of it then so that we can begin another," Flyte smiled. "Journeying is fun."

"I agree," Elliot said. "I'm glad I was able to join with you guys. I don't know how I would have dealt with my losses without you two to keep my mind off things."

"This is it then?" Flyte asked. "The final part of our adventure?"

"If so," Ander said. "Let's make it good."

"Why are we talking like this is sad?" Elliot asked. "We should be celebrating right now."

"Then I propose a toast," Ander said, grabbing hold of a cup of water that he found nearby. "to the coincidences that brought us together."

"To coincidences," Elliot and Flyte said, downing their own cups of water.

"Okay," Flyte said. "We should definitely go now."

The trio briskly walked back to the camp that the army was waiting for them at.

----------------------------------------

Ander began to ask whether or not everyone was ready and when that answer turned out to be no, he helped his companions pack.

Eris began to walk over to Flyte and Elliot.

"Hello," she greeted them. "How are you two feeling?"

"Tired and sore," Flye answered. "But also determined."

"A little melancholy to be honest," Elliot said. "I don't know what to do after this. There's nowhere for me to return to, Will made sure of that."

"Well," Eris said, almost confusedly. "You do always have a place with us alongside Ander and his army. Same to you Flyte, if you're wondering."

"I should go to my hometown first," Flyte started. "I want to see if my adoptive father is still kicking, and if so, I want answers to my questions."

"Fair enough," Eris grinned. "I would likely do the same in your place."

"Eris," Elliot asked weakly. "What was Ander's relationship with Honorious like?"

"The short answer would be: complicated," Eris began. "But I know you're not here for that. Before his betrayal, Honorious always looked up to Ander, almost like he would to an older brother. Ander trusted him and willing to shift certain responsibilities to him, such as the training of spearmen."

"However, for reasons I can only assume, Honorious left Ander for the king's protection. The day of Ander's arrest, Honorious betrayed Ander even further, grievously wounding him, but even I could see the warring emotions of his face. He was truly sorrowful to hurt Ander."

"You know," Flyte said. "It might be easier if Honorious explained this himself, right?"

"Well, yeah," Elliot said. "But that's just not possible, you know for yourself that he died."

"That may be true, but I happen to speak to the dead fairly regularly," Flyte said as he dropped the dark cloak he normally wore, revealing a newly etched rune on his armor's back. "Honorious, can you show yourself?"

A little, light grey bird flew out of Flyte's armor. "Of course I can," Honorious's voice exhaled. "I've been anticipating this moment ever since you beat Eternium."

"Hello Honorious," Eris said with a hand on her hip while Elliot struggled for words.

"Hey Eris," Honorious exhaled. "I'm sorry about everything. I was scared and I thought that the king's support would assuage that fear, but I only ended up becoming sadder. It was wrong of me to betray you all."

"That's right, but it also doesn't matter that much anymore," Eris smiled. "How have you been doing?"

"I've been well," Honorious's exhalation could easily be described as happy. He had reunited with his friends again.

"Honorious," Flyte finally found his words. "Can I speak to you alone?"

"Of course," Elliot's old mentor answered. "I'm glad to see you're doing fine, at least physically, by the way."

"Thanks," Elliot said to Flyte as he began walking away.

"You know," Eris started. "Everyone's going to want to speak to that bird."

"Yeah," Flyte said. "I just felt like Elliot needed to talk to him first. I've noticed that he's been having a rough time, and this is an easy way to help."

"You're a good guy, Flyte," Eris said. "Don't lose that."

"I'll do my best to improve," Flyte said. "I'm not done growing, and I still make mistakes, but I will do as you say too."

Eris smiled. "Good. You better, otherwise we'll all have to set you back on the straight and narrow."

"I'd like to see you try," Flyte joked.

Eris laughed, knowing full well that the army would easily be able to stop Flyte from committing crimes if need be.

Elliot came back a few minutes later without Honorious, who was likely speaking to another soldier.

"Do you want me to etch Honorious's rune somewhere for you?"

"Yes please," Elliot said softly.

"Okay," Flyte said. "Where do you want it?"

Elliot though for a moment. "How about the back of my right gauntlet?"

"Sounds good," Flyte said with his hand extended to grab the piece of armor.

"Everyone!" Ander's voice called out. "It's time to leave!"

A huge hoard of people began to walk to the city's gate, preparing to walk out into the cold desert night. Flyte looked and saw unending dunes.

His journey was almost over.