Anabelle carried both the Dracion and the witch back through the tunnels. Garnet stayed quiet as she carefully gazed into the jar of blood she had gathered from the woman turned monster Evelyn. Ezra lit their way through as they hurried back to the church. It was possible their prediction of Juro’s arrival was off and he had already made it to dreamsky.

“Do you really think Evelyn is going to die?” Anabelle asked.

“That’ll be up to her. As for us. We’ve got a lot of livin to do.” Garnet replied.

“Have you learned anything?” Ezra asked as he began to stare at the jar himself.

“Yeah. It’s color and smell are something I’ve taken note of.” Garnet said, making her gain strange looks from the dracion and mare. “What? I do this shit all the time.”

Ezra and Anabelle just laughed off the witches comment. They continued forth, Anabelle didn’t let up her speed. Though as she went on a pain erupted in her stomach. At first it was simple sharp pains but then she would feel her eyes twitching. Soon she would begin to slow down, only before stopping.

“Anabelle you alright?” Ezra asked worryingly. The mare didn’t respond. She only continued to move on. Yet didn’t get too far, for Anabelle fell over within a few steps. “Anabelle!”

The mare’s eyes had closed and her body made no movement. Ezra panicked as he continued to scream the mare’s name who didn’t respond. Garnet tried to help as well. She then noticed the mare’s stomach. It had changed from the mare’s natural red skin color to a tainted green.

“Ezra. It’s the poison from that sea beast.” Garnet explained. “We have to get her back to the church. She needs more of the potion.”

Ezra didn;t hesitate. He listened to the witch and knew she was right. So he would have to reenact the moment from the mountain. The dracion the mare over his shoulders. Something which caught Garnet by surprise. However, their vision went dark. All of the torches in the tunnels had gone out in an instant. The two came close to each other, not knowing if they were under attack or not.

Garnet summoned her ball of light to give them an area to see. Though a different light was coming from in front of them, and this one was made from a purple fire. It was a head. An entire head engulfed in fire that grew slowly, revealing the person’s body. A tall figure was before them. They wore a single robe covering everything. It was pitch black outlined with shards of a purple crystal. His fiery head was covered by a mask of a similar color to the crystal and fire.

“Hey. Whoever you are. Whatever you want. Come find me later. I have friends and a kingdom to save. I don’t have time for you. Let’s go Garnet.” Ezra proclaimed to the stranger refusing to be held up by him with Anabelle still on his shoulders. He started to walk forward. Garnet followed behind. They walked right past.

“Young dracion.” The person spoke. Stopping Ezra. He didn’t turn back to him. “We appreciate your help. I will come find you later. Once you save the kingdom. Just promise us that Juro doesn’t get the Blight of Wrath.”

As the man finished, Anabelle jolted awake. Inhaling heavily. She shook a little. Ezra fell over from the mare’s jolting. Anabelle fell down on the floor. Ezra quickly went to her. He then decided to look where the man was and he was no longer there. All the torches in the tunnels lit back up.

“Anabelle?” Ezra called to. The mare stared back at him.

“Who was that?” She asked.

“I don’t know.” Ezra answered. They let it be for the time being. Erza lifted Anabelle again. Not letting her walk in case she fell over again. Yet the dracion cursed to himself. “Garnet, do you have any idea?”

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“None. First time I’ve seen someone like that, or heard of this Blight of Wrath.” The witch answered. “Let’s not think about it for too long. We need to head back.”

“I know. However, he said that Juro was after it. What the hell does that mean?” Ezra wondered as they continued their trail.

Within the church Grimm stood staring at the large female statue in the main hall. He couldn’t shake a feeling he had gotten from it. Like something was off about it. He could feel just a slight presence coming from the figure of stone, but couldn’t tell what. Sevnier was the one who gave attention to it. Telling his master that the statue was lively in some way.

“Sir Grimm. How is the plan for the city's defense going?” Raogen asked as he walked into the main hall.

“We’re coming up with something that will minimize the amount of monsters we kill. If Garnet can make a cure then all of the monsters should go back to being regular people.” Grimm answered. His eyes still fixed onto the statue. Raogen took notice and became irritated at the man.

“I wonder how the prince will be after all of this. Losing his father and watching his home be destroyed can’t be easy for him.” Raogen said as to lure Grimm away from the statue. Yet he still would not take his eyes off.

“Raogen. Tell me. How long have you worked for this church?” Grimm finally asked.

“Excuse me?” Raogen confusely replied. “I’ve been here for about 20 years.”

“What did you do beforehand?” Grimm continued to pressure the priest with questions.

“I was a troubled soul. Dolsrin was the place I wanted to shine. Yet I burned out rather quickly. That’s when I found the church. The last place I wanted to be. It’s all the same from there on.” Raogen summarized.

“Yeah. I hear Dolsrin does that to people.You go for one thing and come out with something else. Hell some don’t even come out at all.” Grimm said.

“Now. What do you find so fascinating about this piece here?” Raogen asked Grimm. Grimm was going to open his mouth, However, the infirmary doors burst open. Ezra, carrying Anabelle on his shoulders, and Garnet returned. Grimm turned seeing the young man with the mare.

“What happened to her?”

“The poison it’s spreading again.” Ezra quickly answered as he gently placed Anabelle on the floor. Garnet had left the group and retreated into the backroom to gather her materials. But first she brought back out the potion she made for Anabelle. She poured it into a bowl for the mare to drink out of, and then left the rest of what she had out for her.

“Put that on her saddle. It’ll be there when you need it. I’ll also give you the recipe for when you need it.” Garnet said to Ezra as he thanked her for helping Anabelle. “But the real thing is, how are we going to really help her? That stuff can’t stay in there forever.”

“We need to get to Alfheim Island. There’s a spring there that heals animals.” Grimm proposed.

“For real?” Ezra wondered. Grimm nodded back in approval. “And that’s where Nicholai needs to go. Alright. Guess we’re going to Alfheim Island. But We have to take care of this first.”

“Right. I’m going to go work on a cure.” Garnet said leaving the two men. “It shouldn’t take me that long but don’t expect it any time soon.” As she left Ezra and Grimm noticed an arrow came through the church hall, a small flame was lit at it’s tip.

“Juro’s here.”Grimm announced to Ezra. The two of them rushed to the city gates. Ezra held back. Looking to Anabelle one more time. He went over and knelt down to her.

“Remember. I promised you I would come back.” Ezra said to the mare.

“I know you will. Now go save this kingdom.” Ezra smiled at the mare's words as he left to catch up with Grimm. Raogen was all that had been left in the church, and he watched the mare as she drink her potion. And for some reason, Anabelle was unable to sense any emotion from the priest.

Ezra and Grimm climbed the city walls. Meeting Nicholai, Katreena, and Prince Miros. Yet what really concerned them was looking out to the distance. Juro’s army was off to the horizon. Split in two. The left side was the army of monsters from all over the kingdom. The other side was the kingdom order of knights. Their numbers were vast to the point where they couldn’t see the back end of the enemy forces.

“Shit. There’s got to be at least 30 thousand of each side.” Nicholai complained.

“All led by one man.” Miros added.

“So what do we do?” Ezra wondered.

‘Well. If we can contain the monsters in some way. We’ll only have to deal with the knights.” Grimm said.

“Yeah but look at that fucking army.” Katreena put in. “We’d need like…..100 times as many people to even get close to fighting them.”

“We can take them.” Ezra boasted.

“Yeah I’m not scared to fight an army.” Grimm carried the boasting along.

“You two are so fucking crazy.” Nicholai put it. “Anyway, me and Grimm came up with something that may be able to stop the monsters.”

“Awesome. Now we just need a plan for the boys in black.” Ezra said as they all looked back to the dreadful fight ahead of them. Yet Ezra had his eyes on one person. Juro. From the words of the man in the tunnels, to everything he was told by Grimm and Gartham. Ezra more than anyone wanted to know more about Juro.

His thought had been interrupted when the army stopped right in its tracks, then a loud roar filled the air. The field before Dreamsky jumped. Grass and dirt breaking off from the ground. The sounds of metal being torn through filled the air as well, as the ground continued to protrude out more and more.

Then it burst out. The ground had been completely decimated and a large beast erupted from within. It was massive, had 2 bat-like wings on it’s back, a serpentine bottom and large horns. It breathed fire into the air out of rage.

“What the hell is that?” Grimm asked. “Where the fuck did it come from?”

In the church Anabelle laid on the floor, the turn to hear the beast roar. It seemed familiar to her, yet she couldn’t recognize it at all.

“It’s here. The Blight of Wrath.”